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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.
The small building in the centre was the Grid House, the others were the General Electric Co., whose main entrance was in Electric Avenue. At extreme left was XpelAir, where I was once refused a job because they thought I wouldn't stay long. Well, I've reached retirement age and still in
Witton, while they disappeared some years ago!
The low building in the right foreground carried an iron plaque with the words "Grid House" upon it. Not long after I took this photograph, just the other side of the bridge from Witton Lock, the building had completely disappeared.
This is the view of a bit of machinery of the Grid House from the inside (see previous photograph). I have searched Google without success to find out what the purpose was of such a building.
This street was in Aston, not far from the city centre. It has disappeared now, at least at the Summer Lane end, as something large and sprawling is being built across it.
Children's paddle boats in Perry Hall Park. They were used in what used to be the moat of Perry Hall, which was demolished to create the park from part of the grounds. The tree- lined streets outside the park were once the drives through the grounds to the house. The park used to have plenty
of water but a sad downside to the otherwise excellent anti-flood workings by Severn-Trent has been the drying up of an ornamental
'stream.'
When the M6 Interchange ("Spaghetti Junction") first opened, the verges were planted with swathes of Lupins in a variety of colours. The following year there were just a few scattered ones, and by the third year they had all disappeared, never to reappear.
21. Under Spaghetti Junction from the Electric Avenue road bridge.
You can see Phyllis Nicklin's earlier view from a nearby position
22. Under Spaghetti Junction The car may have fallen in the Tame from the piles of vehicles in the scrap yard to the right of the picture.you can see Phyllis Nicklin's earlier view from the same position
Alleyways like these ran behind many terraced houses without their own entries to facilitate deliveries to rear yards. Before sewerage they allowed access to the worker who removed the "night soil."
This one was in Colmore Row, almost opposite Snow Hill Station. It's strange to think back to those days and to remember what a friendly place Birmingham seemed to be then, with orderly bus queues and civilised teenage behaviour. Perhaps it's my age ...
Photographed in the Nechells/Saltley area. If I remember correctly, on the other side of this road was Hallworth's, who sold me a crash helmet when I was a motorcyclist.
The demolition of Perry Barr Greyhound Track to make way for the One-Stop Shopping Centre. In the foreground is my Muddy City bicycle that Wakelins in Witton Road sold for me to its new owner in Bragg Road, not many yards from here.
The construction of One-Stop Shopping Centre, Perry Barr, taken by my Minox 35GL, an ideal camera for cycling with. The bicycle is the Raleigh Maverick with which I replaced the Muddy City in the last photo. I believed it to be have been made by Araya of Japan, the makers of the Muddy Fox.
34. OneStop Perry Barr 1990 The new shopping centre two months before its opening
Greyhound racing moved here to make room for One Stop Shopping Precinct, while the athletics, which were here, moved down Walsall Road to Perry Barr Park and its own new, rather unsightly, stadium.
Taken from the railway bridge looking towards the City. For the same view in daylight see the next photo. This area was called 'Bristhope End' until a
mistake on a map in the 1700s caused it to be renamed 'Perry Barr.'
To the left is the pedestrian subway to the Perry Barr railway station, and a quite notorious scene of muggings, despite which the local police station in Canterbury Road is no longer manned.