In 1906 William A Cadbury gifted land, then known as Stirchley recreational Ground to Birmingham City Council. It was to be used by the people of Birmingham for recreational purposes and is held in trust. Today it is known as Stirchley Park. Tucked just behind Stirchley Baths, the Co-op and the houses on Bond Street, not everybody knows of it’s existence.

Being over one hundred years old the park has a varied history, not least that during WWII it was used as a firing range by the Home Guard. Last year the park was home to an event as part of the Heritage lottery Fund bid for Stirchley Baths- ‘Sink or Swim’. The redevelopment of the baths means the bowling green which sat adjacent to the park is now to be used for other purposes. In the early part of the 20th century The Stirchley Social and Working Mens Club formed a bowling team and this became their home for the next eighty years, the teams won several awards. Once the redevelopment work on the baths is complete there will be access from the park to the new community hub.

In 2012 improvements started to happen in the park and this led to the development of the Friends of Stirchley Park; a group of volunteers led by chairman Peter Evans. The group works to promote and improve Stirchley Park for the community. Since their formulation, noticeboards and benches have been added to the area. Here’s a great video illustrating community involvement.

The park boasts many exciting things, including the Bourne Brook which provides respite to local ducks. Last year the Stirchley Love Seat was kindly received by the friends of Stirchley Park and is the second permanent artwork Place Prospectors have commissioned for the Park – the first being ‘Sleeping Child’, a graffiti artwork painted by Title.

The park is also home to the 5 O’ Clock Club- a group of dog walkers who meet daily. Recently I was lucky enough to meet Marvin, Lucy, Alfie and Ferrous. Their owners do a daily litter pick of the park and are currently working on a botanical survey to discover what wild specimens the park boasts.

In February last year, in partnership with Birmingham Trees for Life, five Hawthorn trees were planted to help shield a boundary wall. More improvements have been proposed, including additional planting, seating and graffiti. The Friends of Stirchley Park and local councillors are keen to hear ideas from local residents. The park noticeboard recently asked for ideas for new graffiti artwork. The park is a place for all the people of Stirchley to enjoy and get involved.

Stirchley is littered with old signs. Inspired by fellow heritage fan Tracey and her love for ghost signs, one afternoon I spent an hour searching for some along Pershore Road. If you’re familiar with the area you’ll have seen the many house and ‘villa’ names on properties. One such stone sign is an historic reminder of Stirchley’s community in times past.

The brickwork of 1399 Pershore Road (at the junction of Hunts Road) has a stone reading ‘The Central Bakery 1891’. In 1875, a group of locals formed the Ten Acres & Stirchley Street Co-operative Society (TASCOS). By 1914, the society had 12 branches and had spread as far as Bromsgrove. At its height it had over 50 branches, its own dairy, bakery, laundry, fishmongers and funeral home. It was an independent society, which in 1971, merged with the Birmingham Society.

.The Co-operative Group has its origins in Rochdale, Lancashire. Famously established in 1844 it was based upon the notion of ethical trading and belief that the profits of the business should be shared amongst members according to their purchases. By 1900 there were over 1,400 separate independent co-operative businesses in the UK, all members of a wider Co-operative Movement. During the 1900s, many of these independent societies began to merge.

At the TASCOS bakery, bread and cakes were baked on the premises and sold in the shop and distributed to shops throughout the area. The original bakery was only a stones throw away from the current Loaf and Stirchley Stores which is a co-operative run business.

Many of the Co-op’s great buildings are still standing, in one form or another. The fancy dress shop in Cotteridge (with the life-size cow outside) was a co-op shop and on Pershore Road stood a butchers with the slaughter house at the back. The Wolsey Sausage factory still operates at the rear on Charlotte Road.

The site where the Co-op supermarket now stands on the corner of Umberslade and Hazelwell was once a fantastically beautiful Edwardian department store. Originally built in 1915, it was known as TASCOS branch number one and housed many departments, such as ladies shoes.

