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Parks

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angeleyes

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:lol: hi does anyone remember the old parks where we used to have the park keeper in is nice warm hut drinking tea. and we could get a drink of water from the tap with the cast iron cup on a thick chain. i used to go to itchycoo park and ward end park with our jam sandwiches and bottle of water. how i miss those days.
 
I know it is off the area but I used to go into St. Pauls Square which is between Livery Street and Newhall Street. It was more an ancient burial ground but attached to the Church there was a park-keeper's hut. It was dark and very sooty from the coal stove that seemed to always burning within.
The old 'parky' would be sat adjacent to the fire on an old soft fabric armchair that was nearly as black as his hands. I feel sure he did not have a shovel but hand fed coals to the old stove. He sat or I should more rightly say lay back in resplendant manner in this chair with a never ending Woodbine or Players cigarette hanging from his lips. Why flick the ash off the end when it could fall like a layer of snow across his ample uniformed chest. He proudly wore his war ribbons on his chest but they, like the rest of his uniform attire, were dirtied from the years of ash and coal dust that had taken their toll upon his whole appearance.
The cast iron kettle was forever boiling and he enjoyed having company at this lonely outpost of the parks. 'Want a drink of tea' he would ask and one did not feel like offending him and accepted with a certain trepidation. As he rose from his seat a shower of cigarette ash would cascade off his chest. No metal cup on a chain for me No only the best jam jar appeared with the residue left on its side from his coal encrusted fingers as he handed me a very milky and sweet warm liquid. I used to sit on a hard wooden stool he had by his paper strewn table and enjoyed listening to the stories he expounded to his younger audience. He was a fine, proud and in truth a very lonely old man and I remember him with warmth.
 
:D Yes I spent a lot of my free time at Ward End Park. They had a boating lake, and my sister, our friend Pauline and myself all learnt how to row on that lake. On arriving here in NZ, rowing on a boat lake tended to be a 'boy thing' and the girls just sat back and let them do it. So as my kids grew up they were really surprised that their mom could row and we did not have to wait for dad to take us on the river. :lol:
Washwood Heath Park was another park we went to, also Highgate Park. Cannon Hill and Balgrave Parks. I know these last few parks are not in the Aston & Heartlands area, but it just shows as kids we were able to rome around the City and not have to worry about being out of our own area, as I understand todays kids have to. Even here in NZ kids have to be awear of where they go, not the same freedom as we had as kids and not as safe, you hardly ever see kids playing in the streets anymore :( .
 
I spent a lot of my school holidays at Aston Park, always seem to be sunny, and warm. 8)

Does anybody remember the fountain at the back of Aston Hall?, it was a Grecian type statue, and i think it was supposed to be Pan, not sure, however during the war the fountain didn't work. but there was water covered with green slime. It was in the middle of a beautiful lawn, and we kids, (nobody else either) were supposed to walk on the grass. But we did, when the parkie wasn't about. One day, i was kneeling on the side, and suddenly found myself taking a dive and finished up covered in green slime. I dont remember anybody pushing me, so i must have fallen. The burning question now was, how to get out of the park without being seen by the parkie, because there was no doubt he would have known how i'd got wet. Managed it though. Happy Days!! :lol: I think?
 
I have so many memories of Aston Park, we seemed to "live and die" there. Where the Pan fountain was were trees shaped into "boxes" and we used to play hide and seek and often hide amongst these, always keeping a watchful eye out for the Parkie.

Do any of our female members recall a tale that a girl was murdered in the last cubicle of the ladies toilets, it was always locked and we used to
frighten ourselves with lurid tales.

Another myth - or does anyone know better - is that a ghost of a lady dressed in grey would appear around one of the large trees in the avenue of trees running down from the Hall towards the church.

She was supposed to have been locked away by the Holte family for falling in love with a man the family disapproved of.

I can also remember shortly after the war, the Plays in the Park, these would be held in large marquees just outside the walls surrounding Aston
Hall, I went to them with my parents.

I can also vaguely remember bands playing on the band stands on Sunday
evenings, whatever happened to that.

We used to go as a family to watch cricket matches on the area near to Park Road, I used to get bored and go off with my friends, then meet up with the family later.
 
Entertainment in the Parks

I certainly remember the programme that Birmingham City Council instigated after the Second World War in regard to entertainment in the
City Parks, or at least some of them. I think that this programme of
entertainment in the Parks was put in place due to the fact that many people could not afford to go on holiday to the seaside in the summer
and therefore this programme gave people somewhere to go for entertainment for a reasonable price. I remember going to Aston Park to one such event. I seem to remember that some of the local dancing schools provided a good part of the entertainment with dancing and acrobatic acts and perhaps some local talent such as comedians,jugglers and magicians also contributed. I also remember going to Rookery Park in Erdington to a similar show.
Does anyone remember where the marquee was pitched in Aston Park?
I think it might have been to the left of the Hall but I'm not sure.
They must have been popular shows because I can remember people standing up at the back of the marquee as all the seats were taken.
 
