We had a message from Mr.John Lavelle concerned that the developers will wreck Mere Green. He went on to say that he lived in Tower Road from the early thirties until the fifties. He went to the infants school, that used to be in Mere Green Road, and then on to Hill Boys’ School, which was situated where Somerfield car park is now.

He remembers Mr Prothero, the headmaster, Canwell Show, Hill Hook Fair and catching newts in the gravel pits in Hill Village. He also remember when it was all fields, full of wild life between Tower Road and Lichfield. He says, “it was paradise for us boys and girls”.

Many thanks for sharing your memories, John, I guess a lot of others will also have memories of Mere Green – Why not share yours with us.

Do You Remember When:

• there was a dairy down by the Log Cabin 
• Holland’s was the green grocer on the corner of Mere Green Road and Lichfield Road. 
• you could buy a quarter of sweets from Bates Sweetshop in Mere Green Road 
• you could smell freshly baked bead from Golby’s and Bromwich’s bakeries 
• you could get “six of chips” from Elsie Gardener’s chip shop where the St. James’ Gallery is now. 
• you could collect frog spawn from opposite the Fox and Dogs 
• you could get four gallons of petrol for a pound 
• you could buy a new car from the Central Garage and the carpets and heater were optional extras 
• Dunbar’s Coffee Bar on Mere Green Road was the teenage hangout 
• you could go to the Saturday morning pictures at the Empress Cinema in Sutton for sixpence (2 ½ pence) 
• we had public toilets in Mere Green – where the pizza shop is now 
• we had a proper Christmas tree on the Mere Green Island every year 
• you could buy nails by the pound from Powers in Belwell Lane 
• you could get a shoulder of lamb from Mathews Butchers in Belwell Lane for 10 shillings (50 pence) 
• hardly anybody had a TV set and we listened to “Journey Into Space” and “The Goons” on the radio 
• you could watch the hunt assemble on Boxing Day at the Fox and Dogs 

Etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,etc.,

Please send us your memories!