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The Fair in Stechford!

Frank Parker

Frank Parker

https://frankparker.website
The fair is at Stechford now and it got me wondering how many years it as been at the Stechford Lane site? Also was it ever anywhere else in Stechford before its current location? :rolleyes:
 
bluebrummie, I remember the fairground at Stechford pre WW2, it was Drakeleys fair, they owned the site and when winter came they would stay there until they went on the road when the good weather started in the next year, there were many attempts to stop them holding a fair on the site on the grounds of road congestion as you see all failed, they were never as big as Pat Collin`s fair, i don`t know if the Drakeley still own the site. Len.
 
Frothblower, No buildings that i remember, they lived in their caravans during the winter. All posters on this thread Google " Showmans Guild of Great Britain" its a great site. Len.
 
WOW great memories folks! I had no idea it went that far back!! I can only remember going in the 70's as a kid. :)
 
Hi, talking about fairs etc., I had a moment of 'de ja vou' some years back. I crossed the road where the bridge over the river Cole goes under the Stratford Road nr Springfield ( if I remember rightly - its over 40 years ago). However I suddenly visualised my mother crossing what appeared to be the same road and the same bridge, when I was a child, so that would have been in the forties. On the bank the other side was a gypsy caravan of the type where the door was in the middle, running around were lots of chickens. I remember being told this was my aunt Mary's caravan. Gt. Aunt I should think,

However I gave it no more thought until I started researching my family tree and I questioned an old uncle. He told me that my Granddad had a sister named Mary who ran off with a trapeze artiste named Monseuir le Blond from Collins circus.

I know Collins had a fair but not a circus, although i think they did have various acts in the open at the fair. I thought that the fair came to the River Cole area at Hay Mills, so I thought that mught have been the place. But someone told me that the fairground people wintered at the rive Cole in Yardley ?, just before you turn right for the Hunters Moon?

I think I have set out my locations right, but do any of you fairground buffs, know anything that might help me find out about Gt. Anut Mary? I suspect that Monseuir le Blond is really Fred White!!! thats why I cant find her marriage anywhere.:biggrin:

Incidentally do you remember the parade of animals and artistes when the Circus came to town, and one day I think an elephant escaped. Even if we didnt get to see the Circus, the parade was always exciting. Thanks, Marie.
 
mariep, Shipway Rd is down from the roundabout and the River Cole bridge on the Coventry Rd, Bob Wilsons house is there and the fair wintered behind, on the right hand side of River Cole at Hay Mills, i remember there were sideshows, Boxing booths, Giant rat (Coypu) and other unusual animals, Belly dancers and Magic shows etc, Bertram Mills & Bill Smarts circus came to Hay Mills Recreation ground and in recent years Zippos. Len.
 
John My Gt Grandparents were Knight's I am still researching these people.

My Grandmother was Lily Knight born 1881 (she married William Clifton - I think they could have been cousins cause Cliftons & Knights come into my tree twice in same generation) - her father was John Knight born 1832 (John's father was also a John Knight born c 1810 maybe)

they are still a work in Progress.
 
Thank you all for your replies. Have investigated the link you sent. Looks good. Will let you know if something good comes of it.. Mariep
 
John,
I to am a Knight. While i never lived in Cromwell st, my grandfather and gt grandfather did. Grandad's name was George Richard Knight, and he married Mary Elizabeth Clives in 1918.
Gt grandfather was Joseph william Knight born 1849. married Harriett Cutler in 1876.
Do you know any of these names? I'd be very interested to hear from you either way.
Eddie
 
Eddie,
You have just sent a shiver down my spine.
Your grandad was my father !
Which side of the family are you from, I have a few photographs.
By the way hello relative.
 
John and Eddie
Is there any chance some of your Knights people connect to my Knight family? Is their anywhere I could view either of your trees?

I know I've a lot of Knights my gt Grandma was Lily Knight born 1881 - they are a big family so I am just wondering whether there may be connections somehow!!

It's great you guys turned out to be related by the way!!
Happy New Year to you
 
john knight said:
Eddie,
You have just sent a shiver down my spine.
Your grandad was my father !
Which side of the family are you from, I have a few photographs.
By the way hello relative.
Click to expand...
I just love it when this happens........it's what this site is all about reuniting friends and family!:)
 
Hiya Elizabeth 1,
I have my tree on genes reunited and Ancestry.co.uk My email address is yamvile@hotmail.com feel free to contact me and i'll try to upload a gedcom of the knights part of the tree and send it to you.
Happy new year to you and yours
Eddie
 
