Description:Sheridan Walk was opened in 1966 as a hostel for working girls – young women who had left school but who were still in care. As such, they were generally aged between 16 and 18.
According to careleaversreunited.org, it was “a small working girls hostel converted from 2 semi-detached houses on the Chelmsley Wood Estate. Opened around 1967 with house parents Mel and Gay Morgan and their two sons … . A few years later this role was taken over by Madge and Eric Saunders.”
It was not purpose-built but, but like Hyperion Road hostel for working girls, was adjoining terraced houses knocked through into one building.
The late 1960s saw a spate of opening new hostels for working children – others included Hyperion Road, Allenscroft Road, Highters Close, Villa Walk, Frankfort Street, Middleway View and Rednal Road. Unlike children’s homes for younger children, the hostels were single sex. Hyperion Road, Sheridan Walk, and Rednal Road were for girls only.
Sheridan Walk had beds for eight young people, as did all but one of the hostels listed above.
Sheridan Walk closed as a hostel in 1987.
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Image: A promotional shot used by Birmingham's children's Department in 1967. At this stage, the Birmingham Children's Homes project does not have any photographs of this children's home.
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Source: This history was compiled by the Birmingham Children's Homes Project, an initiative to explore Birmingham City Council-run children’s homes between 1949 and 1990.