sharing Solihull's local history
On 3rd August 1944, Solihull Urban District Council purchased Elmdon Hall and its grounds from Mr Walter Waters (1881-1963) for use as a public park. Mr Waters, a wholesale fish merchant of St Bernard’s Road, Olton, had purchased the Elmdon Estate in 1931 but never actually lived there.
Continue reading “Elmdon Park”
On 22nd May 1944, a 16-year-old carrier pigeon known as “Old Billy,” travelling at around 60mph, flew into Solihull bearing a cheque for £1,000. The pigeon, owned by Albert James Wager (1880-1947) of 338, Blossomfield Road, was one of the “heroes” of Solihull’s “Salute the Soldier” week, part of a national savings campaign to raise money for field hospitals and military equipment.
Continue reading ““Old Billy” helps Solihull’s Salute the Soldier Week, 1944″
The elementary school in the grounds of Elmdon Park closed for the final time on Christmas Eve, 1943. The entry in the school log book notes the closure for Christmas but it seems that the school never actually reopened. There had been five juniors and 12 infants on the school roll on 10th December 1943, with only 80 per cent of the juniors attending school, and 31.6 per cent of the infants. The following week there were only 10 children registered.
Continue reading “Elmdon C of E School”
Although suffering only a few bombing raids compared with Birmingham, Solihull Urban District did sustain some bomb damage and dozens of people were killed in air raids.
Continue reading “Bombing raids in Solihull Urban District”
Lieutenant Gerald George Cates of the headquarters company of Solihull Home Guard (5th Warwickshire), died in Shaftesbury Military Hospital on 20th April 1942 after suffering an abdominal injury during a battle exercise at Imberdown, near Warminster, on Salisbury Plain. He was 44 years old and was one of some 25 officers and men who died as a result of the Imber “friendly fire” incident on 13th April 1942 when a Hawker Hurricane fighter plane (similar to those pictured above) taking part in a demonstration accidentally opened fire on a crowd of spectators.
Continue reading “Military funeral of Lieut G. G. Cates”
On 15th November 1940, a new Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital opened at Totehill, Blossomfield Road, Solihull. The house was built during 1901/2 and was originally the home of Stephen William Challen (1842-1937) of the Birmingham engineering firm, Taylor and Challen. It became a Red Cross convalescent home during the Second World War and was subsequently known as Red Cross House.
Continue reading “Totehill, Blossomfield Road, Solihull”
The Solihull: Back to the Future event at the Core Theatre, Solihull on 17th September 2021 included the World Premiere of a short video showing Solihull High Street’s shops as you’ve never seen them before. That’s unless you were around in 1948…
Continue reading “Solihull Virtual High Street 1948”
It looks as if Cedarhurst, Park Road, Solihull was built in the mid-1890s and was demolished around 1973. A building control plan at the Core Library Solihull (ref.: SOL/PS/1/1/647), dated March 1894, depicts one detached villa in Park Road, opposite Malvern House, which appears to be Cedarhurst, although not named as such.
The plan shows that the property was designed by architect John Henry Hawkes and built by Charles Bragg. The owner was Edward Bottomley, a grocer from Deritend, Birmingham.
On Tuesday 17th June 1941, Sergeant Harry Brooks, of the Warwickshire Constabulary, based at Shirley Police Station, was presented with the George Medal by His Majesty King George VI at Buckingham Palace. The George Medal was instituted in January 1941 to reward “acts of great bravery” and arose out of the strong desire to reward acts of civilian courage during the Blitz.
Continue reading “Police Sergeant Harry Brooks GM”
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”
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