I am trying to work out something my grandmother told me: she remembers as a child being taken to visit her paternal grandparents, who lived in a gypsy caravan in Stechford, possibly by a biscut factory? Their surname was SMITH and they made mother of pearl buttons.
After emailing my dads cousin, she has a different story, that the person who lived in the caravan was a foreign man, and her mum (my nans sister) remembers visiting him, but they couldn't pronounce his name, so they refereed to him as Uncle Abu.
Does anyone have any stories or info. Thanks, Leighanne.
 
bluebrummie said:
The fair is at Stechford now and it got me wondering how many years it as been at the Stechford Lane site? Also was it ever anywhere else in Stechford before its current location? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Hi, I'm trying to research something my grandmother told me:- her grandparents lived in a gypsy caravan in Stechford, possibly near a biscut factory (Palmers)??? And they made mother of pearl buttons. Surname SMITH. any info would be appreciated. Thanks, leighanne
 
Leighanne said:
I am trying to work out something my grandmother told me: she remembers as a child being taken to visit her paternal grandparents, who lived in a gypsy caravan in Stechford, possibly by a biscut factory? Their surname was SMITH and they made mother of pearl buttons.
After emailing my dads cousin, she has a different story, that the person who lived in the caravan was a foreign man, and her mum (my nans sister) remembers visiting him, but they couldn't pronounce his name, so they refereed to him as Uncle Abu.
Does anyone have any stories or info. Thanks, Leighanne.
Click to expand...
Hi, It seems we have two similar experiences, at least mine and your Grandmother. Wouldnt it be funny if we are talking about the same caravan couple. I have no idea what the surname of my Gt. Aunt Mary would be, other than her maiden name of Johnson. Monsieur le Blonde could well be a 'stage' name. which does not rule out the fact that he may be foreign. Aunt mary lived nr. Wellington in Shropshire in her youth and every year the 'Wakes.' came to Oakengates nearby.which is where she probably met him.. I always thought that the company was Collins. My Gran used to launder the dresses of the theatre troupe that came with them called the Johnson theatre troupe. I have not been able to establish whether they were related or not.

have you any further information?

regards mariep
 
Hi,
I have found out today that the couple who lived in the gypsy caravan were POSSIBLY my grandmothers Aunt and her husband or common law husband! Her name was Mary, but she used her middle name Adelaide. Her maiden name was Lynch, but she could have been married before. (Maybe to a Johnson!?). We are unsure of the mans name, but my nans sister referred to him as uncle Abu, as he was foreign and the children couldn't pronounce his name. My dads cousin told me her mum had told her this, and that he had a funny moustache, and drank from a cup and saucer which had a moustache "protector" in, which now belongs to my dad. Interestingly, I have found a marr record of a Mary Lynch to an Antonio Cerroni in 1914, B'ham. I intend to order the cert, as I'm hoping it has Mary's father as the same as my records!
 
There was also a McVitie & Price biscuit factory near there on the other side of the river Cole, fairly near the Bulls Head.
My grandparents lived next to the shops on Stechford Lane/Stechford road & my mother worked at McVities when ahe was in her teens. It must have been fairly close because she walked to work ('''Flaxley Road???).
I remember the fair from about 1950 & also a coal yard on the same site(Jenners?).
 
lencops said:
Frothblower, No buildings that i remember, they lived in their caravans during the winter. All posters on this thread Google " Showmans Guild of Great Britain" its a great site. Len.
Click to expand...
My great uncle married a Drakeley ( Sorry can’t remember her name), they lived on this site in a house, I visited many times with my grandmother must have been 50’s. His name was Albert Rose, we had coal delivered by his sons for many years.
 
