Coventry Fire Brigade (inc. Hales Street Fire Station)

Hurrah! Thank you Midland Red for the proof positive. Presume they are now privately owned? What made me think they were demolished? Probably that bright blue walkway over Lady Herbert's Garden which, together with the Millenium 'boomerangs' I think hateful and completely out of scale!

Super photo of Fire Station, NeilsYard. I recall as a small child my dad taking me there on an open day and I was shooted down the pole in the arms of a fireman, though I am not sure how he managed it! Would there be room for a piggy back?

I have been talking to some of my relatives about my brother who served as a works fireman in exactly the same job I once did, this then led me to thinking of my short time with Coventry Brigade, 1949/50ish. I walked over and sat down at the side of George, "You were about to tell me about Bull Yard? I had been in the Coventry Fire Brigade for about two months at the Foleshill Station, and the last three days had been very quiet - we were all dying for the bells to go down to ease the tension. I had been called away for a few seconds. George was around the 50 mark, sent to Foleshill to serve his time out, helping in the kitchen, help a little training, no longer sent out on the 'wagon' as I called it. A few days ago he had asked me to tell him about leaping from a plane "without all the 'bull****', he said, so I asked him to tell me his story of the blitz. This is as near as I can remember. The sirens sounded about ten past seven, at twenty past the bells went down and we were called out a few yards away to Mattersons and already we could see the incendiaries falling and could hear planes overhead and loud explosions. Mattersons' roof soon caught alight and we helped their team put it out - by now we knew this was different, and fires were springing up all over the city. We then were directed to the Food Office in Hertford Street, where a huge bomb had exploded behind it, another had gone off at the far end of Bull Yard, had blown the supporting wall to a shelter down, the heavy concrete roof had come down on top of the people. We did what we could but we only got burnt and torn hands. Then we lost touch with our control room but a boy appeared on a bike - we could hardly credit it, the city was on fire, everywhere you looked - he had a message, we were to go to Cross Cheaping. As we arrived and started to run out the hoses a massive bomb went off, five of my mates were trapped as a massive wall fell on them and killed them. We could do nothing for them but I still feel guilty. A cascade of flying embers and glass everywhere, many catching me, then the water ran out and we stood by digging with our hands in the rubble. Then we had a message that our chief was in the hospital, not with body injury but bomb shock. People had to leave shelters because they filled up with smoke. Then the bells went down, I had to leave the story.

I never realised how high the fire station tower was above the station - hanging out that top window sorted the boys out from the men, but good keen fun for all.

Nice view of Fire Station in its setting. Andrea Lowry

Prof, What year was the above taken, the cars look much older than the photo seems to represent? I'm thinking of the missing cottages, the cobblestones etc.

I would have thought 20s or early 30s but I cannot tell as the photo came via Internet.

The bus station in Pool Meadow opened in 1931, so it's not before then. Also according to the photo on this site, the left side 3 bays hadn't been added until 1937 at least.

Those cars look pretty old to me. In September 1939 Coventry Fire Brigade employed three females as clerks, as Auxiliary Fire Service mainly on the switchboard. At the same time practically all the Coventry City Football team joined as well. It was a happy time for all, and the men respected the women and kept their swearing down, as we did in those days. It lasted a year, then the raids started, the station phones got very busy with calls of fires. Then the station got hit and they coped with the fires from incendiary bombs, then water poured through the ceiling causing the the switchboard to short circuit with sparks flying around. Then the phones went dead; their only communication with fire crews was through young messengers. Then the water in the mains ceased, without water a hopeless task. One young boy messenger popped in and out all night taking messages, and asked about his father who was a station officer in the brigade. They had been instructed not to tell him that his father had been killed outside Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital.

Kaga, My late father was a boy messenger for the AFS, he was based in Paynes Lane. I never knew of this until I found his lanyard and whistle, it was only then he spoke of what he had done and seen. I never asked again.

An up to date view of the Hales Street Fire station taken 30/04/2019. I hadn't realised that the area was so cluttered with street furniture.

matchle55 They did a fantastic job, and I remember, if all is now forgotten, the statue outside the Station should be to the heroes of the Fire Service. In a time that will never be seen again, no words, no photographs can come near the actual experience they underwent for Coventry, in Coventry's darkest hour.

Fire station with rainbow engines. Not often seen in colour! Lynn saved

What I hadn't realised was that the left hand side of the fire station was newer than the right. Follow link to buy or see larger version I have no connection to the sale of this card.

Another character discovered whilst researching my family history is Albert Edward Colley. I have him recorded as being a member of the Coventry City Fire Brigade from at least September 1932 to early 1939 - but possibly months/years either side? The 1939 Register lists Albert, and his wife Hilda, living at 15 Chauntry Place. I was always intrigued that an ancestor ended up living right in the centre of Coventry, rather than the suburbs like the vast majority of my family. However, thanks to the British Newspaper Archive (a big thank you to Annewiggy for tipping me off to that amazing website!!), I have discovered a Public Notice from May 1937, inviting tenders to builders and contractors for the erection of "Ten Houses for Firemen" in Chauntry Place. So, it would appear, Albert may very well have been the first resident at no.15!? Does anyone have any further information about Albert Colley at the Hales Street fire station? Interestingly, the British Newspaper Archive also reports a story from September 1939, detailing how an ambulance that Albert was driving hit a tram standard on the island in the centre of Broadgate! Perhaps he should have kept to fire fighting?? - and what was he doing driving an ambulance? Were the two jobs linked in any way back in the late thirties?? All comments welcomed and appreciated.