King Georges Park Kingstanding

[cally4u2]

as a brummie i use to play in king georges park as a kid , i went to kingsland school in 1969 left there and joined kingsrise as it was known then before it was burnt down ..i remember this park when i was 5 yrs old being maintained by a man called frank ? .. he use to take care of the then foot ball pitches that was on the park grounds .. and maintain roses plants etc there was a big cafe , and the park had a slide roundabout swings seasaw, benches and lots of roses i went there a few yrs ago to visit my family in kingstanding and was sad to see this park is no more than just a flat field now nothing on it ? the cafe was closed down some time before me n my family left kingstanding which was in 1976, we moved to wales then ..but we were all born n bred in birmingham are surname was conway..and we used to live in anerley grove, near cooksey lane.. use to love the beacon and sutton park spent many a hr in there with mates from school etc, i now live in lancs, id love to know what happened to mates i went 2 school with at kingsrise, there was a dawn hubbard, gale hubbard, maxine hubbard, denise hubbard, of norbury rd then, and a kusum patel of wellhead lane perry bar, lorraine harris of warren farm i think ..pauline dale from carshalton rd, anita pain from kilburn rd, jane elliott from brokwell rd bandy wood, karen poolton cooksey lane, dawn kendal keston grove, and loads of others love to know what lifes bought 4 them ? they all will be around 47/48 yrs old now any info ??

 

[Cookie55]

as a brummie i use to play in king georges park as a kid , i went to kingsland school in 1969 left there and joined kingsrise as it was known then before it was burnt down ..i remember this park when i was 5 yrs old being maintained by a man called frank ? .. he use to take care of the then foot ball pitches that was on the park grounds .. and maintain roses plants etc there was a big cafe , and the park had a slide roundabout swings seasaw, benches and lots of roses i went there a few yrs ago to visit my family in kingstanding and was sad to see this park is no more than just a flat field now nothing on it ? the cafe was closed down some time before me n my family left kingstanding which was in 1976, we moved to wales then ..but we were all born n bred in birmingham are surname was conway..and we used to live in anerley grove, near cooksey lane.. use to love the beacon and sutton park spent many a hr in there with mates from school etc, i now live in lancs, id love to know what happened to mates i went 2 school with at kingsrise, there was a dawn hubbard, gale hubbard, maxine hubbard, denise hubbard, of norbury rd then, and a kusum patel of wellhead lane perry bar, lorraine harris of warren farm i think ..pauline dale from carshalton rd, anita pain from kilburn rd, jane elliott from brokwell rd bandy wood, karen poolton cooksey lane, dawn kendal keston grove, and loads of others love to know what lifes bought 4 them ? they all will be around 47/48 yrs old now any info ??

Pauline Dale is my sister-in-law

 

[yardbird55]

Like yourself,i used to spend many an hour in king georges park as as a child/teenager, and distinctly remember frank, the playground equipment,the cafe as we used to call it etc,and the awful showers.I remember some of the families in Keston Road; the McCarthys;the Dickinsons,the Connollys [ i think]. Like yourself i was dismayed when i went back some years later to see it it reduced basically to a lawn.I dont know if you you knew any of them. I moved away in 1974.

 

[cally4u2]

nah i never knew them names but i guess we recall diff ppl lol i mixed with alot of kids back then and any one who went in to the park really , well went back to brum yesterday for a day out went there green metal gates up now and all over grown no sighn any swings were there or a cafe no foundations nothing but over grown grass its so sad

 

[cally4u2]

Pauline Dale is my sister-in-law

use to go to school with her lol she lived off cirlce huh carshalton rd i think it was called

 

[chanty]

The Friends of King George V Playing Field are trying to document the history of the field , particularly since the beginning of WW2. There are now two separate areas, the King George V Playing Field and Cooksey Lane field with a locked gate between them. Both of them existed before the war. Cooksey lane Field has , I believe, football pitches with changing facilities. King Georges Field has no buildings but does sometimes have marked football pitches. When the KGV field was officially opened by the Duke of Sutherland, vice-president of the Playing Fields Associarion it was reported that there were 5 football pitches, 4 cricket pitches, a children’s playground and a car park plus admin buildings. Were these actually the facilities on Cooksey Lane Field which used to have football, cricket and tennis courts at one time? In 1989 it was reported that the toilet and changing block was demolished due to repeatef vandalism. Does anyone remember this? Where was the toilet block?

A further question, before the war there was a wood on the KGV field, Kingstanding Wood, which was planted between 1814 and 1824 after the enclosure act. This was felled at some time after the Ordnance Survey of ~1938, before that of 1950~. It seems mmost likely that it was removed during or shortly after the war to enable the field to be used for food production. Does anyone have any memories of when the wood disappeared or can you remember older relatives speaking about it?

Any information would be most gratefully received.

 

[Astoness]

The Friends of King George V Playing Field are trying to document the history of the field , particularly since the beginning of WW2. There are now two separate areas, the King George V Playing Field and Cooksey Lane field with a locked gate between them. Both of them existed before the war. Cooksey lane Field has , I believe, football pitches with changing facilities. King Georges Field has no buildings but does sometimes have marked football pitches. When the KGV field was officially opened by the Duke of Sutherland, vice-president of the Playing Fields Associarion it was reported that there were 5 football pitches, 4 cricket pitches, a children’s playground and a car park plus admin buildings. Were these actually the facilities on Cooksey Lane Field which used to have football, cricket and tennis courts at one time? In 1989 it was reported that the toilet and changing block was demolished due to repeatef vandalism. Does anyone remember this? Where was the toilet block?

A further question, before the war there was a wood on the KGV field, Kingstanding Wood, which was planted between 1814 and 1824 after the enclosure act. This was felled at some time after the Ordnance Survey of ~1938, before that of 1950~. It seems mmost likely that it was removed during or shortly after the war to enable the field to be used for food production. Does anyone have any memories of when the wood disappeared or can you remember older relatives speaking about it?

Any information would be most gratefully received.

hi chanty...sounds interesting..hopefully someone can find out some info about this for you..ie searching the newspaper archives and looking at old maps to see if the playing fields are on them

lyn

 

[Astoness]

not sure if these maps are any use...first one 1944 to 1974 showing st georges field..tennis courts and sports ground...map 2 dates 1888 to 1915 showing st georges field..as with both maps move the blue dot to the left the map will fade out to show you what is there now lyn

Georeferenced Maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

Georeferenced Maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

 

[chanty]

Thank you but I've already seen these. Unfortunately although the wood is shown on the 1950 OS map this could well be based on a prepared survey and so far nobody has come forward who remembers the wood being there. If it was there in 1950 probably someone living would remember it.

 

[pjmburns]

Not sure if you have seen this dated 1956 (click on each and it will give date and title of paper