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Stechford - The Village

Hi Dennis,

re the Richmond

Do you remember Ray Parfitt or George Walker? Dad used to talk about them along with your dad.

batmadviv
 
Hi batmadviv,
Hope my brother and I weren't thought of as 'unsavoury characters' when we sat behind the bushes having an illicit fag, ha, ha!
I spent hours in all of the parks - Morden Rd, the Dell, Yardley Fields - used to take my dog or my little sister with me. I'd go over the bridge in Morden Rd park and wander around to my hearts content. Never crossed my mind it might not be safe; like you say, days of innocence. There again, I still love sitting in our local park on a quiet morning when the sun is shining and I never think of it as risky.
Are any of those parks still there now, do you know?
Angela
 
Angela K said:
Hi batmadviv,
Hope my brother and I weren't thought of as 'unsavoury characters' when we sat behind the bushes having an illicit fag, ha, ha!
I spent hours in all of the parks - Morden Rd, the Dell, Yardley Fields - used to take my dog or my little sister with me. I'd go over the bridge in Morden Rd park and wander around to my hearts content. Never crossed my mind it might not be safe; like you say, days of innocence. There again, I still love sitting in our local park on a quiet morning when the sun is shining and I never think of it as risky.
Are any of those parks still there now, do you know?
Angela
Click to expand...

Unsavory to me would more likely be 'rough' boys (including my brother) with bikes and footballs, not to mention the aforementioned mac wearing bloke who flashed at my friends and me. I too enjoy our local park and enjoy taking my grandson there to play on the equipment. My allotment backs on to the park so feel doubly privileged. I think the parks are still there, totally unfenced now. In autumn 2010 I walked all down Bordesley Green East, past the parks and including the previously named Royston Road, and turned right onto Stoney Lane. How the whole area has gone down. Stoney Lane near Vicarage Road seems untouched by time largely due to the expanse of grass on the outer circle bus route. A lot of the 'grot' is due to the muck traffic causes. Perhaps it is my memory playing tricks but I don't think so.

Were you a member of guides or brownies that met at All Saints church hall? I went to the groups that met at the YWCA before it became the masonic hall. 104th Birmingham.
Take care,
Batmadviv (yes, I really do like bats)
 
Angela K said:
Good link, Dennis, thanks, and a really interesting story about Richmond Road and the bomb. What an experience that must have been.
Can you just clear something up for me regarding the attached pictures, please? I think they both show the same Richmond Road shops - the Candy Box now being the Lifestyle Express - but I saw the original one labelled as Albert Road earlier on in the thread. Am I right or not?
Angela
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Yes, they are one and the same. They are in Richmond Road really, but I was never sure where Richmond Rd ended and Albert Rd started, so I'm not surprised if a label is a bit wonky...

The bomb must have been quite frightening, but we never lived there then. It was BECAUSE of the bomb that the owner of 78 sold it to Dad later, to get out...I was minus one then anyway.

Do you remember the Primrose Fair every Spring at the YWCA? And the Pantomimes and other Shows. I did G&Ss 'three little maids from school' with two other lads once to enormous apathy from the stunned audience I seem to recall....
 
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I always thought of Albert Road finishing by the school gates and Morden Road starting the other side of them or thereabouts but it was the sweet shop I recognised - I used to know every sweet shop in the area because of the amount of time (and pocket money) I spent in them. I'd still be the same now only no one gives me pocket money any more!
Yes, I remember the shows at the YWCA. I also remember going there for gym lessons when I was at Corpus Christi Primary School...bean bags, hula-hoops, gambolling on the coconut mats...the best thing about it was the walk there and back.
Yes, batmadviv, I went to Brownies and Girl Guides for years round at the All Saint's Church hall. Mrs Mann was our guide leader; that's where I first met Judith Oakes.
 
Angela K said:
I always thought of Albert Road finishing by the school gates and Morden Road starting the other side of them or thereabouts but it was the sweet shop I recognised - I used to know every sweet shop in the area because of the amount of time (and pocket money) I spent in them. I'd still be the same now only no one gives me pocket money any more!
Yes, I remember the shows at the YWCA. I also remember going there for gym lessons when I was at Corpus Christi Primary School...bean bags, hula-hoops, gambolling on the coconut mats...the best thing about it was the walk there and back.
Yes, batmadviv, I went to Brownies and Girl Guides for years round at the All Saint's Church hall. Mrs Mann was our guide leader; that's where I first met Judith Oakes.
Click to expand...

