Courthouse Green

Great pictures, does take one back awhile. Thanks.

Hi. I'm new to this and was interested to read about people's memories of Miss Hasten and Mr Batt. I moved to Courthouse Green School aged 9 from Wood End Juniors and my first meeting came with the dreaded Miss Hasten when she announced to everyone that I was a liar as I had the audacity to claim that I had read The Hobbit - apparently someone from Wood End could not possibly have read such a difficult book! The first class I was in was Upper 3 - Mrs (Miss) Mattingley's class where she tried to get me to write with my right hand not the left! However on moving up to Upper 4 and Mr Batt's class it was refreshing to be encouraged to read a wide range of literature and also take pride in my achievements - he certainly helped me believe I could get my dream job - a few bumps along the way but I hope he'd be proud to know I teach special needs. Thanks also go to a very inspirational teacher who really did show how fulfilling it is to teach special needs - Mrs Duffy from Deedmore Special School (now a housing estate!!) My parents still live in Elgar Road and have just celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary - celebrations after all this has cooled down. As I no longer live in Coventry it would be good to hear from any others who also went to Courthouse Green, Wood End or Lyng Hall.

I was at Courthouse Green School 1953-59 , infants and juniors. We had inkwells in our desk and a very simple wooden handled pen nib. Miss Hasten took our class one day and I accidentally put a blot on my book. She rolled up my sleeve and slapped my forearm for so long that I passed out. She was stick thin and very severe looking. She applied a pale pink face powder that made her skin seem parched, adding to her formidable appearance. I think she lived to a ripe old age but outside school nothing was known about her. In spite of her malign presence I loved the school and was usually first there every morning. Miss Ward taught us in Upper 3 and Fred Batt in Upper 4. Both excellent teachers and there were several others also. Working for Mr and Mrs Griffin at the paper shop next to the Morris gates I delivered newspapers in Elgar Road, Sullivan Road, Purcell Road, Sewall Highway and Bell Green Road for a couple of years 61/62. It was some time before I recognised the famous composers whom some streets were named for. My family lived in Proffitt Avenue for many years though my parents now live in Ash Green, the area my mum's family came from. They celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary last October. My dad still misses Proffitt Avenue. I understand the frustration of postponing your celebrations, my parents very much miss seeing their grand and great grandchildren.

Where/what was the paper shop near the Morris gates? Thought that all the streets that you mention were covered by Underwoods?

In 1963/ 64 I ran the newsagents on the corner of Purcell Road opposite the Wheel pub and we delivered to the streets that walrus mentioned. Underwoods had the shop before that time and he may have delivered from his other shop but sold the rounds to us, I can't remember. I don't recollect a shop by the Morris gates. When my family had the newsagents in Wyken Way in 1946 I can remember going up to the Morris gates in the evenings with my dad and a load of Telegraphs and selling them at the gate. I don't think that we could have done that if there was a shop close by. I do seem to remember a small shop at the other end of Heath Crescent, it may have been called Mellors.

To make it clear the paper shop and post office was next to the Morris main gates on Bell Green Road. There was and still is I believe a row of shops curving round into Nuffield Road. Owned by Mr and Mrs Griffin, he ran the paper shop and she the Post Office. I was a paper boy from 61 to 63. After that one of my brothers took over my round. In those days I delivered 4 quire and 4 Telegraphs ie 108 newspapers. Officially my morning round should have started at 7am but I started at 6am or I'd never finish in time to catch my bus to Caludon. My evening round should have started at 5pm but I got there as early as I could or crossing Bell Green Road would be impossible once the Morris workers came out. I was paid 17/6 a week plus a shilling in the pound for collecting the money which bumped me up to about 22/6. One of my sisters worked in the Post Office from leaving school for over ten years. Bell Green Road was very different then. The west side had several cottages and lean-to shacks in little pathways behind the main road houses. I much preferred the area as it was.

Apologies walrus, I was thinking of the Morris gates at Valley Road, however we did deliver in the roads you mention.

Courthouse Green was one huge common in 1928/30, stretched from Bell Green Rd to Walsgrave Rd, Henley Rd to Stoke and the Navigation pub and canal. Covered in wild grass, gorse, bramble, wild flowers, habited by flocks of wild birds, mostly skylarks, it was a wild and wonderful place, then people spoilt it. First they built the Morris about 1930, then Nuffield Rd, then Sewall Highway 1931/2, the first part from opposite Proffitt Ave towards Walsgrave Rd in the dip. I think there was a space of a couple of years before they did any more. The new bridge in Hall Green Rd for Wood End started in 1950, disturbed a family of robins that had nested there for a great number of years. There was an old tin lid, I gave them a spot of milk for a couple of years, they never returned.

