"Burglar Bill" and other old tales of Radford

Yes Colin I do remember the Beaker Cafe but only from a distance, I would not have dared go in. I remember the shops by Villa Road, but the only one I went in was the Busy Bee. We used to use the shops further up the Radford Road as they were a bit closer to us. We also used the shops and the library by the Rialto at the bottom of Barkers Butts Lane. My mum used to work in the wine shop on the Radford Road on the left just before Lydgate Hill. I think the post office used to be on that side as well. The shops seemed more interesting then, there was clothes and a shoe shop, which became Barclays Bank and I think now it sells furniture. My friend Barbara Edgar lived a few doors away from your uncle. About 3 houses away from the entrance to St Nicholas Church, but I would probably have delivered papers to your Uncle from the paper shop in Wyley Road in about 1960. - 1962. I used to do both sided of Engleton Road, down Poole Road and then Lawrence Saunders. Every morning before school, Telegraphs in the evening and pinks (do you remember those) on a Saturday night. I must have been very enterprising when I was about 13 as I also worked weekends in the Candy Box in Jubilee Crescent. I used to go to the youth club at the Congregational Church which was on the corner of Villa Road. I went to the church for a while but I got fed up with it, I was only going because we went bowling afterwards so I just used to meet my friends outside and go bowling with them !

There used to be a greengrocers opposite Radford Common where the Engleton Road surgery is now. I believe that the Wilkinson family ran it in the early 60s

The Police box Always seemed to be in trouble as a kid, nothing real bad just mischievous, scrumping, rat tat ginger etc. I took exception to being accused of something I was not responsible for as most people would. This little incident took place one afternoon after leaving school with two of my friends. As pupils of Barker Butts School we had no sports ground of our own and so for sports activity we were bussed out to Waste Lane or we used the sports ground at Radford Aerodrome and Moseley School, as Moseley School was close to Barkers we used to walk there on the odd occasion when the other grounds were in use. On this day we had been playing football, I seem to remember it being very warm and we were all sticky, because we had no shower facility we were let off early. We started to walk home and kicking about tin cans "as you did in them days" we were stopped by two very big men wearing long gabardine coats (long coats in the summer?) anyway they grabbed us and holding us began to ask questions We were very afraid and I asked "what do you want?" "we are Police officers come with us" and with that they frogmarched us over to the big blue Police box (Tardis) that stood outside the Library, Moseley Ave. Once inside they started to question us about our activity and why we were out of school, our answer was quite plausible which seemed to vex the Police officers "turn out your pockets" one officer demanded, while one of my friends was being searched I whispered to my other friend "do you think they are real coppers? When he comes to search you ask him for his Police Warrant Card" and this he did (God bless him). We did not expect what happened next, one of the Police officers grabbed my friend and slapped him about the face (looked like a scene out of the film "Angels with Dirty Faces "starring "James Cagney"). Wow I thought I am glad he was the person that asked and not me, we were all very frightened and we began to cry, after a short while we were sent on our way with the warning "Don't let us see you around here again". You can imagine what happened the next day, our three parents with us filed into the Headmaster's office demanding an explanation as to what had gone on? He of course knew nothing about it, but he would get to the bottom of it. Later that day we were summoned to the Headmaster's (Mr Insley) office, our three parents were there along with Mr Pendleton, head of C.I.D . It was explained to us that the two officers in question had been a bit over the top with their approach (from all account the officers had been looking for some youths fitting our description that had been robbing from the local shops) Mr Pendleton could only offer his apologies and assured us that the officers would be reprimanded and it was up to us if we wished to take it further. On the advice of the Head and our parents we decided to take no further action. I think they must have been a bit frustrated, thinking they had got their suspects and all. Still one lesson learned, "keep your mouth shut or ask someone else to ask the questions" poor ol' Bob Robinson, he was the lad who got slapped. As a footnote, I bet they checked with our attendance records to make sure that we were in school when the incidents took place. Colin

Ooooo Colin, I bet that had you shaking at the knees. What year would that have been when you attended Barker's ? Was there a Baptist Church at the back of the library, and did you ever play soccer at Waste Lane ?

Hello Dreamtime, Yes, the Baptist Church is a rebuilt huge building, called LSR Evangelical church. It has a very high attendance & membership. I was there yesterday. My son leads the music. (I went on bus as you would expect, but he brought me home). I will sort out a picture for you to see.

