I was contacted by Tony Parkes recently, another former pupil of Manley Hall School in the late 1940’s and his memories reveal more fascinating facts into what life was like for him as a young boy, whilst staying there as a boarder.
As Sutton Coldfield’s last Town Clerk, Paul Holden, retired in 1974 after 14 years in office. Amongst his other occupations, he was also clerk and solicitor to Sutton Coldfield Municipal Trustees, clerk to Sutton Coldfield Education Committee, a member of North Birmingham and District Hospitals Management Committee and a member of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Management Committee. In an interview by the “Sutton News”, at the time of his retirement, he said: “I can truthfully say I enjoy every minute of (my work). I have an excellent council to work for and an excellent town in which to work: I am quite sincere in that.”
What a lovely thing to say about our town!
In 2013, I completed my research into ‘Manley Hall & the Manley Family’, which can be accessed via the Group’s website under the heading of Original Research.
Recently, I received correspondence from Philip Swift, a former pupil at Manley Hall Preparatory School for Boys, which leased the property from 1925 until the end of the 1950’s.
Philip’s memories of his time at the school during the 1950’s bring to life the way the school was run and gives a wonderful insight into the boys and teachers who lived and worked there.
Another chance to go down memory lane, this time through the eyes of ‘SB’, who obviously enjoyed his childhood years! Mere Green in the 1960’s was a far different place to that of the 2020s. If you, too, lived there then, this will make you yearn to go back.
My overall memory of my childhood was the freedom I was allowed to have. I was born in 1954. My parents and my older sister lived in a large semi-detached house on the Lichfield Road opposite Cremorne Rd in Four Oaks. I therefore lived on a main road ...