Longford (inc. The Red Hills)

And the photograph of Hurst Road - magnifique!

When I first moved to Longford Longfordlad, in my early 20s which was in the 70s the primary school was Grange Hurst on the corner of Grange Rd . I originate from Radford/Keresley so I only recall Longford cutting through by bus from when my mum took me to Bedworth as a child to visit her friend by Colly Croft or my courting days with my ex cutting through walking to Bedworth via the Red Hills. I shall see if I can find more about the Primary school.

Hold on there, MORGANA, I did a little research regarding the Parish Hall of St Thomas the Apostle, and you will recall that this Thomas was the original Doubting Thomas of the New Testament. From one site I found this extract from A HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WARWICK: VOLUME 8: THE CITY OF COVENTRY AND BOROUGH OF WARWICK, edited by W.B Stephens and published in 1969. "...and Longford Church School was built in 1893 and received an annual grant in the next year." Moreover, from the current online parish profile of ST THOMAS THE APOSTLE, LONGFORD, NORTH COVENTRY I found this: "Built in 1893 this building originally was the Church of England School closing in 1963. More recently, known as the Church Centre it is used as the St Thomas Day Centre for the Elderly run by Coventry City Social Services from Monday to Friday." (N.B. Punctuation throughout from the sources.) Now I should add that there has been - this last day or so - a lingering thought in my mind that my younger brother may have been - in 1956 - among the last to leave Longford Church for secondary school, but the school soldiered on until 1963, as the above-cited makes clear. POSTSCRIPT: I must say that, for a 19th century church structure - and we have some in and around Toronto, most of those outside the city constructed from wood - St Thomas the Apostle is simply beautiful.

Great find Longfordlad yes the church hall was used for the elderly when I moved back to Longford in 1998 it was still being used for the elderly up until a few years ago they closed it with the cuts. LINK So according to the above the hall was built quiet a few years after the building of the Church it self.

Longfordlad your sister in law is no longer running the Coach & Horses a gentleman from the Coach & Horses told me.

Thank you, MORGANA, you of the Secret Garden, for informing me that I no longer have a publican in my family life, for this much is news to me. I'll be off so, as the Irish have it, for I have strayed from the parameters of discourse in the HCF (not according to the moderators or any such thing, but by dint of a comment from Australia) and may have wasted the valuable time of folks all over the world who wish to direct their interest only on matters peculiar to Coventry. That you have contributed significantly to my understanding of Longford as it is, and even as once it was, I hope - from my postings - to have made evident. If I failed in this regard, then allow me to say it again by way of thanking you for your insights, thanking you for your recollections. Ray, LongfordLad in the Dominion of Canada

Your very welcome Longford Lad Ray, its been a pleasure , sad your sister in law no longer is the publican , the chap said they had finished. You have nt failed any thing in my eyes

Ray! Don't leave!

+1 to what Pix said..

Are you seriously letting one comment from one member get the better of you? Whatever happened to democracy - there are over 1,500 other members who didn't make that comment. C'mon now, I feel we have a few essays left in you yet !!!

I don't come from Coventry, I don't live in the city, and I know absolutely nothing about jazz. I do know however that you Mr LongfordLad are a native of the wonderful village of Longford and as such there are many people who value both your memories and opinions surrounding life in Coventry in years gone by. The only way that this important local history will be recorded is for people like you to use this forum to share your knowledge and experiences with those of us who were not in Coventry at the time, or were not even born. Like so many people with memories of Coventry I find that the various forum topics remind me of things that I had forgotten, fill in a few gaps where I previously had only sketchy ideas, and educate me in areas where I previously knew absolutely nothing. So I now know more about Longford, Foleshill, and Keresley than I ever knew before, but sadly still no appreciation for jazz. LongfordLad please stay with us. Regards. Roger

No, I'm not letting "one comment" get to me this way or that. What I found disappointing was the absence of comment from the two people that asked me (on the site) questions, my answers to which - and those answers were complex and full of language peculiar to jazz fans - so upset JOHNNO. That this guy (JOHNNO) might live and breathe the air of 1950s Coventry, before he left for Australia, and consequently wants only those things discussed that conform to his paradigm of long ago, is more comprehensible to me than two questioners, at the site, two questioners that have their questions answered, respond not at all to those answers, and say nothing when their answerer (so to speak/write) is lambasted for responding to those questions to the best of his abilities, because his answers are challenged by someone else as to their observance of/deviation from the site's parameters. In short, JOHNNO may be any number of things, my questioners are... Well, perhaps they know what they are. Know this, Rob: what you have created is a thing of majesty,but what your users make of it is another matter entirely. As you know, I attended a comprehensive school, in my case when such a thing was a novelty. Nevertheless, I was taught (in part) the classics, which (perforce) involved many moral questions, among which would have been, had the teachers the foresight, when you are shit upon, withdraw, for there is no sense in remaining. I will not edit this message for fear that my original message might be lost in my puncuation and grammar edits. However, it remains in the remit of FLAPDOODLE and MICH whether I stay or go, and not in the remit of JOHNNO. Come the revolution, you - Rob - will be spared. And there's a long list of HCF contributors that will be treated similarly, PIXROBIN, MIKEH, MORGANA spring readily to mind, but there's a long list of others. LongfordLad In the Dominion of Canada P.S. Should my questioners raise any questions about the matter (my answers) that presaged my departure, that might be a horse of a different colour. And I will not hold my breath.

Please, morgana, go to bed. It's long past the hour. Well. 3 minutes past midnight! And, farewell. From the Dominion of Canada

I do not post anything on this site often but enjoy reading the posts most days and I do find it strange that you (LongfordLad) would let one or two people affect you doing something you obviously like to do, there are always going to be ignorant people in the world and sometimes they do not even realise it but ignore them and just deal with the people you feel are worth it, it gets easier the older you get.