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Sutton Park History

  • Thread starter Thread starter O.C.
  • Start date Start date
I aked for that one didn't I. I can't find those cows anywhere. They transferred into adobe photo shot [should have] but they are not there Pete checked for me. Never mind eh. Jean.
 
Nothing wrong with a few cows, Jean, it's the bulls that get a bit stroppy. I used to use the Four Oaks gate and go in through the Gum Slade. Best oaks inthe world there. Can't help with the camera I'm afraid wouldn't know where to start. Regards David
G G Jean said:
After a bit of a damper we went on to Sutton Park Streetly gate [my least favourite] but had a long walk with the dog [and Peter] but everywhere we went were confronted with cows and dogs off their leads. If there are no other dogs about we let him off as he never runs off [yet] he is microchipped and his colar has our address and phone No on. Well when the cows began to come towards us we made a sharp exit. On the whole not our day today. Never mind you can't win em all. A couple of photo's of the cows in the distance. Bye. Jean. This is not my day they have not gone into fine pics. Arrrgggg. Jean.
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Hi David me old son af a gun wher've ya bin?. A couple of people have been killed by cows lately in this country so I keep well away. How are you?. Will be going to the park again next week but not the cow side. Bye. Jean.
 
Look what's turned up. Pete found them for me. I suppose I could have said I had gone back but that would have been cheating. Jean.
 
Hello young Jean, a mate of mine was kiled by a cow in Darwin, he choked on a TBone Steak. When you're at Sutton Park the next time take out a rowing boat on Blackroot Billabong and when you're in the middle listen very carefully, you'll hear a young tenor voice singing to a girl holding an oak leaf. The song was called, 'Do not trust him gentle maiden'. Regards, David.
G G Jean said:
Hi David me old son af a gun wher've ya bin?. A couple of people have been killed by cows lately in this country so I keep well away. How are you?. Will be going to the park again next week but not the cow side. Bye. Jean.
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Thanks for posting the photo's Miriam and David I will at least stand by the pool and see if I can hear echo's from the past. Jean.
 
hi all
I was at the Jamboree in 1957 was any one else there???. I believe lady Baden-Powell was at the ceremony I had my first taste of Coca Cola from the American Scout camp cost 1/- a bottle a fortune then. Can anyone tell me if the fun fair is still in Sutton Park.
Can someone put a photo of the Jamboree stone larger as I cannot read it.
Many thanks.
regards
Paul Stacey
 
I visited the Jamboree, and listened to its 'Ham Radio' on my home-built one valve short wave radio receiver. I bought the parts for the radio from a shop in Worcester.
 
Thanks Miriam, the photo's reminded me of my happy times in the park. It's strange really, I thought I owned it in those days and Robin Hood in a boys skin had many an adventure and not a few near one's in the swamps and bogs around Blackroot and Bracebridge. So many good times, so many hours spent learning to forget the bombing of Aston. Kind regards, David

Al Banner said:
Hello A few pictures of Sutton Park I have taken over a time. Must try and get a few fresh ones. Miriam
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David I felt exactly the same the park was my playground. In the summer holidays I almost lived there. The worst experience for me was taking my brothers box kite to fly with my friends. This was not an ordinary kite it was in fact an ex navy distress kite my Dad bought from the army and navy store in Brum. It stood about five foot high. The day I took it there were strong winds and the string broke, it took us hours to find it. Still it wasn't as bad as when my brothers flew it off a beach in Bournemouth and the life boat came out because they thought it was a ship in distress. David I can fully understand you going to the park to forget the bombings although I have no idea how difficult it must have been.
 
Wendy what a great way to start the the day with a good laugh. I can just see the panic in the lifeboat as it headed down the beach. Great story and made me wonder if it's written down in the family history because it should be. Regards, David.
Wendy said:
David I felt exactly the same the park was my playground. In the summer holidays I almost lived there. The worst experience for me was taking my brothers box kite to fly with my friends. This was not an ordinary kite it was in fact an ex navy distress kite my Dad bought from the army and navy store in Brum. It stood about five foot high. The day I took it there were strong winds and the string broke, it took us hours to find it. Still it wasn't as bad as when my brothers flew it off a beach in Bournemouth and the life boat came out because they thought it was a ship in distress. David I can fully understand you going to the park to forget the bombings although I have no idea how difficult it must have been.
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I remember all the sixth formers be"volunteered" by our Headmaster Bill Roberts of Riland Bedford School, to help set up the tented Hospital and other buildings,we had to dig drainage ditches
unpack crates of Hospital supplies and do general labouring duties.This went on for quite a few weeks Better than having a day of maths and geography,we were picked up from the school in vans donated to the jamboree by the Austin (B.M.C)
 
What a cracking story our kid.......how come you never told me this one! If these events happened now we wouldn't get help from the local car firms cause we aint got any!!

By the way folks this is one of my brothers who fetched out the lifeboat with his kite!
 