But the library is still a wooden hut

Hi Philip, thank you. My Sunday school days were spent in the Baptist hall there and at the Youth Club. Oh, happy, happy days.

I am finding the reading of comments on Radford so very interesting that I wish to add my own memories. The cottages that were demolished on Radford Rd. were my parents first accommodation after being bombed out. The first house up the drive to Mr Wilkinson yard was 382, in which Colin was born. On my return from being an evacuee, I was seven by then, my first day at school was at Hill Farm, Foster Road. My second day at Hill Farm started with me being caned, three strokes on each hand by Mrs Wakefield, the headmistress, I was swinging on some pipes. Does anyone remember the VJ party in Engleton Road, when a figure meant to represent Tojo, of Japan, was slung across the road. Radford Common was the site of underground shelters, down which I spent a lot of time as toddler, and the remains of the tunnels remain there still. At the front of the common, near the road was a static water tank, holding many thousands of gallons of water. There was also a surface shelter, right opposite the driveway up to Mr Wilkinson's yard. Anyone remember the murder in Radford, I do as I was interviewed along with many others. I am sure now that no one was ever arrested for the crime. My good friends at that time were Bill Whittington, John Beard, John Ireland, and an aquaintance was Michael Robbins, whose brother played Rugby for England. I remember the spring behind Porretas, and the Blue Star Garage next door to the Radford Congregational Church, where my Dad was caretaker, and where I worked with him keeping things running. Happy days in Radford, before joining Plumb Shopfitters and an apprenticeship.

Hi Freeman, If you knew Michael Robbins (had a date with him once many moons ago) then you would have known his sister Jennifer, who worked at Herbert's, Red Lane. I can imagine you getting up to no good with Colin (he is away on holiday at the moment). You must have a lot more memories to share with us.

Living in Banks Road (before we moved to Sadler Road in 1955) I had a stint attending Lawrence Saunders Methodist Church's Sunday School. My mother always thought that Sunday school would do me good. Happier times in the wooden library, I loved the place. Convenient to call in on the way home from Moseley Ave School.

A warm welcome to our forum Freeman What a great post - I trust you will have jogged a few memories there

Hello Dreamtime, I am new to this so bear with me please. I do remember Jennifer but only briefly, I went to Michael's house one day and met his father and Peter, who was a rugby player and played for England, if you google his name, his history will tell you everything about him. Michael to us, that's me and my mates, was always known as Tubby Robbins, and do know why because he definitely was not tubby. On Radford Common was the remains of a horizontal swing, after the war effort took the bulk. What was left was the supports with two horizontal bars, Tubby Robbins was the only one I ever saw who could swing by his arms, and gain enough momentum to spring from one side to the other. He was a great character and very clever, being the only one amongst us who went to grammar school. Allow me diverse a little now, Does anyone reading this remember the "Rockets", not the rocket man, but the Radford Rockets. These were the local team of riders who performed on Radford Common back in the late 50s, early 60s. The racing took place on a prepared race track covered in cinders and to all intents and purposes was just like the speedway, only on push bikes. They had proper starting tapes and all the paraphernalia to go with it. Teams would come from all around Coventry and compete in leagues.The following was tremendous, but it sadly died out with the times. I lived opposite the Common and for me it was a dream, a meeting place for us for girls and where we as lads met and grew up. I know it has been mentioned before but I was mad on bows and arrows and made my own out of a hawthorn branch, very strong and powerful. I also made my arrows, sharpened to a point. Can you believe, I along with mates, would stand and fire the bows straight up into the air, and then stand there and wait for the arrows to come down. How stupid can you as a youth. Luckily nobody was ever hurt but me. What we did on some waste ground, behind our cottage was to build a small den, and one or two of us would get in and the others would run around firing arrows at the den, like Indians in the films. It was me who took an arrow in the leg, going in the back and coming out front. We could not tell anyone, because dad forbid me from having a bow, so we slapped a dock leaf on, tied with some long grass, until it stopped bleeding and used some rag to bind. Thankfully long trousers hid it from dad, and other than the two scars which still show to this day, I got away with it. Those were wonderful days, and I feel very lucky now aged 75 to have lived through those glorious years of the fifties and sixties. Hope you find what I have written interesting and fills some more to the interesting site that this is.