To see more historical photos of Stirchley visit

https://www.flickr.com/photos/co-ophistory/sets/72157594372662134/

 

I know you must all be intrigued as to what’s happening construction-wise at the Baths (I know I am). I’ve been in touch with Jon Lucas, the Contract Manager for Mansell Balfour Beatty and he’s provided me with this update to share with you:

‘We are going through our procurement now (placing our orders with various subcontractors). One of the first things we need to do is to get the building itself safe to work within, so we’re organising edge protection to the pool and balconies so as to carry out the asbestos survey to the whole building. This will take a couple of weeks to complete and only then can we get the contamination removed and the building cleaned up so we can start working. We’ll also be doing surveys,organising things and design development during this time.’

Externally we’ll establish a temporary site set up next week and this will serve the activities described above. Also it’ll serve the initial tree surgery/root grinding to enable us to gain access into the bowling green area at the rear. We will then be able to commence the groundworks and establish our permanent site set up, and within 6-8 weeks we can start erecting hoardings, fencing, signage and start the external scaffolding.’

Hopefully this has wetted everyone’s appetite for what’s to come! All residents in the immediate vicinity will receive a letter detailing that the team will be setting up their site at the rear of the Friends Meeting House from 24th February onwards.

If you want to have a last glimpse of the Baths pre-restoration you can watch a short video filmed by Birmingham Conservation Trust.

 

Stirchley is a diverse community filled with professionals, young families, long-term residents and students. Once the Baths opens in 2014 there will be lots of facilities catered towards our needs and wants. These include the main multipurpose Gallery, the Main Hall (which has the facility to screen films – handy for Stirchley Happenings no doubt), an internet cafe and several flexible spaces that can be used for meeting hire, the details of which can be viewed here.

 With the Baths having been built for the community that existed in Stirchley in 1911, I started to wonder what those residents were like. A little research of the 1911 census shows an array of different professions. Looking particularly at the residents of Bond Street, which is across Stirchley Park, behind the baths, I discovered lots of people of interest. As expected quite a few worked at the Cadbury factory. Jobs listed included ‘Fitters Labourer’, ‘Moulding chocolate’, ‘Card box maker’s machine attendant’, ‘Overlooker stockroom’ and obviously ‘Confectioner’. Other professions on the street were ‘Postman’ (Edwin Hicken, no. 52), ‘Brewers drayman’ and ‘Boot maker’ (Tandy family, no. 44),‘Bookbinder’ (Lily Mary Elizabeth Law, no. 57), ‘Locomotive Engineer Driver’ (Frederick Lewis Hill, no. 55) as well as ‘Motor mechanic’, ‘Bricklayer’, ‘Blacksmith’ and ‘Electrician’. Doris and Nellie Luckman aged 13 and 10, who lived at no. 19 were even described as ‘scholars’. Obviously their parents had high hopes for them. And Alfred Howell who boarded at no. 39 was described as ‘Hamsters assistant’!

Along with a multitude of Williams, Johns, Alices and Georges there was also a Thirza, who’s name is of Jewish origin. She lived at no. 56 with her parents, Thomas and Beatrice and younger sister Braithet Smitter.

At no. 62 lived the Harris family. Similar in size with the family of three that live in their house in 2014, they were made up of William (father, 49), Mary (mother, 43), Arthur (aged 10) and Gladys (5), both of which were born in the parish of Kings Norton as it was then known. Next door to them, at no. 64 were plenty of children to play with. Joseph Payne is listed as head of that household and living with him are his five nieces and nephews, ages ranging from 16 to 4. There’s no immediate indication of where their parents were, but it’s hard not to wonder if they were orphaned.

The most interesting family I found lived at no. 1 Bond Street. David James owned his own greengrocers, his wife Betsey and two teenage children, Minnie and William assisted him. The James family was made up of 13 children! Can you imagine that many family members in a house that size? The census form only allowed for 15 names, so Albert Edward (8 months) only just made it onto the form!

Having investigated the people of this street, it’s hard not to look out the window and imagine them dressed in the Edwardian clothes of the era. I can see them now, on their way to the factory, sending their children off to school, going to drive a train through Bournville station and maybe even delivering beer to The Three Horse Shoes or British Oak. For all their different professions and individualism, the one thing they all had in common, was the use of the Baths after a long hard day.