Author Topic: Streets of the City  (Read 240636 times)

Scipio

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #649 on: March 12, 2019, 09:10:09 PM »
Scipio


That was the school between the church and Stratford House wasn't it? How many pupils went there it didn't look much bigger than Stratford House?


Phil it was a junior school I reckon there was about eight classes each with about 30 pupils so about 240 all told . Did you notice the steeple on the church it was shortened to make it look like a factory from the air  to stop it getting bombed . The school went down to the back of Stratford House there was a some sort of a clubroom  with snooker table dart board etc beer was also served , it used to reek of stale tobacco/beer in the morning when we went for choir practice . I left there in 1960 to go to Cardinal Newman Poplar Avenue off the Sandon Rd Edgbaston
If voting made any difference , they wouldn't let us do it.
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Phil

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #650 on: March 13, 2019, 08:14:24 AM »
Scipio


I would have thought looking more like a factory would have been more reason for it being bombed. I was educated in RC schools until I was 10 year old when I point blank refused to go any longer as all I was being taught was religion. I managed to talk my grandmother into living with her during the week and attend Tindal Street school until I was old enough for senior school.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Empty

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #651 on: March 13, 2019, 09:29:14 AM »

I'm with you on that Phil. Why would you make it look like a factory chimney in wartime?? I'm impressed that you had the you-know-whats to stand up to your parents and refuse to carry on at RC school! I only discovered years after the event that my parents had turned down a place for me at art school because they thought, at two bus journeys, it was too far. Then we were moved to another pub ( Dad was a manager) and I had to get two buses anyway!


Phil

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #652 on: March 13, 2019, 12:18:59 PM »
Baldwins Lane shopping parade Hall Green looking very prosperous , which looks today to be suffering the same malaise as most local shopping centres today, inundated with take away's and empty shops up to let.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Scipio

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #653 on: March 13, 2019, 08:47:55 PM »
I'm with you on that Phil. Why would you make it look like a factory chimney in wartime?? I'm impressed that you had the you-know-whats to stand up to your parents and refuse to carry on at RC school! I only discovered years after the event that my parents had turned down a place for me at art school because they thought, at two bus journeys, it was too far. Then we were moved to another pub ( Dad was a manager) and I had to get two buses anyway!


The secondary school I went to wasn't exactly round corner, we thought nothing about the distance . All we knew was you had to go to school very few families had cars to drop you off , it was all on the bus . Unlike the pampered race today . Religion did figure at school but it didn't overtake other lessons in my opinion at the secondary  , certainly there was prayers , church on Friday morning only at junior school  , but we took that as the norm . Someone older than me many years later said  I wish I had gone to a catholic school , you had a far better education than me . I thought did I, duffer came to my mind I've never passed an exam in my life , apart from first aid in St John's Ambulance . I will add this footnote after I left secondary school I became a lapsed catholic .
If voting made any difference , they wouldn't let us do it.
Mark Twain

Phil

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #654 on: March 16, 2019, 11:29:17 AM »
The junction of Moseley Road and Stratford Place with a grotty little club that went by the name of The Golden Gloves, There was never much going for it but save the fact that a certain times of day you could get a drink there when the pubs were closed. It's one redeeming feature was that they did a brilliant steak there, but with almost all their clientele being irish you wouldn't expect anything else.


The building itself was a general dispensary back before NHS days. It always amazed me how much money was spent on these buildings. when a functional building was all that was required. I'm sure it didn't need something along the lines of a gothic church.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

JudithM

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #655 on: March 18, 2019, 12:44:48 PM »

The building itself was a general dispensary back before NHS days. It always amazed me how much money was spent on these buildings. when a functional building was all that was required. I'm sure it didn't need something along the lines of a gothic church.

It's a same there aren't many modern buildings with these sorts of flourishes on.  It's nearly all function these days and many buildings are rather bland.  Even the mass produced Victorian Terrace houses often had some fancy brickwork going on to give them a bit of character.

"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Phil

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #656 on: March 18, 2019, 01:08:55 PM »
Judith


I agree with what you are saying to a certain point, but what was the functionality of a turret, tower or spire on these buildings? Were they just a statement from those who funded these dispensaries. Whilst I'm sure that they were set up and organised with the best intentions in the world along with the medical staff that gave their time freely did they really have to be so grandiose.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

JudithM

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #657 on: March 18, 2019, 01:15:22 PM »
Judith


I agree with what you are saying to a certain point, but what was the functionality of a turret, tower or spire on these buildings? Were they just a statement from those who funded these dispensaries. Whilst I'm sure that they were set up and organised with the best intentions in the world along with the medical staff that gave their time freely did they really have to be so grandiose.
I suppose it depends on who built them & where the funds came from.  A lot of libraries were really ornate back in the day & they tended to be built & donated by the wealthy businessmen of the time.  If a private individual, or company, had the premises built for the dispensary rather than it coming out of NHS funds it's a lot different to the NHS paying a developer.  I suppose at the end of the day a few extra bricks for a turret, or castellation, is not a huge cost if it's going to make the building stand out & attract more visitors or make it a local landmark.

In the case of that building though, it does kinda look like they started to build a church & then changed their minds!
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Phil

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #658 on: March 18, 2019, 01:57:17 PM »
Judith all the dispensaries were built prior to 1948 and the inception of the NHS. They were all built as far as I am aware by private donation. They were all built along the same architectural lines and had a very gothic look, well a least the ones I know of were. After 1948 there wasn't much use for them and if a suitable use wasn't found for the building then they soon disappeared.


In fact the only one that I know of still standing is in Small Heath at the junction of Henshaw Road and Coventry Road. Though I don't doubt that there are more that I have no knowledge of.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

JudithM

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Re: Streets of the City
« Reply #659 on: March 19, 2019, 01:18:37 PM »
Judith all the dispensaries were built prior to 1948 and the inception of the NHS. They were all built as far as I am aware by private donation. They were all built along the same architectural lines and had a very gothic look, well a least the ones I know of were. After 1948 there wasn't much use for them and if a suitable use wasn't found for the building then they soon disappeared.


In fact the only one that I know of still standing is in Small Heath at the junction of Henshaw Road and Coventry Road. Though I don't doubt that there are more that I have no knowledge of.
The ornateness makes sense if they were private donations.  Whomever donated the monies wanted to be enshrined in stone  ;D
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"


 

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