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Walsall Road WW2 tanks

oldplumber

oldplumber

master brummie
Does any one recall a little further up the Walsal Rd just past the crematorium at the builders merchants"Mole & Woods"towards the end of the war all those damaged battle tanks that were stored there !!!
 
I very well remember the tanks off Walsall Road - used to play in them quite often.

Regarding Perry Hall playing fields - I am surprised no one's mentioned the ack-ack and searchlight batteries that were there during the war (is everyone too young?), A real fascination for us young lads. After the family got tired of going down the shelter during the blitz, I used to watch the searchlights raking the sky and the flashes from the guns during the air raids through my bedroom window.

After I left Dorrington Road school and moved to Handsworth Grammar, I used to cycle through the park from the Lavendon Road entrance to the Cherry Wood Road entrance on my way to and from school. We used to play impromotue cricket and football matches in the park and cut out a 'speedway' track to race round on old bicycles with no brakes. Happy days!
 
I collected loads of shrapnel and stored it in the shed together with 5 fins from incendiary bombs. One of which came through the roof and landed in my pillow, luckily my mother had come to insist that we were to go down to the shelter since ' they were getting a bit close tonight' and we only just made it to the landing when we heard this crash and a vivid white flash lit up the whole of the upstairs. The other four fins I found in the garden. (this was at 74 Dorrington Road). We also had all the windows blown out when a bomb landed on the new (not yet inhabited) caretakers house, which was immediately opposite. There was also an unexploded land mine which landed in the garden of no. 100 (the Windwards) when most of the local kids rushed down to see the huge crater it created - then the police and bomb disposal squad arrived and we all had to clear off and a lot of houses evacuated.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
wally said:
I collected loads of shrapnel and stored it in the shed together with 5 fins from incendiary bombs. One of which came through the roof and landed in my pillow, luckily my mother had come to insist that we were to go down to the shelter since ' they were getting a bit close tonight' and we only just made it to the landing when we heard this crash and a vivid white flash lit up the whole of the upstairs. The other four fins I found in the garden. (this was at 74 Dorrington Road). We also had all the windows blown out when a bomb landed on the new (not yet inhabited) caretakers house, which was immediately opposite. There was also an unexploded land mine which landed in the garden of no. 100 (the Windwards) when most of the local kids rushed down to see the huge crater it created - then the police and bomb disposal squad arrived and we all had to clear off and a lot of houses evacuated.
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oldMohawk said:
Not far from Perry Hall Park on the Walsall Rd, do you remember these 1947 scenes shown in link below
By the way, I was a shrapnel collector and also touched an unexploded bomb for a dare.
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/old-street-pics.38737/post-498294

oldmohawk
Click to expand...
wally said:
I collected loads of shrapnel and stored it in the shed together with 5 fins from incendiary bombs. One of which came through the roof and landed in my pillow, luckily my mother had come to insist that we were to go down to the shelter since ' they were getting a bit close tonight' and we only just made it to the landing when we heard this crash and a vivid white flash lit up the whole of the upstairs. The other four fins I found in the garden. (this was at 74 Dorrington Road). We also had all the windows blown out when a bomb landed on the new (not yet inhabited) caretakers house, which was immediately opposite. There was also an unexploded land mine which landed in the garden of no. 100 (the Windwards) when most of the local kids rushed down to see the huge crater it created - then the police and bomb disposal squad arrived and we all had to clear off and a lot of houses evacuated.
Click to expand...
My parents lived at 74 Dorrington Road from approx 1968-2013 (Anderson’s). My dads Parents also lived at 70 Dorrington it you remember them
 
adecbr600 said:
My parents lived at 74 Dorrington Road from approx 1968-2013 (Anderson’s). My dads Parents also lived at 70 Dorrington it you remember them
Click to expand...
Hi,
It might be better for you to reply directly to Wally's post#3 .. hit the Reply button on his post and enter your comment. This should generate an email alert to him. I was commenting in this thread but did not live in Dorrington Road. I lived on the Beeches Estate.
oldmohawk
 
wally said:
I collected loads of shrapnel and stored it in the shed together with 5 fins from incendiary bombs. One of which came through the roof and landed in my pillow, luckily my mother had come to insist that we were to go down to the shelter since ' they were getting a bit close tonight' and we only just made it to the landing when we heard this crash and a vivid white flash lit up the whole of the upstairs. The other four fins I found in the garden. (this was at 74 Dorrington Road). We also had all the windows blown out when a bomb landed on the new (not yet inhabited) caretakers house, which was immediately opposite. There was also an unexploded land mine which landed in the garden of no. 100 (the Windwards) when most of the local kids rushed down to see the huge crater it created - then the police and bomb disposal squad arrived and we all had to clear off and a lot of houses evacuated.
Click to expand...
wally said:
I collected loads of shrapnel and stored it in the shed together with 5 fins from incendiary bombs. One of which came through the roof and landed in my pillow, luckily my mother had come to insist that we were to go down to the shelter since ' they were getting a bit close tonight' and we only just made it to the landing when we heard this crash and a vivid white flash lit up the whole of the upstairs. The other four fins I found in the garden. (this was at 74 Dorrington Road). We also had all the windows blown out when a bomb landed on the new (not yet inhabited) caretakers house, which was immediately opposite. There was also an unexploded land mine which landed in the garden of no. 100 (the Windwards) when most of the local kids rushed down to see the huge crater it created - then the police and bomb disposal squad arrived and we all had to clear off and a lot of houses evacuated.
Click to expand...
My parents lived at 74 Dorrington Road from approx 1968-2013 (Anderson’s). My dads Parents also lived at 70 Dorrington it you remember them
 
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