Appledore, Serpentine Road, Selly Oak
The building at Serpentine Road has had a variety of uses over the years. Its first mention in the Birmingham City Council minutes is as a students’ hostel. It became a home for elderly people in 1949 ...
Beechenhurst, 10 Serpentine Road, Selly Oak
From at least 1953, Beechenhurst was used by the Council as a care home for elderly people.
In 1981, Birmingham residential childcare was divided into four districts – West Birmingham, North/East Birmingham, ...
Brooklands, Selly Wick Road, Selly Oak
Before becoming a children's home, the building on Selly Wick Road was originally a vicarage. The two storey building was bought by the Children’s Committee in 1967 to be adapted for use as a children’s ...
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 ...
Middlemore House, Weoley Park Road, Selly Oak
Middlemore House was one of the buildings owned by the Middlemore Emigration Homes – an independent organisation which emigrated children to Canada and Australia.
When emigrations were curtailed by ...
Pebble Mill House (Riversdale), Bristol Road, Edgbaston
Opening in 1921, this children's home was originally a hostel for working girls called Riversdale.
As such it would have been home to girls who were no longer in school but were still in care. They ...
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 ...
Selly Oak Nursery temporary accommodation
Play was central to the child’s kindergarten experience. The sandpit, the wooden horse, and the different creative activities on each table all encouraged play. Froebel believed that play was educational ...
Selly Oak Nursery, 26 Tiverton Road
Selly Oak Nursery opened in a new building in 1921. Fresh air and allowing children to move freely between inside and outside was a key feature of the Nursery’s design. The classroom is spacious and ...
Selly Park Children's Home
Work started on building a new children’s home in Selly Park in 1973. This was at a time when there was significant building of children’s homes going on in Birmingham – the first six 18-bed homes had ...
Selly Wick Road Children's Home, Selly Oak
In 1974, a house at 16 Selly Wick Road, just down the road from an existing children’s home, Brooklands, was adapted to be a home for six children with learning disabilities.
This appears to have been ...
Shawbury Approved School / Shustoke Industrial School for boys
Shustoke Industrial School opened in 1868 in the premises of ‘The Shawberries’ a Georgian country house.
The industrial schools were originally intended to take in children who were destitute or in ...
'Some Memories of a Northfield Woman by Margaret Smith'
This account by Margaret Smith provides a fascinating story of the journey of a working-class family from Selly Oak to various new homes across south-west Birmingham. She was born on 23 December 1927. ...
The Oaklands, Selly Oak
The Selly Oak Receiving Home, as it was initially known, existed to take in children before a more permanent arrangement was made for them. The home functioned from at least 1912, possibly earlier.
In ...
The Old Oak, Selly Oak
Postcard from the Kesterton Postcard Collection, depicting the oak tree on Oak Tree Lane, marking the intersection between Harborne Lane, Oak Tree Lane and the Bristol Road.
Women Dancing in the Dell at Muntz Park
From about 1914 organised dancing in some of Birmingham’s public parks became a popular activity. The Parks Committee made arrangements for dances to be held on public holidays and during the summer season ...