Your Solihull Library Card gives you access to hundreds of free eBooks available from Solihull Libraries, and we’re trying to add some local history items to the collection.
Continue reading “Local history eBooks”Local history eBooks
“Wayfarer”
Walter MacGregor (“Robbie”) Robinson (1877-1956) was a cyclist and writer from Liverpool. He worked for many years as an official for the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company and lived at Lyttleton Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham from at least 1925 until his death in 1956.
Continue reading ““Wayfarer””Catherine-de-Barnes War Memorial
At 5pm on Trinity Sunday, 22nd May 1921, the Bishop of Birmingham dedicated the war memorial at Catherine-de-Barnes mission church, five years after a war memorial fund was begun.
Continue reading “Catherine-de-Barnes War Memorial”National Cyclists’ Memorial, Meriden
The 30-ft tall granite ashlar obelisk was unveiled by the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Birkenhead, on Saturday 21st May 1921 in the presence of between 10,000-20,000 cyclists. In 1963, a plaque was added to commemorate cyclists who died in the Second World War. The memorial was given a Grade II listing by English Heritage in 2001.
Continue reading “National Cyclists’ Memorial, Meriden”Maengwynedd Outdoor Education Centre
The outdoor education centre was the former Maengwynedd County Primary School in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Denbighshire, Wales, situated in the foothills of the Berwyn mountain range.
Continue reading “Maengwynedd Outdoor Education Centre”German war deaths in Solihull
On the night of 10th/11th May 1941, a German Heinkel He111 bomber was brought down by a Lewis gunner at a Searchlight Battery near Fulford Hall Farm in Rumbush Lane.
Continue reading “German war deaths in Solihull”Evans’ Convalescent Home
The Evans Convalescent Home for Children, Widney Manor Road, Solihull was set up in 1881 by Susannah Sarah Evans (née Lee). She was the wife of Rev. Canon Charles Evans (1824-1904) who was Rector of Solihull 1872-1894. The above photo shows the home c.1940.
11th April 1921
On 11th April 1921, Patrick Larkin, formerly a Private with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, died of tuberculosis at 6 Back 60, Bordesley Street, Birmingham. He was 25 years old and, according to his death certificate, had had TB for 12 months before his death. The local connection with Solihull is that he is buried at Olton Franciscan Friary.
Continue reading “11th April 1921”Opening of Chelmsley Wood Shopping Centre 1971
On Wednesday 7th April 1971 Her Majesty The Queen officially opened the new shopping centre at Chelmsley Wood, which was described as having space for around 70 shops, six stores and a number of boutiques.
Most of Chelmsley’s 40,000 population turned out for the Royal visit. Large crowds gathered along Bosworth Drive and the precinct itself to watch as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh toured the centre and unveiled a commemorative plaque on the clock tower in Greenwood Square. Building firm Bryants, co-developers of the shopping centre with Samuel Properties, had provided local schools with six gross (864) of flags.
Continue reading “Opening of Chelmsley Wood Shopping Centre 1971”Cliff Joiner (1898-1973)
In its “Know your neighbour” feature of 3rd December 1960, the Solihull News focussed on Mr Clifford Arthur Joiner, the village photographer.
Continue reading “Cliff Joiner (1898-1973)”