Capturing, preserving and sharing Solihull's history. Also commemorating local casualties from the First World War #SolihullRemembers
On Friday 25th May 1962, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited Solihull – apparently the first official visit of a reigning monarch to the town. She officially opened the new Solihull Civic Hall before visiting Solihull Hospital and then going onto Solihull School, which was celebrating its 400th anniversary.
Continue reading “The Queen opens Solihull Civic Hall”
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”
Silhill Hall stood on the corner of Streetsbrook Road and Broad Oaks Road for some 700 years until it was illegally demolished in 1966. An exhibition at the Core Library, Solihull (until 28th May 2022) includes photos and memories from descendants of the Morris family who owned the house 1904-1949.
Continue reading “Silhill Hall”On 9th February 1945, medical history was made at Solihull when a newborn baby, Rosalind Shelley (1945-1990), was given a complete blood transfusion five minutes after her birth, which took place at Netherwood Maternity Ward, Solihull Hospital. This is believed to have been the first time in the world that the blood of a so-called “blue baby” was changed at birth.
Continue reading “A life-saving operation at Solihull, 1945”
Berry Hall is a name that has been used for two different buildings in Solihull. The name originally referred to the 15th-century half-timbered farm house on Ravenshaw Lane. However, this building was renamed Berry Hall Farm after the estate was bought by Birmingham steel pen-nib manufacturer, Joseph Gillott (junior), from Henry Ludlow on 21st January 1867.
Joseph Gillott transferred the Berry Hall name to a new mansion which was designed for him by architect Julius Alfred Chatwin. Work on the new house apparently began in 1870 and was completed in 1880.
Continue reading “[New] Berry Hall”
In April 1819, two pairs of Coade stone statues arrived at Malvern Hall, Solihull, following a journey from London by canal. Malvern Hall was the home of Henry Greswolde Lewis, a patron of John Constable who, in December 1818, had ordered the statues from the London firm established by Eleanor Coade.
Continue reading “Coade stone statues at Malvern Hall”
Windylow School, which came to occupy nos. 909, 911 and 913 Warwick Road, Solihull was founded with seven pupils in 1938 by schoolteachers Miss [Millicent] Joyce Hoggart-Hill (1911-1999) and Miss Madge F. K. Bagnall (1906-2003). Windylow closed on 18th December 1962 after 24 years as a result of the retirement of the principals.
Continue reading “Windylow School”
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”
On 31st October 1961, the first delivery from Solihull’s Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS) Meals on Wheels service was made to 78-year-old twins, Annie and Ethel Blizzard. The sisters had served Solihull as greengrocers from their shop in the High Street but the Solihull News of 4th November 1961 said it was now their turn to be the customers.
Continue reading “Solihull’s first Meals on Wheels”
Those of you who came along to the Solihull: Back to the Future event at the Core Theatre on 17th September, will have seen our Augmented Reality (AR) pilot, which saw us project an augmented reality version of Solihull Manor House in 1948 onto an apparently empty table. It’s now available for you to have a go with yourself…
Continue reading “Augmented Reality and local history”
Solihull Life 