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Old street pics..

sistersue61 said:
Nico, you should be fine walking that, but they are closing the one exit from New Street station from the 5th April, so would ask at the station.
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I am aware of the big "switch over" on the 28th April, when they close the front entrance of New Street station and open up the back entrance in Stephenson Street.

But I am not aware of anything happening on 5th April. What is happening then?
 
A lot has changed since then! Five Ways

No Broadway in your photo Viv (where Tesco is). And the Five Ways Shopping Centre is now tired and dated, and in need of some renovation work (most of the shops inside are closed and boarded up). Only the shops on Broad Street are open.

And the pedestrian area in the centre looks a bit different to that.

This is my set of the Five Ways Island



Joseph Sturge is now in front of the Marriott Hotel

 
Auchinleck House above the shopping centre Ell in your Flickr photo #2 was once a Civil Service building in the 1970s. Used to handle, I think, Dept for Employment regional recruitment. And there was another Civil Service building nearby - Duchess Place - which belonged to the then, Manpower Services Commission/Dept for Employment. In the 1980s a lot of the work was re- located to Sheffield, and I expect Civil Service occupancy declined in the 1980s. Removing them from this part of Birmingham must have had quite an effect on the surrounding businesses. Viv.
 
Hi Viv do you know if Auchinleck house was named after the soldier , general or field marshal , and does he have a connection with Brum
Bernie
 
Hi Bernie it was named after Field Marshall Sir Claude Auchinleck, but I don't know if he had any direct connection with Birmingham. I'll have to do a bit of research. Viv.
 
Seems his connection might be because of the support he gave to Birmingham born General Slim in the Burma campaign. There was a statue of Auchinleck in the shopping centre which might have been re-located as well as a Bruce Maclean artistic piece from the side of the building. I wonder where they are going to be re-located (or have already gone to)? The future of the Maclean piece seems shaky. Here's a Birmingham Post March 2012 article.

https://www.birminghampost.net/news...ive-ways-shopping-centre-plan-65233-30438777/

Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Auchinleck House above the shopping centre Ell in your Flickr photo #2 was once a Civil Service building in the 1970s.
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Here it is Viv



And Duchess Place - well Edgbaston House on Duchess Road.



Five Ways is more for entertainment these days, what with Broadway Plaza (built around the former Children's Hospital site) and Five Ways Complex (on Broad Street).
 
Thanks Ell. Like the wavy roof of Auchinleck House, adds interest to an otherwise plain building. Bit confused about the Maclean artwork. The artwork in Ell's photo must be the replacement of the original mosaic. But the new face also adds interest - and colour - to the otherwise plain building. And found a little more about the Auchinleck connection. Auchinleck was also chairman of the Murrayfield real estate company which developed the site.


Viv.
 
Thanks Ell. well it's best that something's being done with the building rather than leaving it to rot. As an aside (and answers on a postcard please), what on earth do the developers mean by :

"Co-ordinating the Embedded Supply Chain procurement, continuous financial review in conjunction with operator". Gawd, no wonder it takes forever for these projects to be completed!!

Viv.
 
Hi Viv Auchinlech was of Irish decent spent most of his career in the Indian army and some time in North Africa although not very sucessfully dureing WW11 . Can't find any links to Brum at all
 
Claude Auchinlech , cam from NI, and was a brilliant strategist, and tactician, he spoke fluent Urdu, and Hindi, and was beloved of his Indian Army, by both Rank and file, his down fall was he would not sanction the use of his highly trained Indian troops as "cannon fodder" which is why he continually fell out with Churchill , and was replaced by Montgomery. I do remember hearing some time ago that his mother may have come from Birmingham, but not sure.
 
I only know what I have read on Wiki Paul he got some bad press from them over his exploits in North Africa but they said he looked after his troops as best he could and didn't get on with Montgomery
 
Like a lot of officers who served in WW1 Bernie, he refused to use his troops in useless attacks for no other reason than Propaganda back home, Churchill considered the Indian army less able, and subservient, to the British Army, and wanted to use these troops as rear guard, and vanguard troops, which Auchinlech , disagreed he considered them highly trained especially the "INDIAN Army corps of Engineers", (sappers) but was of course sacked, and a good General officers career was over. paul
 
Hi Paul I have read more on Auchinlech and the weakness that these sites identified was not his performance as a battlfield genersl , which the agreed he excelled at,but his performance as CiC . His appointments of Cunningham and Ritchie in particular were attacked Cunningham burned out and Ritchie inexperienced , so it seems he was an exceptional tactician but poor delegator
regards Bernie
 
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