• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Small Heath Park (Victoria Park)

  • Thread starter Thread starter mazbeth
  • Start date Start date
sheri said:
Hi, Is Small Heath Park near to Watery Lane - I don't rememb er my mum talking about going to a park? would it have been there after 1912? Thank you
Sheri
Click to expand...

Bottom end of Kingston Hill Park was along Watery Lane. front entrance was behind the Kingston Picture house. Not sure of the 'proper' name for it, but I think the top half had once been Small Heath Harriers training ground. There was what looked like a cinder running track.
 
col h & sheri

Would it have been this park, Kingston Hill Park. The only public park or space in Birmingham that still has prehistoric standing stones. It was said there were plans to build on it in the 80's. The plans were shelved due to a public outcry. Does anybody know is it still there?

Phil
 
I remeber it well Len bought my 1st pair of winkle pickers there I loved them were my fav shoes did I kick the dog up its ass when he chewed them real leather
and pearlised green awwwwwwww
xx
 
I remember it opening was great saved us to trek to cannon hill park
Jean
 
pmc1947 said:
col h & sheri

Would it have been this park, Kingston Hill Park. The only public park or space in Birmingham that still has prehistoric standing stones. It was said there were plans to build on it in the 80's. The plans were shelved due to a public outcry. Does anybody know is it still there?

Phil
Click to expand...

Dunno if its still there, I'll have a look next time I'm round there.....

I dont remember the stones though, prhaps I'm before their time LOL.

I do remember the witches hat & spider web roundabouts - both will I'm sure be gone either cos their not PC enough, or health & safety or some other nonsense.

For some reason it makes me think of Union Cold Storage.............was that somewhere nearny ?
 
No Jean, if you are referring to J Maddox she has lived in Marston Green all her married life.
Remember the shoe shop but don't remember ever shopping there. My shoes mostly came from the co-op in town on the divi!
Curtesses a more discount shoe shop opened up later near Green Lane end, if I remember correctly.
Jan
 
The park that did have a cinder track at the rear of the old Kingston Picture House is Kingston Hill Rec. When they developed some of the Small Heath by-pass they used a lot of the sub-soil in Kingston Hill and created a mound (hill) and brought in some large rocks fom scotland to create a "crown".
 
I'm pretty sure that The Who played at Small Heath Park around 1969/70



Anyone else remember that ?

An event that big, you'd think someone would
 
Edit. Image has been lost.

Thanks Brummie Nick for the pic of Kingston Park...brought so many memories back especially of riding on the giant stride. And I've just remembered, the drinking water we drank from a metal cup on a chain. Then on the right, where those two people are standing, we used to climb a small set of steps and on to a huge running track with an ashe centre and then further across to play footie...on the way home we bought a Jubbly from the outdoor on the Cov...happy days! If I remeber right, just to the right of the park entrance was a kindergarten where my sister went in the late 40's early 50's.
 
I can remember Status Quo playing there about that time. I bought Rick Parfit a hot dog. The hot dog man couldnt change a 5 pound note.
 
I reguarly go to Small Heath Park - does anyone remember the head statue of George Dawson? kids always put a fag in his mouth.Iirc statue was stolen in mid 80s/90s(reported in Evening Mail) - but i'm sure i saw it at Dollman St stores -or am i getting confused with another statue?
 
tali said:
I reguarly go to Small Heath Park - does anyone remember the head statue of George Dawson? kids always put a fag in his mouth.Iirc statue was stolen in mid 80s/90s(reported in Evening Mail) - but i'm sure i saw it at Dollman St stores -or am i getting confused with another statue?
Click to expand...
yes...i remember wasnt it by the main enterance on coventry road, opposite a newsagent that used to be called Lyndons,...just on the right as you enter the park....i use to go through the park to go to waverly school on waverly road....anyone got any pictures of the boathouse and boats, the old slide and swings with the youth centre by the pond and also the golf course with the house next to it, where you had to pay get your putting wedge. There was also a bowling green there to and just next to the bowling roon there was a wooden room where snooker was played...never actually went in there but always passed it when going to school....
 
pmc1947 said:
When you were talking about the pool, I assumed you were talking about the boating pool. Which I though had been filled in some years ago, so I took a look on Google and to my surprise its still there.

The paddling pool that I remember has long gone, I don't remember the concrete ship though, but perhaps that is down to aging memory. Funny though it doesn't show on either of these photo's. The first one is from 1958 which I think is believable, but the second (the one with the pram) is supposed to be 1967. I thought the paddling pool had gone by then.

Phil
Click to expand...
Thanks for he photo's, and for bringing back happy memories. I remember discovering for the first time, that the concrete shape in the middle of the lido was in fact, a boat! Truth be known, I'm probably in the 2nd photo somewhere, as we couldn't afford holidays back then, and any decent weather we had, we spent it in Small Heath park. Happy days!!
 
Used to be taken there to feed the ducks.

Oxford Bags.jpg

Could any one say if this is in Small Heath Park? It's dad and a relative some time in the 1930s. I can't remember the park well enough.

maria
 
In the past, somewhere on another thread, I have related the story of my father, recently evacuated from Dunkirk, and posted to Small Heath Park. He was stationed in the boat house, and while out boating, with other soldiers, they all fell out of the boat into the pool. My mother an I arrived in time to see him in his long johns, with his uniform hanging over a stove, to dry. Eddie
 
I remember the paddle boats and of course the swans. Flower beds in summer very nice. One trip from the park was to Woolworths down the Cov rd use to be a movie place on the right side down the hill after the bus garage that we went to. John Crump OldBrit. Parker,CoUSA
 
John Old Buddy,

I remember the Coronet and the Grange cinemas just around that part of Coventry Road. There may have been others, I have forgotten. Could it have been one of those? Incidentally, I vaguely remember the Grange Cinema, which was on a corner site, being hit by a German machine gun fire during the early part of WW2.

Does anyone remember that incident? Eddie
 
norfolk brummie said:
John Old Buddy,

I remember the Coronet and the Grange cinemas just around that part of Coventry Road. There may have been others, I have forgotten. Could it have been one of those? Incidentally, I vaguely remember the Grange Cinema, which was on a corner site, being hit by a German machine gun fire during the early part of WW2.

Does anyone remember that incident? Eddie
Click to expand...
The cinema on the hill was the Kingston.....https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/36982
 
The grange , the coronet and the Kingston
 

Attachments

  • 00000kingston2.jpg
    00000kingston2.jpg
    129.1 KB · Views: 50
  • 0000000coronet.jpg
    0000000coronet.jpg
    116.5 KB · Views: 47
  • The Grange.jpg
    The Grange.jpg
    51.5 KB · Views: 51
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top