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Sparkbrook
Sparkbrook maps
Historic maps of Sparkbrook and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Sparkbrook maps
Sparkbrook photos
We have no photos of Sparkbrook, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Birmingham| Moseley| Acocks Green| Yardley| Edgbaston| Olton| Bournville| Harborne| Solihull| Shirley| Kings Norton| Castle Bromwich| Northfield| Hopwood| Water Orton| West Bromwich| Rednal| Knowle| Dorridge| Lickey
Sparkbrook area books
Displaying 1 of 7 books about Sparkbrook and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Sparkbrook
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Sparkbrook.
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or of a photo of Sparkbrook.
Sparkhill And Sparkbrook
I grew up in Sparkbrook. I lived in Priestley Road. I went to Montgomery junior school. Mr Brazier was our head master. My favourite teacher was Mrs Green. I worked at Sparkhill Police Station for 15 years as a traffic warden. I'd love to hear from anyone who knows me. My email is: the_boult@hotmail .co.uk
Montgomery Street School in 1968
I am looking for people who went to Montgomery Street School. The headmaster's name was Mr Brazier, I remember the Hicky family very well who went there, if you would like to contact me on 01279 835166, my name then was Karen Green, now Mrs Fowler. I look forward hearing from you.
Childhood in Sparkbrook
I grew up in Elm Grove, Sydenham Road and went to Montgomery Street School. Does anyone remember the Waldorf Road cinema ? It was near the junction of Stratford Road. We used to go on a Saturday morning to see 'The Lone Ranger' and 'Flash Gordon'. Many happy hours were also spent in the roller skating rink next door. We played in the BSA grounds and along the canal and took the train to the city centre from Small Heath train station on Golden Hillock Road and went swimming in Sparkhill Baths. My biggest treat was to be taken to meet my dad in Digbeth, where he worked, and going to a small sweet shop next to the Birds Custard Factory. The sweets were made by hand and I watched facinated as they went through the press. I can still picture the metal birds in the railings of the Birds Custard Factory. Happy days!
West Midlands memories
Happy Days
Living not far from Aston Park we would often walk to the park to play and enjoy the fresh air. Aston Hall held a fascination for me and I was forever asking to go inside for a tour. I would go in when ever I could and I never tired of it. When I grew older and moved away I never forgot it and I have always kept happy memories of it in a special place in my heart. I suppose it is a nostalgic feeling, reminding me of happy times during my childhood. Years later I was to begin working in Birmingham and would pass this wonderful hall every day. One day a colleague and I visited the hall in our lunch break it brought back wonderful memories for me.
CHEF'S 1948 to 1960
I was a young trainee chef at the then posh Pattisons Restaurant, Corporation Street, after national service in the far east. Who remembers the Worcester Street restaurant with then Mrs Burgess, today's site the Rotunda. I cooked a lot of meals here then the Mikado Cafe at the top of Martinu Street, then the now closed Union Club in Colmore Row. I cooked for some very important people during my stay in this lovely building, now a building society.
Art Gallery And Museum
I used to take my 3 children to the Art Gallery and Natural History Museum in the 1970s/80s, but they liked the Science Museum in Newhall Street best (now Millennium Point). I used to love the natural history part with the stuffed animals and skeletons. However I recently visited the Art Gallery and used the headphones (were they there before? I must have missed them!) and it was great to have the paintings described so that you could notice things that you would otherwise have missed. We are so lucky to have all of this free culture in Birmingham.
Trams, Baths, Cinemas...
My parents had a shop in Balsall Heath Road not far from Cannon Hill Park - there was a murder committed there around that time. I used to catch the tram to town and in Lewis's basement you could get crabs' legs loaded with meat! Also caught the tram to the Lickey Hills along the Bristol Road (South?). Always a great film fan, at aged 9-12 I used to go to the Luxor, Moseley, and Imperial - even the ABC at Sparkbrook - but never the Triangle! I remember standing outside on my own when there was an 'A' film on - Asking "Will you take me in please?" and handing over my money to some stranger - imagine it now? And I remember the baths up the street at Moseley Road - I seem to recall a 2/3d charge for a bath - we had a tin one in front of the fire, so it saved a lot of work! I enjoyed swimming too, with my badges proudly sewn... Read more
