Wyken Slough

Yes NormK, that is the same Brian but you are going back a long way. Brian left Binley Rd sometime in the late 60s or 70s, got himself a lovely house near The Walsgrave pub with a two acre back garden that he later sold for housing development. I first knew him when he was an engineer at Triumph Motor Cycles and it was partly our joint interest in motorcycles that bought us together. I joined the ambulance service in Birmingham in '65 and from then only had occasional contact with him. A lovely man but I suppose that he is no longer with us as he was somewhat older than me and I am 81. Norman

hi sorry to bother you I am an aldermans green girl and went to aldermans green school from 1970, sometime as a child we had some really bad weather my nan worked as a cleaner at the miners and on this particular morning one of my school friends died skating on the ice over the slough which cracked and broke and she drowned, do you by any remote chance remember this event, I recall my friend sheila but cant remember her surname she lived in wood end and cant find any newspaper or internet references to this happening, can you help at all thank you for your time

Hi Wendyw00, Welcome to our forum, & please, first off, you are not bothering us. Thank you so much for your post, recalling this tragedy. Let us hope that Sheila or someone can connect with the events. Please feel free to share any of your Coventry memories. Best wishes from us all.

thanks just been on my mind for a few years and coming into 50 in 2015 things seem harder to recall, I do remember she had a brother called barry, I used to work for the cov telegraph and wish now I had looked it up whilst working in the old corporation street building, thanks again and happy new year to all at the forum

I took a walk to the slough today and was very disappointed to see the trees that once stood next to the boathouse have been chopped down. I walked towards them for a closer look and was set upon by a herd of VERY angry swans! I counted seven huge birds along with moorhens and coots rush me. Of course, I backed off thinking they must be protecting nests and eggs. It was sweet though seeing the majestic birds up close, but I was still miffed at the trees having been chopped down.

Sadly, the two trees blew down in a gale a couple of months ago. They were lovely mature willows.

It was a hot summer day, clear blue sky, a slight breeze, scented with flowers, that ruffled the leaves on the trees, the slough shimmered in the heat, skylarks on high over the meadows, the swans swimming with their young in line, other wildfowl with their young dotted about the slough. As English as you could get. It was 1933. My fathers brothers and sisters and their kids, picnicking, my uncles taking 2/3 kids at a time, out in the houseboat around the slough, but not Kaga, for he had been a very naughty boy, and no one was speaking to him. So he slunk off and lay beneath a tree and cried himself to sleep. Some hours later his sister found him, said you better come and have tea, we're going home soon. But Kaga wasn't feeling good all he wanted was a drink of water. Through the evening he got worse and had a high temperature so he was put to bed, early night time he asked for a glass of water, but the water did not go down and felt warm, Mother lit the gas light, then yelled for dad, the bed was covered in blood, the glass full of blood, it was streaming down his nose like a tap full on. Dr Webster from Hurst Road, came stayed around two hours, touch and go for a while, severe sunstroke.

I've added a couple of views to my gallery, showing the boats in 1972 and 1973.

In the fifties there used to be powerboat racing on the slough,very slim hulled things, forget what they were called any answers?