Description:Copeley House was opened as a working boys’ home in 1968 as one of the units replacing Copeley Hill Hostel when it was forced to close because of the development of the Gravelly Hill Interchange (Spaghetti Junction).
Mr and Mrs Broomhall came with the boys from Copeley Hill Hostel as the managers and stayed at Copeley House until it closed.
Copeley House was a purpose-built house in Newtown which could accommodate eight boys (mirroring the other unit built at the same time in Newtown – Villa Walk).
Each was a two storey building with lounge, dining room, quiet room, staff sitting rooms, kitchen and a toilet on the ground floor and, on the first floor, eight single bedrooms, three staff bedrooms and bathrooms.
In the early 1980s Copeley House was still in use as a home for working boys and still had accommodation for 8 boys. It closed in March 1986.
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Image: Mrs Broomhall in the garden of the new building in 1968. Photograph reproduced here with the kind permission of Julia Garrett.
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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.