Wiseacre Croft And Area

A Memory of Shirley.

I remember the Co-op milk and bread deliveries and also the laundry being sent off, mainly the sheets and towels as we had no washing machine or central heating so washing and drying was a problem especially in the winter. The river Cole would flood the back garden regularly. I also rememember the Co-op shops, butcher and grocery shop in Baldwins Lane and walking there regularly. Later my mother and I would walk into Solihull to shop at Sainsbury which was in Mell Square at the time and then walk back again to Wiseacre Croft. I went to Peterbrook School and the Headmaster, Mr Hughes, lived in the old Priory in Priory Road. There were stables on the corner of Aquaduct Road and the High Street and the horses grazed in the fields up to the canal, before the new houses were built. We also had the man who was the Milk Tray man in the advert living locally. The underpass under the railway bridge on Colebrook Road was not built so everyone had to use the very narrow footpath under the bridge with the cars literally brushing you as they went past. Later on, when I went to Light Hall ( the first intake of girls) I would ride on my bike and cut though the alleyway at the top of Colebrook Croft and stop at the sweet shop in the row of shops opposite for a bag of sweets. There was an animal feed factory just as you came through the alley and the smell was awful. Our GP was on the island between Haslucks Green Road and Velsheda Road and his name was Dr McEvoy if I remember correctly. We had an allotment off Olton Road which has now been engulfed by the cemetary and walked there and back many a time. On Saturday mornings we would go to the cinema in Shirley, which later became a supermarket, for the Saturday shows. I also remember going to the Robin Hood cinema, now a Waitrose to see the film One Million Years BC.