Pearson’s Fresh Air Fund Day at Manor Farm Park
A number of ‘Fresh Air’ funds were set up in both Britain and North America during the late nineteenth century, to provide days out or sometimes summer holidays, in the countryside, to children from low ...
Pearson’s Fresh Air Fund Day at Manor Farm Park
One of a series of photographs documenting days out at Manor Farm Park for children from city centre schools, run by Pearson's Fresh Air Fund with the assistance of Elizabeth Cadbury who offered the use ...
Letter from Pearson's Fresh Air Fund
This letter is from Edith Vaughan, representative of Pearson's Fresh Air Fund. Following Elizabeth Cadbury's death in 1951, this letter to her secretary refers to Mrs Cadbury's kindness in providing Manor ...
Letter from Hilda Chamberlain to Neville Chamberlain
This letter was written by Hilda Chamberlain to her brother, Neville, while he was living on Andros, in the Bahamas, managing the family's sisal plantation. It describes the proposed layout of newly acquired ...
Discussion of Park Closure at Night
Parks in Birmingham were usually kept closed at night, but in 1954 the Parks Committee did consider leaving Calthorpe Park open. These pages from the Parks Committee minutes consider this proposal, which ...
Dancing in the Dell at Muntz Park
Regular dances were organised in the Dell at Muntz Park by the Bournbrook Entertainments Committee from 1923 onwards. A disused clay pit, known as the Dell, was laid out for dancing and open-air theatre ...
Plan of Uffculme Open-Air School
Uffculme Open-Air School opened in 1911 in the grounds of the Uffculme estate, between Moseley and Kings Heath. The land was provided by Barrow and Geraldine Cadbury, whose son Paul had benefitted from ...
Letter from Birmingham Women’s Welfare Centre to the Bishop of Birmingham
The Birmingham Women’s Welfare Centre was opened in 1927 to offer family planning advice and information to married women, with the aim of improving the health of mothers and children, and making married ...
Norman Chamberlain
Norman Chamberlain was the paternal cousin of Neville Chamberlain. He was Chairman of the Parks Committee of Birmingham City Council between 1912 and 1914, when he volunteered to serve in the First World ...
News Article on a 'Garden for the Blind'
This article documents the initial reactions of some of the first users of a garden for blind and visually impaired people that opened at Queen’s Park, Harborne on 31 July 1953.1 The Parks Committee minutes ...
BSA Ladies' Bicycle
Tight controls on cycling were imposed by Birmingham’s Parks Committee from the earliest days of the activity. In the 1870s, before the invention of the ‘safety bicycle’ opened up cycling to women, children, ...
Birmingham Parks Police Badge
Birmingham’s parks were initially patrolled by the city police force. During the 1880s, the Parks Committee had to apply to the Worcestershire police force for additional officers to patrol Cannon Hill ...
Political Demonstrations in the Parks
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Parks Committee minutes contain detailed information about the type of organisations applying to use Birmingham’s parks for meetings and demonstrations. The issue of whether ...
Trenches at Calthorpe Park
This photograph is one of several images taken of trenches dug in Birmingham’s Parks as part of Civil Defence preparations made by the city authorities during the Munich crisis of 1938. Although the outbreak ...
Programme for a Concert in Cannon Hill Park
Musical performances were regularly organised in the parks in the nineteenth century, and formed a major part of the entertainments programme arranged by the Parks Department. As with other leisure activities ...
Commemorative Medal
Medal issued to mark the opening of Calthorpe Park.
Cannon Hill Park Open-Air Swimming Pool
There were open-air swimming pools at Cannon Hill Park, and at Victoria Park, Small Heath. The pool at Cannon Hill Park was opened at the same time as the park, in September 1873, while the pool at Victoria ...
Women's Cycling Shorts
Shorts like this were known as 'rational dress' because they were designed around function rather than fashion. Edgbastonia magazine printed articles about this development in women's dress in 1900.