Page 40 - Colin Wheeler's Memories

Redditch Heritage My Palace Theatre and other Memories

The Rectory Road school building from the front elevation had a divided

playground at the rear, girls to the left and boys to the right at the far end were
a pair of asbestos classrooms. The original Memorial Hall which was donated to

the residents of Headless Cross together with the Birchfield Road playing fields
was used as an additional classroom. There was a large area of garden occupying

the side and rear of the school site, on the top right hand corner next to the
pavement was a surface air raid shelter. If you lived within five minutes of the

school when the siren went you were allowed to go home otherwise you had to sit
in this dark damp shelter.

One afternoon a week we were taken to the Birchfield Road playing fields for
sports which was usually cricket or football under the direction of Mr Bob Michie
On one occasion, although I wasn't present, a German bomber circled around for

a considerable time before making off and attempting to drop his load on the
BSA works.

The playing fields, in those days, were divided into two by a hedge and a pavilion,

in the first field opposite Heath,s factory was a large, semi-underground Z
shaped shelter which was always flooded and never used, in the field opposite the
Seven Stars was a shelter similar to the one which stood in the school gardens

and only used by one family.

Page: 40 © Redditch Heritage 2018