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A selection of his scanned photographs and slides together with his accompanying notes taken between the 1960s and 1990s, in and around Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Smethwick, West Bromwich and Walsall.
I've tried hard without success to remember where this was, but as I used to walk home from Newhall Street through parts of Hockley, Newtown
and Handsworth, I have to assume that it was somewhere in that area.
A few photos from the 1960s visits to Birmingham of the Pat Collins Onion Fair, held at the Serpentine Ground in Aston, a site once occupied by an Asda Supermarket (now gone to One Stop, Perry Barr). It is now used only as a car park for Aston Villa football club.
Taken on a dull, drizzly, Sunday in 1979, six years before the riots in 1985, in which many of these shops were burnt down. Wastells was an imposing
greengrocery and poulterer's shop.
As a child, a visit up here from November time really brought on the feeling of Christmas. It doesn't now though of course!
Taken on a dull, drizzly, Sunday in 1979, six years before the riots in 1985, in which many of these shops were burnt down. As a child, a visit up here
from November time really brought on the feeling of Christmas. It doesn't now though of course!
The bus stop was for the No. 40, which ran from Witton Square to Bearwood Road, a much too useful service to survive today. Of these buildings, only the church is still standing today.
before its concreting over to make an industrial estate. This footbridge was among the first things to disappear.
before its concreting over to make an industrial estate. I remember this area as a tranquil spot opposite the cemetery.
before its concreting over to make an industrial estate. This fence had been at the bottom of the gardens that backed onto the canal bank. Their row of houses had already been demolished by this time and an entrance to the huge Witton Cemetery is visible in the distance.
An ever-changing shopping street, it runs from the traffic lights outside Perry Common Library at College Road, Erdington to those at the junction of Kingstanding Road and Warren Farm Road.
Not to be confused with Perry Hall Park, which had been the grounds of Perry Hall before its demolition, this park, less than a mile from it, contains the athletic stadium at the junction of Walsall Road and Church Lane, with another entrance opposite the Boar's Head, Aldridge Road.
The old footbridge over the River Tame in Perry Hall Park. It was removed and replaced by one that would allow a small vessel to pass underneath, not that I have ever seen any kind of vessel on this river.
The river at Perry Hall Park during extensive excavation. The result has been that residents of Witton, two miles downriver, are no longer up to their knees in floodwater every winter. You can't see this exact view today because the far side has been raised into an embankment which obscures the view of the distant fields.
Here's the River Tame at Witton, not many inches below street level. Taken at the time of the old wrought iron railings.
Taken on the last days of the old railings. They are about to be replaced by a four foot wall with shorter railings akin to scaffolding poles on top. Not as attractive, but much more effective at keeping the water out of houses, shops and shoes. Both banks were also replaced by steel cages full of big stones and covered in earth to better resist erosion by the water flow. They looked fairly natural in a few weeks, but no longer can be seen the water rats (voles) frolicking late on summer evenings.
These were my local shops. The buildings are still there but so many of the businesses have closed, and with the spectre of a Tesco being built on the site opposite, the future looks to be no rosier for them.
Update: Tesco's application has since been withdrawn, but they've now built a new supermarket in Aston Lane.