:lol: Black Patch Park Winson Green/Smethwick/Handsworth borders, was my local. Jack ? was the parkie. He kept himself smart, with uniform and medal ribbons. He too had a cosy little hut. When you weren't in trouble for standing on the swings, riding your bike, straying onto the flower beds, climbing over the railings to the brook, he was you friend, especially in an emergency. :roll:

I have often since wondered what would be made of it today: When you grazed your knee, banged your head, or sustained any other injury (doing what he'd cautioned you about doing), off you'd go to his hut for emergency treatment, boys and girls alike. There, he'd clean the wound with Dettol and slap a plaster on. :?

No one would ever consider the implications, probably least of all Jack. I reckon he was just as naive as the kids he looked after. Of course there must've been nasty people around in those days but we never seemed to come across them. Were we happier in our simplistic ignorance? I wonder :?:
 
following on the plays in the park, i think the marquee was on the same side as the 'Sons of Rest' club house, and it was to the left of the front of Aston Hall. I also remember the shows that were put on during the war - in the open air, for the Soldiers Sailors and Airmans fund, one of them i seem to remember was Wings for Victory and i remember that they would bring in the wounded troops, just to make an appearance.

But they used to have variety concerts. dancing schools i used to love those, watching the tap dancing. I suppose they would have been post war. I was 8 when the war ended, so i do have selective memory :lol:

Also there was a fair sometimes on the side by the tennis courts. It wasn't Pat Collins so can somebody remember who's fair it was?
 
The things I remember most about Aston Park are the huge beds of snapdragons down the side of the hall and the copper beech trees which lined the slope down to Aston Church, and which were so lovely in the autumn. We don't get copper beeches in this part of Canada, I suppose the winter is too cold for them, but (call me sentimental if you like) there is always a place in my garden for snapdragons.
 
Dorothy,

One of the Aston Park "Parkies" lived in Tower Rd. in one of the back-houses. I can't for the life of me remember his name now, just that one day he went and told my dad that a bunch of us kids had been throwing sticks up at the conker trees. und Heil Hitler !

:twisted:
Dennis
 
Parkies

Hey Dennis

Was it Mr Taylor from up at the back of our house? :x I seem to remember that he used to be posing around in some sort of uniform but this was after i had left my childhood - but you would have still been a lad. But he definitely wouldn't have been a parkie when i was causing aggro.

Incidently i used to have an awful crush on his son Hughie :oops: - he never knew though, Hughie that is, (when i was a girl that was). Hey ho happy days!!!!! Zieg Heil
 
Thanks for the map Aston. I think my grandfather would have played in Burbury Park as he was born in Burbury Street!
 
HI LINDEV ,
I CAN RECALL THE PARK WE USED TO PLAY
ALOT OF FOOTBALL THERE
ME AND MY SEVEN BROTHERS AND WE HAD SOME LAUGHTS
WE LIVED AT BERNER ST ,
SIX DOORS FROM THE UNION PUBLIC HOUSE
NEXT DOOR TO US WAS AN IRISH FAMILY WHOM LIVED THERE
AND SHE HAd a daughter by the name of bridgett
cracking girl a lovely colleen ,
i used to take her down to the white swan on victoria rd ,
for a couple of drinks
but she was to expensive to take out
she drank like a fish , lived up to the Irish reputation ,
so i moved on from her ,
and got me a lovely irish colleen whom is tea total
have a nice day , best wishes ,astonian ;;;
 
hi, was there a group of girls standing in the sheds by the pitch lol that was me and cousins, watching all you boys playing football, it was a great park, everyone knew everyone else. and i cant remember any falling out betwen us kids
 
:angel: I knew Calthorpe Park well, walked there many Sunday afternoons.
We (my sister, brother, often a friend or two and I) walked down to the end of Dymoke St where we lived, turned down Coybere St, crossed at Gooch St and from there we would end up either at Calthorp Park, Balgrave Park (I think somewhere in these two parks there was a bridge that joined them together), or we would follow the River Rea and end up at Cannon Hill Park. I being the youngest I never really knew the routs we went by I just followed my older siblings and friends. I do remember somewhere along Bristol St there was (what at that time in 1950's) a modern looking Red Brick building that lay back from the road and had a super long low wall just made for a little sister to walk along if she had been good.
I also ended up getting a *‚*‘Piggy Back Ride*‚*’ home by the older kids if we'd walked to Cannon Hill.
 
Aston Park.

:D I remember Aston Park for the summer show. I can smell the fresh grass inside the big tent. The programm is dated 1953 and the photo's are taken from a magazine entitled pageant of Birmingham July 14th l938. Most of the events are in the park and Aston Hall is featured quite a lot. Bye for now. Jean. :D
 
I watched a BBC One TV programme today (Think it was Street Patrol UK), about a renovated park in Sparkbrook. Was it Farm Park? The
programme was not specific on names. My friends and I would play in Farm Park a lot in the 1940's.
I have not lived there for over 60 years, but if it was Farm Park, its looking fabulous. Well done to somebody. Eddie
 
I hope my Memory is right but didn’t Tom Jones appear in the Park, as part of the Erdington Carnival in the 1960s.?
 
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