My sister ran Brownies there for some time but after your time I think. My cousin Elizabeth went to Brownies and Guides there and was also in the church choir. Do you remember Avis Mann, Mrs Mann's daughter? She was more or less the same age as I was. There were several boys in the family. My mother became involved in the Guide movement and became a commissioner. I think it must have been via my sister and well after my time in the movement. I was married by then and had moved away. Do you remember a blind lady called Mrs Ward? She had a daughter who I thought was beautiful. She had long blonde hair. I think they lived in Mary Road. Mrs Ward used to do the Sunday School at All Saints. How I hated going to Sunday School. Nothing to do with the organisation; I just preferred the normal church services.

We too went to the YWCA for PE from Stechford Primary. I agree that the walk there and back was the best part.
 
It's almost taken from the War Memorial right next to the School at beginning of Albert Rd. That's Lyttleton Road on left. Looking down Yardley Fields Rd to Station Rd at bottom of hill. Corner of playing fields/beginning of Stuarts Rd off right. Well before your time!
 
There is now a children’s home on the opposite corner, or whatever they are called these days, on the corner of Stewarts Road and Richmond Road, any pictures of what used to be there before and how it came about?
 
It was the petrol pumps that confused me. I don't remember them but I do remember the large house on the corner of Lyttleton Rd being on fire and the fire brigade attending to put the fire out. I think it was 1959 or 60 and it was a sunny day. Thanks for all your pictures.
 
I remember the petrol pumps on Yardley Fields Road, and I'm pretty sure my mother used to go there and buy paraffin for our fires. That would be early 1960's.

Now for my moment of confusion: Can someone remind me where the Yardley Arms pub was, please? Was that on Yardley Fields Road - if so, where?
 
Walk down Yardley Fields road, across Station Road and up Yardley Fields Road on the opposite side and The Yardley Arms was/is on the left handside, one of the few pubs around about still standing as a pub.
 
Thanks - for the photograph, the map and the reminder of the pub's location.
I'd forgotten Yardley Fields Road continued across Station Road.
I never drank in there but it was on my 'walking route' as a girl, so I should have remembered.
So much has changed but the photos, and other people's memories, bring it back in an instant.
 
I like the shot of the YWCA, another one just as I remember it. A good one of the church too.
I don't know if anyone has a photo that shows the old Corpus Christi Church on Lyttleton Road, when it was next door to the school. It was very different to the big one there now. I would love to see a picture of it, please, if possible.
 
Thanks Dennis. The YWCA is as I remeber it too. We used to walk on the wall if we were early waiting for the doors to open before Guide or Brownie meetings. I wonder how long the lamp outside the Richmond would last these days. What year was the picture of All Saints taken? I notice that the centre window is the one Fred Onions bequeathed to the church c1968. No traffic to speak of either!

batmadviv
 
Yes, Viv, most of my family met each other at the Ydub over the years. Do you remember the bloke in the wheelchair and his wife that ran the place? Can't remember his name, maybe Bernard? Anyway the shot of the Rainbow I took in the early 60s from our front garden. A similar one from the Dell taken in 1964. Must have liked Judy Garland as a young photographer? The Richmond Postcard was a present from Jim Pritchard who runs this fabulous facility, so be nice to it! More to come...

Picture of All Saints dated 1972.
 
dwilly said:
Where was the police station before they built the big one where it is now? Was it the bottom of Fieldhouse Road where a big house is currently being renovated?
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Here is the big house currently being renovated corner of Yardley Fields and Station Rds, although I hear there is a bit of a problem as the owners have extended beyond the planned (?) Building Line and it seriously impacts on the front of the last houses adjacent in Station Rd, allegedly. Impasse at the moment I believe. My spies tell me that the offending bit must to be demolished by order of the Bham City Council. Any one know if this is true or an urban myth?
 
' evenin', Dennis,
As Dame Elizabeth House features in two of your photos in Post #79, may I ask if you ever went to the ballroom-dancing lessons which were held there on a Saturday morning at the end of the 1950's? David
 
Good evening to you too David. Yes, I went to everything there in those days, including the basketball gym lessons, although I didn't pick up much ( apart from a very good wife of 43 years so far), except the basics of the most agricultural of waltzes. I much preferreed the Friday evening Youth Club Rock'n'Roll nights, where I was MUCH better at jiving and DJ'ing. Won a prize for the best jiver with a nice girl who came on a Coach with others from another Youth Group (from Bromsgrove I think). Snogged her too briefly I still remember (ah to be 14 again), and this is still my proudest moment of all time (hence the bragging rites) ...

Also went to R&R nights at the Baptist Hall in Frederick Road in the late 50s. Had to walk home trying to look tough ( failed miserably) in case the local Teddy Boys were hanging around the village...phew, always made it without problems. It is still there (see photo from google) exactly the same some 50 years later...remarkable.
 
I lived on Winstanley Road, thanks for the views though, great chimnley on the house on the corner of Yardley Fields road don't think that remains
 
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