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I had one of those orange box kites that could be bought from Army Surplus. They had aluminum struts that folded and could be sprung into shape. I once left it up all night flying from the back garden. It eventually got burnt when it snagged on a 132,000 volt Pylon cable. Lots of sparks, flashes, luckily the string was dry. It hung on the cable for weeks. I never flew it in Sutton Park, but I lost 2 model aircraft in the woods there.
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Yes that was the one Old Mohawk. It seems they caused a few problems these kites........happy days!
 
Hi our Wend. it's only looking at these post it tends to jog the memory of all what happened in Sutton Park "Borrowin boats on blackroot" midnight swimming in Bracebridge plus lots I ain't told you about, what me and Bob got up to!! great times.
 
I spent a lovely evening on the little island at Bracebridge Billabong and I aint talking either. Thanks for the reminder. Regards, david.
john said:
Hi our Wend. it's only looking at these post it tends to jog the memory of all what happened in Sutton Park "Borrowin boats on blackroot" midnight swimming in Bracebridge plus lots I ain't told you about, what me and Bob got up to!! great times.
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My yellow box kite, finished up somwere over VILLA PARK WITTON after flying it from the hill at the back of aston hall.Dad had got it from what now is Flechers in Dartmouth St, when it was "army & navy store" around 1947/8
Used string that would not take the strain?????
 
I bet thats were our Dad bought our kite from Baron. I loved going to fletcher's to buy bits for my Mini. Yes the problem with the kites was the aluminum loop where you tied the string. As the kite flew the loop would cut through the string. My brothers were lucky not to loose ours over the south coast.......such great memories.
 
Memories long forgotten are coming back to haunt me/ My uncle Jim built a model aeroplane in Gladstone Street before the war and launched it from that hill Baron. Took four weeks to build it and about half a minute for the wind and a lump of wound elastic to take it to the villa ground which must have been full of our stuff. Do they still fly model aircraft in Sutton Park just inside the Sutton gate? Regards, David..
 
Yes they do still fly on that hill just up from banners Gate,our son used to fly there ,but found it to costly when he first started (to many crashes) .
He now helps run a Nytro car club over Four Oaks way & races most weekends all over the country,in Nov he is of to Italy to race.
 
Was that the area which in my youth was still known as the "tank testing ground"?

The aeromodellers were shifted there in the late 1940s after several years using a golf fairway not far from Keeper's Pool. I suppose the Golf Club got fed up with them in the end.

Then, virtually all the aircraft were gliders (launched at the end of a long towing string) or rubber powered jobs which necessitated the propellor assembly being pulled a long way out of the fuselage whilst the owner furiously wound it up using a converted hand drill. A model with a petrol engine (including tiny spark plug and hefty battery) was technology to marvel at and was probably a survivor from pre-war.

No radio control of course but sometimes the models would have a time fuse which eventually disabled the tail plane and allowed it to float gently back to earth only a bicycle ride away from its launch point.

Chris
 
Until about 10 years ago there was plenty of free-flight model-flying in Sutton Park, but now very little as the gorse has been allowed to run wild and it's difficult to follow the models. There's still some radio-control flying, but not as much as there used to be becase there are better flying-sites elsewhere.

Big Gee
 
Many many years ago, I saved up and bought a Mills .75cc engine. I built a Keil Kraft 'Pirate' model aeroplane from a kit bought from the shop at the top of Cherry St. Took it to the Golf Course in Sutton Park, filled up the tank, place it on the putting green, started the engine, proudly watched it take off, and climb in gentle circles. The sky was cloudless, and it climbed and climbed until it disappeared, never to be seen again. Saved up again and bought an ED 1cc engine, bought another kit 'Skyscooter', didn't put so much fuel in this time, but it landed in the forest, never saw it again. I tried radio control after that, but hand launched it into a stiff breeze - it went up and straight over my head, big crunch behind me, and I carried the bits home. I did get model aeroplanes sorted eventually....
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oldMohawk said:
Many many years ago, I saved up and bought a Mills .75cc engine. I built a Keil Kraft 'Pirate' model aeroplane from a kit bought from the shop at the top of Cherry St. Took it to the Golf Course in Sutton Park, filled up the tank, place it on the putting green, started the engine, proudly watched it take off, and climb in gentle circles. The sky was cloudless, and it climbed and climbed until it disappeared, never to be seen again. Saved up again and bought an ED 1cc engine, bought another kit 'Skyscooter', didn't put so much fuel in this time, but it landed in the forest, never saw it again. I tried radio control after that, but hand launched it into a stiff breeze - it went up and straight over my head, big crunch behind me, and I carried the bits home. I did get model aeroplanes sorted eventually....
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Hi Mohawk,

Mills 75...hmmm...I could never afford one of those, and had to be content with cheaper engines that were pigs to start. The Mills was in a class of its own, and change hands these days for silly money. I remember the KK Pirate - nice model. First model I really got to work was a Mercury Magna with a DC Dart 0.5cc. Although I now fly carbon-fibre FF models (rubber-driven international class Wakefields), I still have a soft spot for the old days, and one day when I get the time I'll build another Magna.

Been flying control-line today at Nuneaton - glorious sunshine, flight after flight, only packed up when it began to get dark.

Big Gee
 
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