Up and Down Within 50yrs

[Scipio]

I was watching a 15minute documentary on Tuesday night from the BFI site I'm a member of ,  it does seem strange to me that after
working on the then new Birmingham Post and Mail building from 1964-66 . To see Sir Eric Clayson being interviewed by Reg Harcourt
from ATV Today 1965 the first day the presses rolled , weird it went up and down in my lifetime . I worked with a good bunch of lads
there doing my apprenticeship to be an electrician , then moved off to another site in Walsall.




Regards John

[dave1954]

and 

[Scipio]

and 

Well it was supposed to be the bees knees , most modern in Europe so they said in the film . with all that hype I was expecting it to be up for a 100 yrs at least

[Ian Dalziel]

W T Avery opened the most modern foundry in Europe at Tame Bridge, Walsall in the late 50's to cast the weighbridge plates. It had closed by the early 80's.

[robx52]

I can remeber terraced houses, our Doctors incuded, on Spring Road Tyseley being demolished in the early 60s and Lucas building offices there. Then those being demolished less than 50 years later.

[countrylad]

I was up in Brum a few weeks ago, passed through kings Norton on the way through. I noticed that Primrose Hill Secondary school was in the process of being demolished. This school opened in 1967, 50 years.

[Spud]

I can remeber terraced houses, our Doctors incuded, on Spring Road Tyseley being demolished in the early 60s and Lucas building offices there. Then those being demolished less than 50 years later.

I worked for Lucas for over 30 years. I actually worked for Lucas Aerospace in Spring Road. I well remember starting on January 9 th 1967. I had to report to The Personnel Dept which was in one of the Lucas Electrical Factories mentioned in robx52 ' s post. To get to The Aerospace Factory I had to pass through BW4 [Branch Works 4] where headlamps were made to this day I can remember the board showing the production target, 240,000 per week. All gone now the site is overgrown. The Aerospace Factory is still standing but after changing hands a few times it now belongs to Rolls Royce Engines, it was bound to happen Lucas Aero were Rolls biggest supplier. Even This factory is being run down and is due to move to a new purpose built factory near Birmingham Airport.

[Abt]

Hundreds of Council houses in Chelmsley Wood were demolished 2015/2016 after 46/48 years.
My son who was born in Chelmsley now lives in a 1901 miners cottage in Leicestershire..
the Victorians/Edwardians got it right.

[countrylad]

Hundreds of Council houses in Chelmsley Wood were demolished 2015/2016 after 46/48 years.
My son who was born in Chelmsley now lives in a 1901 miners cottage in Leicestershire..
the Victorians/Edwardians got it right.

It's incredible isn't it. Which part of Chelmsley has been demolished? I lived just off Chapel House lane. We moved in to brand new house in August 1968.


Forgot to say that when I passed through Primrose Hill and saw the school being demolished, most of the houses had been demolished too. I think they were built 1963/64

[Edmund Fifield]

Coleshill Lane was the same built in the 50s demolished in the 2000s, our house in Easthope Rd had been up 20 years when we moved in 1949 .Just been sold in2015 .

[JudithM]

There's many buildings that have gone up & down in my lifetime (nearly 52), you mentioned the Post & Mail building, then there's the Central Library, many office blocks & tower blocks, and the previous incarnation of the Bull Ring was only a few years before I was born.

I can only speculate, but maybe the types of construction used haven't quite stood up to the test of time, that's certainly been the case with some concrete buildings.

I can well imagine that some offices built in the '60's & '70's don't meet with current expectations & standards - the one I work in now is certainly less dark & dingy than the one I worked in when I first started work.

Building standards surrounding insulation & energy efficiency have probably paid a part too.  And some buildings were just an eyesore!