Walter’s night out.
Julie in New Zealand has tracked down an appearance by Walter before the magistrates following an incident on the Soho Road. Curiously I walked this road many times being taken by my parents to visit Gladys and Arthur in Farcroft Grove.
Spot the hot metal Typographic error – I don’t know of a suburb called Ashted, so I’m presuming it should read Aston.
As Julie pointed out this occurred twelve months before his marriage to Emily Jane. Were they in a relationship when this occurred? If so, what was the family reaction? Was this excused as “sowing wild oats”? His drink issues certainly surfaced many times subsequently.
Well before the War I lived in 360 Sarehole Road- a brand new estate – but I don’t remember the Mill, presumably where the road would take us.
Dear me! It’s nothing to do with Walter – I just happened to be reading it.
And, by the way, that picture of Granny holding Ian and Arthur as tiny babies, born 2 days’ apart has nothing to do with Dorothy either.
The news-entry is correct. Ashsted was an area of Nechells near the city centre and there WAS a Henry St there. It no longer exists, obliterated years ago by the construction of the Nechells Parkway. Presumably a cable-car was a tram. I lodged on the Soho Rd in slummy student digs in the early 1960s, the house now knocked down. I can confirm that Walter liked a drink now and again. My father Edward married his daughter Doris and after Doris died in 1930, he remarried and went to live in Shirley. Occasionally, Walter as his ex father-in-law, would turn up on a Sunday and suggest they went for a drink together. As a teetotaller, my father would decline, leaving Walter to go to the Colebrook to drink a bit miserably on his own. I got the impression he came all the way from Northfield involving several changes on the bus or tram. He must have been lonely.