Birmingham Parks

My memories of Cannon Hill Park go way back to the early 50's and the paddling pool at the back of the park near the Pershore Rd. In addition to the pool we also used to paddle where the Bourne Brook and the Rea met. I have this photo of that area though it has changed very much now.

The next place we was always aware of was The Golden Lion Inn moved from Digbeth in the early 1900's not that we knew much about it then as it was only somewhere to shelter from if there was a sudden downpour. Then there was the paddling pool at the Pebble Mill end of the park a place we always headed for on sunny days, even of we did spend more time in the Rea or the Bourn Brook. Then there was the Birmingham Natural History Museum Annex on Bristol Rd that we always paid a visit to even though the exhibits never seemed to change and we were looking at the same things every time we visited.

This is a photo of the fishing lake at Cannon Hill Park, from the looks of the photo it looks to have been taken in the late 50's to early 60's. I fished the lake occasionally as a youngster but never caught anything bigger than a Gudgeon.

So I was surprised one day when walking in the park I bumped into a mate who lived in my street fishing the lake. Knowing him as an expert fisherman who took the sport seriously I asked him what he was doing there. He said that the lake had just been restocked with carp and he pointed to the water by the island in the middle of the pond. He said watch I'll fetch one of them out, doing so he baited his hook with nothing more than a pellet of bread a cast out so that it floated on the water just above the basking fish. Straight away one took the bait and next thing he was reeling it in, when he landed it, I was gobsmacked it was the biggest fish I had ever seen outside of a fish shop.

In 1933 whilst building Birmingham Town Hall there was a terrible accident where a crane collapsed bringing down part of the roof along with some support pillars. Two men died in this accident. They later raised a memorial in Birmingham Cathedral's churchyard to these two men this memorial was fashioned out of the base of one of the fallen pillars.

You might ask what is this story doing here, but a little known fact is that the top of one of these pillars is in Cannon Hill Park and it has no identification to what it is.

No mention of Cannon Hill Park could be complete without a mention of the Tulip Festival as it was known when it started in the early 60's but it later became known as the Spring Festival it easily had to be one of the best events that was ever organised in the park, with all the sideshows, events entertainment

, and of course the fair.