Have just completed the 358 page marathon! What a treasure trove. I found a pic of St Annes vicarage in Cato St, which I visited many times to see the Rev Thomas and his lovely wife Joan, but could not find anything on St Annes church, a pic or when it was bombed. Did I miss something, or can you suggest a source of info?
I was often lucky enough to get a free bag of “crisp scratchings” at the bottom of Inkerman St, and the Rea culvert was always open for (forbidden) adventure at the bridge into the railway yard or at the bottom of our long garden. It was a fearsome sight in flood, and a great provider of bonfire fuel. It ran crystal clear for a couple of weeks each year during the factory hols, but was usually an open drain for industrial waste and debris. My older sisters remember a flood of cocoa beans during the war. Having dropped into the culvert (it seemed a very long way), the risk of a flash flood was added excitement but it never happened of course.
Was St Johns in Dollman St a church or a chapel of some sort? I think the Boys Brigade (deadly enemies of we Scouts!) met there.
We knew the Browns in Galton St, Mr Brown an amputee, Leila, a friend of my sister Joyce married Bob Bailey the Scout master at St Annes. I had great times with the 211th
What an elegant place Ashted Row must have been in its hey-day, with its cabstand and spacious houses. I remember what I was told was the Coleseum, a bombed out music hall or theatre on Saltley Rd, opposite the end of Devon St, the site became a garage I think. I used to catch the Inner Circle nearby for my long journey via Aston Cross to an apprenticeship at Pype Hayes.
I think there were stables at the river end of Alma Crescent (or was it Cathcart St), would these have been Co Op or Railway horses? The stables along Viaduct St were a great attraction too.
I bought my first modern motor bike from Hyland Crowe (a BSA 125 Bantam) on Bloomsbury St.
So pleased that the library survived, a real haven through my boyhood.
This ia a real mish-mash of memories, but you have opened the floodgates!