Bell Lane

Bell Lane wide angle post card, circa 1910.

A left side close up of this early post card reviles perhaps the family butcher, his wife and children. The white part of the building is now a small house.

In this picture only the two story building still survives after the by-pass was built. This right side close up shows P. Hewitt the Baker's shop.

Colourised version of above

About 1950 my dads old Bentley outside our house, 43 Bell Lane. Dad came out of the army after the war and got a job at the Woodlands Hospital, he was an orthopaedic surgeon, having done 6 years running a field ambulance through France, Belgium and Germany. He got a job and we moved from our home in Scotland, he bought a house and took his driving test in Selly Oak in this old car which he got from his brother. The job, I believe, required him to be a car driver, he was always being called out for emergencies. Opposite the house was a pub called the Travellers Rest, now gone. The boys behind the car are myself, my late brother and friend called Kieth Trique pronounced “Tricky” - Hamish Bowie (2026)