Capturing, preserving and sharing Solihull's history. Also commemorating local casualties from the First World War #SolihullRemembers
Paul Oppenheimer was born in Berlin on 20th September 1928 and died on 8th March 2007 after living in the Solihull borough for more than 40 years.
His parents were Jewish but not very religious and, in his autobiography, From Belsen to Buckingham Palace, Paul notes that his middle-class family was quite assimilated, as were most German Jews at the time, considering themselves proud Germans.
Continue reading “Paul Oppenheimer MBE (1928-2007)”
On 24th January 1953, Miss Constance May Podesta from Solihull married Mr Charles Turner, a Methodist preacher and retired pattern-maker from Coseley. The marriage took place at Solihull Congregational Church, where Miss Podesta, known by her middle name, May, had been organist since about 1937.
On the afternoon of Sunday 5th December 1880, John Gateley, a 25-year-old unmarried cowman employed at a Stechford farm, was fatally shot whilst in the yard at the back of the Gardeners’ Arms, High Street, Solihull.
Continue reading “Murder at Solihull 1880”
The Birmingham Gazette 29th March 1935 contains a report of the opening of Solihull Magistrates’ Court, Warwick Road, Solihull on the previous day. The first case called was that of a householder who was summoned for having her chimney on fire. She was told that “as it was the first case heard in the court, it would be dismissed.”
Until Solihull became a County Borough Council on 1st April 1964, the provision of state education in the area was the responsibility of Warwickshire County Council. We’re aware of five special schools in the Solihull urban/metropolitan district, catering for children with physical or learning disabilities:
In addition, there was also a special school at nearby Packwood Haugh, Warwickshire.
On Wednesday 19th November 1845, Thomas Tranter, a 60-year-old farmer described as living near Docker’s Gate in the parish of Berkswell, was found murdered in an outbuilding adjoining his home.
The door was locked from the outside and he was found face down in a pool of blood in the doorway, with a sack over his head and a blood-stained bill hook and axe lying next to him. Death was apparently due to a fracture of the skull, caused by a single blow from a blunt instrument, believed to be the head of the axe, which bore some of Thomas Tranter’s grey hairs. Mr Arthur Sargeant, surgeon from Meriden, declared that it would have been quite impossible for the wound to have been self-inflicted.
The Cresta Theatre Club, adjoining the Cresta Ice Rink in Hobs Moat Road, Solihull opened for business at 8pm on Wednesday 16th November 1966, having been granted a six-month licence by Solihull Council on 20th October 1966. The licence allowed for opening from 7pm-11.45pm on weekdays, and 7pm-10.30pm on Sundays. The General Manager was Enrique Campos.
The company – Cresta Theatre Club Ltd – had tried to obtain a licence in April 1966 but the application was rejected following concerns from residents over noise and traffic. There were also claims that existing noise from the ice rink had rendered several nearby homes unsaleable.
Shortly after the devastating blitz of Coventry on 14th/15th November 1940, Miss Caroline (“Carrie”) Amelia Morgan (1889-1963), Headmistress of Moseley Avenue School, Coventry, together with a small group of teachers, brought a party of 160 children aged 2-14 to Solihull. The children were billeted in foster homes and, a few weeks after their arrival, schooling began to be provided.
In April 2020 the Heritage Gallery at the Core was meant to house an exhibition celebrating the 800th anniversary of St Alphege Church. The St Alphege 800 Steering Group co-ordinated information from a variety of Christian organisations within Solihull parish to celebrate 800 years of Christianity in the district.
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It’s said that a ghost haunts the historic Malvern Hall in Solihull. There are reports of a ghost being seen on the stairwell in the early hours of the morning. The luminous figure apparently appears around midnight and descends the staircase before disappearing.