I have read with interest the contributions regarding the fairground at Stechford. There
were in fact 2 separate fairgrounds on the site. Drakleys occupied the slightly larger piece of land adjacent to the shops by the traffic island at Stechford Lane and Cotterills Lane.The Rogers family owned approximately 1 ½ acres of the site that bordered the River Cole. My grandfather Frank Rogers, purchased this apparently worthless piece of land from Birmingham Council in the 1930's. He moved his wife and 4 children from Heneage Street, Nechells onto the land and continued to live there until his death in the mid 1960’s. When he purchased the land it was a flood plain often under water. So Frank decided to improve
the drainage by persuading the many trucks that had waste coke from the Saltley gasworks not to make long journeys out to the countryside but to drop their loads onto his land, which over time became dry and very usable much to the annoyance of the Council who thought it useless. The Rogers family had a history of being part time Showmen prior to moving to Stechford and the move allowed them to store and run their rides and stalls on their own land. I arrived into the world in the mid 1950’s the only child of Franks oldest daughter Rose and her husband Bill. I lived in a caravan on the land for the first 18 months of my life before moving into a flat in the recently developed Shard End Council estate.
During the 1960’s I was a regular visitor to the ground as pre school my Grandmother, Rose would look after me as my mom worked locally at a dry cleaners in Stechford Road. It was a magical place for a youngster to visit and a welcome escape from the large sprawl of council housing a few miles away. There I could meet up with my cousins whose families by this time had moved off the ground leaving only my Grandparents and Franks sister and her husband and their daughter and her family the only residents in 3 caravans.
Bank holidays and Summer weekends were busy times for the Rogers family as it was time to become Showmen and assemble the rides and stalls that would attract and entertain the local residents and visitors from further afield.We didn’t have the big attractions that our neighbours had on the Drakley land. They had chairoplanes and other large rides. We had a merry-go-round with various animal characters as the rides, I and my 4 cousins even had our names written on the animals. We also had a set of swingboats which my dad used to look after, whilst my mom would run one of the stalls that would test visitors skills to win a prize.
My Grandad died in 1964 followed only one year later by my Grandmother. It was at about this time that their children decided to give up the Showmen life and concentrate on their full time jobs. The only remaining residents where Franks sister and her husband who
remained in their caravan next to the River Cole until her death around 1970.
In the early 1970’s Birmingham City Council decided that they needed to compulsory
purchase the entire area of land owned by the Rogers and desendants of the Drakley
families to widen the increasingly busy Station Road. So in 1972 the council took
ownership of the land in preparation of a road widening scheme. Now we all know that some visionary schemes can take time to come to fruition but it wasn’t until nearly 50 years later that the council got around to using a portion of the compulsory purchased land to widen Station Road. At least during the intervening years locals were able to enjoy a rare piece of countryside adjacent to the number 11 bus route and the council made some money by allowing Bob Wilson to hold events there several times a year to continue the tradition of Stechford Fairground.
 
bwm56 said:
I have read with interest the contributions regarding the fairground at Stechford. There
were in fact 2 separate fairgrounds on the site. Drakleys occupied the slightly larger piece of land adjacent to the shops by the traffic island at Stechford Lane and Cotterills Lane.The Rogers family owned approximately 1 ½ acres of the site that bordered the River Cole. My grandfather Frank Rogers, purchased this apparently worthless piece of land from Birmingham Council in the 1930's. He moved his wife and 4 children from Heneage Street, Nechells onto the land and continued to live there until his death in the mid 1960’s. When he purchased the land it was a flood plain often under water. So Frank decided to improve
the drainage by persuading the many trucks that had waste coke from the Saltley gasworks not to make long journeys out to the countryside but to drop their loads onto his land, which over time became dry and very usable much to the annoyance of the Council who thought it useless. The Rogers family had a history of being part time Showmen prior to moving to Stechford and the move allowed them to store and run their rides and stalls on their own land. I arrived into the world in the mid 1950’s the only child of Franks oldest daughter Rose and her husband Bill. I lived in a caravan on the land for the first 18 months of my life before moving into a flat in the recently developed Shard End Council estate.
During the 1960’s I was a regular visitor to the ground as pre school my Grandmother, Rose would look after me as my mom worked locally at a dry cleaners in Stechford Road. It was a magical place for a youngster to visit and a welcome escape from the large sprawl of council housing a few miles away. There I could meet up with my cousins whose families by this time had moved off the ground leaving only my Grandparents and Franks sister and her husband and their daughter and her family the only residents in 3 caravans.
Bank holidays and Summer weekends were busy times for the Rogers family as it was time to become Showmen and assemble the rides and stalls that would attract and entertain the local residents and visitors from further afield.We didn’t have the big attractions that our neighbours had on the Drakley land. They had chairoplanes and other large rides. We had a merry-go-round with various animal characters as the rides, I and my 4 cousins even had our names written on the animals. We also had a set of swingboats which my dad used to look after, whilst my mom would run one of the stalls that would test visitors skills to win a prize.
My Grandad died in 1964 followed only one year later by my Grandmother. It was at about this time that their children decided to give up the Showmen life and concentrate on their full time jobs. The only remaining residents where Franks sister and her husband who
remained in their caravan next to the River Cole until her death around 1970.
In the early 1970’s Birmingham City Council decided that they needed to compulsory
purchase the entire area of land owned by the Rogers and desendants of the Drakley
families to widen the increasingly busy Station Road. So in 1972 the council took
ownership of the land in preparation of a road widening scheme. Now we all know that some visionary schemes can take time to come to fruition but it wasn’t until nearly 50 years later that the council got around to using a portion of the compulsory purchased land to widen Station Road. At least during the intervening years locals were able to enjoy a rare piece of countryside adjacent to the number 11 bus route and the council made some money by allowing Bob Wilson to hold events there several times a year to continue the tradition of Stechford Fairground.
Click to expand...
welcome to the forum bwm56.
very interesting reading thank you for posting.
 
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