HRH Princess Alexandra at Lee Bank Primary School
Headteacher Denis Lyons on the day of the visit by the princess:
"Punctually at 1135 a car drove in which contained the princess and Ald. Harold Tyler, the Lord Mayor. Various people concerned with the ...
I came to Birmingham from Dublin on an adventure...
‘I came to Birmingham from Dublin on an adventure and I’ve been here since January 17th 1966, in this flat. I fell in love with the place. I love Birmingham, I’ve been here nearly 50 years myself. I used ...
I grew up in Yardley...
"I grew up in Yardley, It’s a different country from when I was a lad. My playground was Chelmsley Woods, when it was a wood. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. They chopped the wood down to build ...
I was born in March 1933...
I was born in March 1933, and came to this country in October 1951 on the Santa Maria. I was only 18. It was a Spanish ship; rough, rotten. It was Spanish food and I wasn’t used to it, so asked if I could ...
I was brought up around here...
I was brought up around here, and the Handsworth area. I didn’t really have any trouble, I was going to school in the morning and by the time I got back I wasn’t going to hang around on the streets. So ...
I’ve been here since January 25th 2003...
"I’ve been here since January 25th 2003, I was in Vorton house in Woodview for 24 years. The block is on its way down now, it had to be emptied. So it was an internal transfer.
We weren’t too happy ...
I’ve been here three and a half years...
‘I’ve been here three and a half years. I was the first one-bedroomed flat to have a rewire. The kitchen’s fantastic. I moved to Birmingham because I have friends here, I feel very safe because we’ve ...
In Memoriam by Raymond Mason
The painting came about as a consequence of Mason's return to Birmingham when his mother had passed away. The area of his youth was itself now "dying" too, bulldozers moving in to demolish the old housing ...
Inside the Colwyn?
An image from the Lewis Green collection. We believe this is the lounge of the Colwyn Pub on Great Colmore Street, but we don't know who the people are. If you know please drop us a line at cs@optima.org.uk...
Interior of St Catherine's Church looking east
Interior of the original St Catherine's Church on the Horsefair.
View towards the East window and Altar. The stained glass was installed by John Hardman Studios of Newhall Hill.
St Catherine Of Siena ...
Interior panels in St Catherine's Church
Detail of panels in the original St Catherine's Church in the Horsefair.
St Catherine Of Siena had it’s origins in 1872 when Father Fenn acquired seven properties in Windmill Street with a deposit ...
Irving Street, Lee Bank
Nos. 157 and 159A Irving Street, Lee Bank, are seen here in a photograph taken in the early 1960s just before wholesale redevelopment of the area. The name over the door of no. 157, on the left, is William ...
Irving Street, Lee Bank
Redevelopment was well under way in Irving Street, Lee Bank, when this photograph was taken on 25 February 1965. The area had been classed as a Comprehensive Development Area since the early 1950s and ...
Islington Row, Lee Bank
The Anchor Inn at 33 Islington Row, Lee Bank, at the junction with Tennant Street (on the right). The photograph was taken in 1957, although the delivery vans possibly look a little dated even for the ...
I've lived in this area all my life...
Mum: ‘I’ve lived in this area all my life, I still see people from my infant school. I suppose it’s changed for the better, I remember the big houses, there were families over there with 22 children. ...
Ivy Bentham
Ivy is a longstanding resident of the Lee Bank area, going back to the days before it was even called Lee Bank. Amongst Ivy's memories are of being employed at Alfred Bird's Custard Factory in Digbeth, ...
Jewish Cemetery on Islington Row
The city’s other Jewish cemeteries had disappeared with the development of the railways. The Froggery cemetery was sold for £260 in 1849 when Birmingham New Street Station was built, and Granville Street ...
Jill Knight MP at St Thomas Junior and Infant School
The then MP for Edgbaston, Jill Knight, opening a play scheme for local children at St Thomas Junior and Infant School on Great Colmore Street. This was only the second one of it's kind to be opened in ...