My family came from Alum Rock / Ward End. My nan lived in Sandbourne Road. I knew the Pelham when it had a cinema and a model shop opposite (I used to get my Hornby trains fixed there). I have a fondness for the area - or rather I used to. I avoid it like the plague, now, along with several other parts of Birmingham. That connection has been lost. Like a lot of areas in Birmingham, now, it no longer belongs to us, sadly. Even driving through there I feel like a stranger. The same with the park. I remember watching the trains go through it (steam trains!). I know that Alum Rock park has gone a similar way. You need to be of a particular type to be allowed in there. Same with Cannon Hill park. What on earth is happening? I don't necessarily blame the council. Government, yes. Also hidden agendas. I, for one, am glad I won't be around to see the conclusion. Sorry, but it makes me so sad.
I empathise entirely with you Gary. Our cultural and personal birthright has been destroyed in Birmingham because of ambitious interfering local politicians and national politicians NIMBY profiteering. Why can't we go back and see the houses and areas where we grew up and our schools, and fondly remember...simply because the inner cities were available to be sacrificed, as were the working class people who lived there.
Bet David Cameron and his mate George and all the others down in Parliament can still go see where they grew up without being sickened and alienated! We are just the 'underclass' to them, and so we don't matter!