NextBackWhilst browsing in the Library of the Worcestershire Archaeological Service in Woodbury at the University of Worcester in 2008 I came across a box of documents relating to Redditch which contained some rather grainy photographs. When I examined these more closely I was astounded to see that they were pictures of streets and buildings I never expected to see in my life again for they have been long since demolished. They were the streets where I ran as a boy and where I grew up!
It was this occasion which inspired me, with the kind permission of the Worcestershire Archaeological Service and Historic Environment Record to bring together maps, pictures and some memories of my own to form an Oral (and Visual) History of this area of Redditch.
Perhaps I should begin at the beginning. I was born at No.2 Wellington Street in 1944. Wellington Street is literally just around the corner to Church Green East . Many of the properties in this area were demolished in the late 1960s and the street system is now much changed. This project seeks in part, to illustrate the changes in the area during the 20th and 21st Century.
The area incorporates some of the ‘back streets’ of Redditch in the 1950’s and 1960’s including Peakman Street, Wellington Street, Victoria Street and Queen Street