Hi Walrus, I too was at Courthouse Green from 1953 to 59. I remember Miss Ward and Mr Batt, but no others. I do recall some pupils though, but won't list them here. You would have delivered papers to us at 12 Elgar, then in 1964 we moved to number 24. There was mention somewhere, maybe another thread, of the foresight to build entries at the back big enough for cars, but I think motor cycles and sidecars would be the more common back then, I don't recall any neighbours having a car until the 70s. The even houses up to 18 were semis with a narrow entry between leading to back gates for the coal delivery and bin disposal; there was a wider entry at the back but a corner therein would prevent lorry access, though a horse and cart was maybe possible. The other far side of that entry was a high fenced off area, a pig farm and I think allotments. There was another mention somewhere of the shops next to the Morris gates, I've seen on another thread there's a wonderful bird's eye view of them and the works behind. I found it here, second picture down. My dad worked at the Morris most of his life but never used the works discount to buy a car.

Argon, absolutely no need to apologise. Sorry if my post reads like a correction, it's the way I write. I realised, after I posted, that of course there were another set of gates at the Stoke Heath side. Incidentally my dad's family lived in Valley Road when the houses were quite new around early 1930s. Mcsporran, we must be exact contemporaries, we were at Courthouse at the same time which makes you 72. Miss Ward was my favourite teacher and Mr Batt was our teacher in Upper 4. There was a really nice chap called Mr Bailey also. Kaga mentioned the steady build up of the area but I can remember playing on the open field opposite the infants school which wasn't developed until, I think, the early seventies. We did Nature Study on that field also. Lots of pictures of dandelions, nettles, buttercups, elderberry, worms and slugs, bike frames and the odd mattress.

Walrus, I must have trodden the same paths as you. I started a paper round at Underwoods in January 1963. On my first day the weather was so bad the morning papers didn't arrive at the shop until lunchtime. The bulk of my round was Elgar Road which was very handy for me. Unfortunately I also had to deliver a dozen or so papers to houses scattered along Bell Green Road and the surrounding streets and it took as long to do that as the rest of the round. Like you I started the morning round quite early to be back home in time for breakfast and a bike ride to Caludon. I seem to remember the worst night was Friday when the Telegraph classified section made the paper so much heavier. I too was in Upper 4 and remember Mr Batt. He was strong on discipline but I thought he was a very good teacher.

It seems that quite a few of us lived in Courthouse Green over the years. I lived in Elgar Road until we moved in 1961. My parents bought number 60 in 1940 when they got married. The house came onto the market about 5 years ago on the death of the people who had bought it from my parents. I couldn't resist having a look round and many of the original features were still there unchanged. I certainly remember Underwoods having the newsagents on the corner of Purcell Road and that's where I bought all my sweets. We also had the Evening Telegraph delivered by them. It always seemed busy and must have been a goldmine, given the number of houses in its catchment area. As others have said, the next nearest such shop was in the block on the corner of Nuffield Road. There was a good choice of shops next to Underwoods, including a Co-op and a butcher. My mother did consider buying one of the new shops next to the Wheel in about 1960 to be a wool shop, but changed her mind and we moved to a new house instead. I seem to recall that Underwoods sold up just before we moved away in the summer of 1961 and the name changed. This ties up with what Argon has said. I have a vague recollection that it became Oystons, is that correct?

MisterD-Di. Oyston bought the shop from my father.

There was a very good chippie near Underwoods but I tended to go to Gees at the top of Proffitt Avenue because John Gee was a pal. Geoff, I remember the winter of 1962/3 very well. Frozen for months and the roads were untreated in those days. The Griffins employed four paperboys. If any failed to turn up for their round I would do it for an extra 1/6. The money was welcome because my family was experiencing particular hardship those days and every penny counted. One particular lad was a serial absentee because his mother wouldn't let him go out in the cold or wet or if he had a cold, which seemed to be every other day, not that I was complaining. Later in 1963 I left Caludon and joined the navy. A year or so later I was on a train to Coventry coming home on leave. That lad was also on the train and was in the army. He was trying to shoot a line that he was in the SAS! The Coventry Evening Telegraph on a Monday was indeed a thin issue and became thicker and heavier each day until by Friday my bag was back breakingly heavy. Sunday was even worse, one of my customers was a Labour MP whose constituency address was in Sewall Highway and he had a copy of every paper as well as several magazines. I spent ages pushing them through the letter box and he was never there so no tip at Christmas.

Hi Walrus. I lived opposite Griffins Post Office/Newsagents from 1945 to 1956 and used to get my comics from them, also there was a nice lady called Mrs Sanderson who worked there for years and later ran the Post Office in Wood End. I got her to sign the back of my first passport photo as she knew me for many years. Was she there when you had your paper round?