Coventry Heritage Open Days

It's a joy to share, knowing that it's not everyone's cup of tea meeting up from public web sites. I wish the weather had been kinder & the windows a bit cleaner, but saying that, I am glad that I did not have a rag and made to go outside & clean them at two hundred feet up. Best wishes.

For the benefit of Dreamtime and any others: This is the view from The Butts looking northwards across Spon End. The former council estate is on the left. The tower block in the foreground is Givens House and the one behind it is Meadow House. On the right of the Ring Road is the Odeon Complex with the Skydome just visible to the right of it. Spon Street at one time would have run left to right across the whole picture just behind Meadow House but is no longer even visible.

This is the view from north side of the The Butts looking across Hertford Place towards Ringway Queens. Queens Road is to the right of Hertford Place running diagonally from the bottom right of the picture to the centre. Queen Victoria Road and Greyfriars Green are on the other side of the Ring Road to the left. Warwick Road runs off to the right in the background with the station complex hidden behind it.

Thank you Dutchman. We have been peering at the photos as if we were looking out of a plane window and trying to pick out familiar buildings, however most seem to have changed and areas certainly do look different from a birds eye view. So following your directions I think we have found our bearings now. We have noticed the disappearance of many front gardens now looking more like forecourts for cars. Thanks again, CUL!

Hope you like The little boys view. The big boys view Inside the Sandy Lane Depot

Thank you for the pics Philip, I couldn't make it today but it's nice to see what I missed. I really enjoyed yesterday, it was nice to meet Rob and his charming family and other Forum members, including yourself.

Thank you too Philip, the photo's made me feel, well, happy and sad!!! I miss home that I grew up in very much.

The once private houses in Queens Road are now all solicitors' offices and the like. Note how the newer buildings in the area make no attempt at all to blend in with their Victorian surroundings.

Thanks Philip "15 Green Lane" was our old schoolbus. When it pulled into Broadgate we used to pile on and race upstairs like a pack of wild animals. When the front entrance buses with the power operated doors came into service we couldn't do that anymore. The driver's control column looks slightly different to how I remember it?

Thank you once again Philip for the great photos. I had forgotten about the long seat at the front of the bus - happy memories.

Most ladies tell me that they were not fond of sitting on the front bench seat for obvious reasons, but having that seat, covered up much of the battery & electrics as well as the transmission housing and made a very neet finish to the bus. It was the favorite kneel-on seat for us little boys to see all that was going on. Ding Ding! Hold very tight now!

On the other hand, if you were on the sideways facing seat at the back of the bus you could ask the conductor or conductress to let you have the end of the ticket roll and then go running down the street trailing it in the air behind you as an extremely long paper streamer!

The nearside bench seat at the back was my favorite as a schoolboy, the one next to the window. I used to scrutinise every passenger as they got on or off. I made friends with many of the crews by sitting there. When we arrived at the Sewall Highway terminus (No 7 route), I would sometimes be allowed to turn the destination blinds around to read Allesley at the side, back & the front. I was a really good boy one afternoon, (creep more like). The KVC bus was boiling water & at the terminus, I went into our local newsagents shop (Mr. Evans) & he came out with a watering can. The driver phoned the garage 20014, I think was the number and the bus departed with passengers but marked CITY only. ps. I honesly believe that the FHP, GKV & KVC buses in our city were the finest fitted-out town buses anywhere in our country in their day. The seats & covers, polished wood & the embellished light fittings were simply first class. The ones that followed them from the mid fifties onwards (the same as the vintage buses in the pics) had cost cutting. The golden age of public transport before cars were common, was coming to an end.

Great photos, Philip, glad you enjoyed your day, was laughing at Fillongley Garage coming to haul the bus away, they use to do the police pick ups of car crashes, I used to live next door to the son whose dad owned it. Looking at those photos it looks like legoland, the last photo with the original houses proves how nice it once was.

Does anyone know which buldings will be open in Coventry during this years Heritage days in September. I would hope that Whitefriars, St Johns Hospital and St Catherines Well might be considered for a change but I doubt it. Any other ideas for buildings that should be open? I am looking forward to re-visiting Bagots castle to see what has been done to preserve it.