Ongoing research: last updated 20 January 2013
1st January 1912 – BCC Parks Committee Minute
99 Councillor Norman Chamberlain presented the following report of the General Purposes Sub Committee:-
(6) King’s Heath Park, Extension
Your Sub Committee have considered the extension of King’s Heath Park, and in view of the exorbitant price asked by the owners, recommend that no further action be taken.
29th January 1912 – BCC Parks Committee Minute
121 Mr. Councillor Brown submitted the following report of the Administrative Sub Committee:-
Kings Heath Park
Your Sub Committee recommend that the tender of Messrs Hewitt & Co. of Solihull for the supply of trees and shrubs for the King’s Heath Park at the price of £65 be accepted.
Kings Heath Park
130 Resolved that the tender of Messrs Hewitt & Co. of Solihull for the supply of trees and shrubs for planting in the King’s Heath Park be accepted at the price of £65.
27th February 1912 – BCC Parks Committee Minute
Kings Heath House
198 The following communication was received from the Secretary of the Education Committee:
Edmund Street
2nd February 1912
Dear Sir,
Your letter of the 30th ultimo was laid before the Hygiene Sub Committee at their meeting held yesterday. I am to request you to convey to the Parks Committee the thanks of the Hygiene Sub Committee, and to inform you that arrangements will be made forthwith for the use of the room at King’s Heath House as a medical inspection centre.
Yours faithfully
(signed) J. Arthur Palmer
Secretary of Education
W. Thompson Esq
Clerk to the Parks Committee
Council House
23rd March 1912 - Birmingham News
Village Gossip
Improvements in the Park
Walking round Kings Heath Park the other day I was struck by the numerous alterations and improvements that are being made. The walks are being widened and new ones made, including a fine avenue to be known as Woodland Walk, on the Avenue Road side of the park, planted with rhododendrons. The flower beds are being carefully treated, and the lake is being planted with rare ornamental flowers and shrubs, set off with rockeries. I am sorry to hear that a number of valuable plants have been taken from the park, and I take this opportunity of asking the public to protect public property, and to see that young trees are not broken, as has been the case. Additional tennis courts and bowling greens are to be laid. Improvements are also taking place in Cotteridge and Selly Oak Parks, where bowling greens are also being provided.
1st April 1912 – BCC Parks Committee Minute
Mr. Councillor Brown submitted the following report of the Administrative Sub Committee:-
Refreshment Room, Kings Heath Park
Your Sub Committee have received an offer from Mr. Blake to take the Refreshment Room, at Kings Heath Park and recommend that the application be granted for a period of 12 months from the 25th March 1912, at a rent of £35 per annum and rates.
Refreshment Room, Kings Heath Park
Mr. Councillor Brown here stated that the Superintendent and himself had met Mr. and Mrs. Blake at the park on Saturday and that they asked that the rent should be inclusive of all rates and it was arranged subject to the approval of the Committee that they should pay £45 per annum to include all rates and taxes instead of £35 and rates.
217 Resolved:- That the offer of Mr. Blake to take the Refreshment Room at Kings Heath Park for a period of 12 months from the 25th March 1912 at a rent of £45 per annum inclusive of all rates and taxes be accepted and that the Town Clerk be instructed to prepare and affix the Corporate Seal to such agreement as may be necessary to give effect thereto.
1st July 1912 – Parks Committee
Mr. Councillor Brown presented the following report of the Administration Sub Committee:-
Police Patrol
Your Sub Committee report that 42 men have been selected by the Committee and have been apportioned as follows:
Kings Heath Park 1
335 Resolved:- That the Report be received and entered upon the minutes.
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The following communication was received from the City Treasurer:-
City of Birmingham
Treasurer’s Department
The Council House
28th June 1912
Dear Sir,
On balancing the accounts of the added areas for the year ended 31st March last, there seems to be a deficit in the Rate Accounts of the districts of Yardley and King’s Norton, and upon examination of the details of the expenditure in those districts from the 9th November to the 31st March, I find that your Department apparently expended sums in excess of the amount provided for in the rate estimates as follows:-
Purpose Excess Expenditure
General £214 Yardley District
Kings Heath Park £350 King’s Norton District
A Sub-Committee of the Finance Committee has been appointed to examine and report whether or not such items as these should properly be charges to the Districts in question by a supplementary rate, and to enable me to lay the facts before this Sub-Committee, I should be glad if you could furnish me with your observations in writing during the course of Monday next.
You will recollect that about December of last year you were furnished with statements showing what sums had been provided for the service of your Department in the added areas, and probably these statements will be of use to you in the present connection.
Yours faithfully,
(signed) T.H. Clare,
Treasurer.
W.H. Morter, Esq.,
Superintendent,
Parks Department.
353 Resolved:- That the report be received and the action of the Superintendent approved.
20 July 1912 – Birmingham News
Kings Norton and Northfield Districts
Kings Heath and Moseley
Appointment of Local Man - Mr. H. A. Shuttleworth, F.R.H.S., ex-superintendent of Kings Heath Park, has been appointed by the President of the Board of Agriculture to a post in the new horticultural department, and left for London this week to take up his duties.
3rd August 1912 - Birmingham News
Music in the Parks
Programme for Next week
Arrangements have been made for the following concerts to be given in the various parks and recreation grounds of the city of Birmingham:-
Saturday, August 3. Kings Heath Park, Friends’ Institute Brass Band.
Sunday, 4 August. Kings Heath Park, Metropolitan Works Band.
Tuesday, August 6 (Afternoon and Evening). Kings Heath Park, Merritt’s Elite Coons.
Wednesday, August 7 (Afternoon and Evening). Kings Heath Park, Zambra and Leipold’s Entertainers.
Friday, August 9. Kings Heath Park, City Police Band.
10th August 1912 - Birmingham News
Music in the Parks
Programme for Next week
The following arrangements have been made for concerts to be given in the various parks and recreation grounds of the city during the week ending Friday, 16th August:-
Saturday, August 10. Kings Heath Park, Handsworth Comedy Company
Sunday, August 11. Kings Heath Park, Cotteridge Prize Band
Monday, August 12. Kings Heath Park, Will Morris’s Pierrots
Tuesday, August 13. Kings Heath Park, Hy. Cane’s Vaudeville Entertainers
24th August 1912 – Birmingham News
Village Gossip
Bowling Extraordinary
I am told that during the course of a game of bowls played recently at Kings Heath Park by four members of the City Council staff, the unusual score of 21-0 was recorded.
31st August 1912 – Birmingham Mail
Music in the Parks
Next Week’s Programme
Arrangements have been made for the following concerts to be given in the various parks and recreation grounds of the city:-
Saturday, August 31. Kings Heath Park, Digbeth Institute Brass Band
Sunday, September 1. Kings Heath Park, Hales Owen Temperance Prize Band
Monday, September 2. Kings Heath Park, The Dagonet Entertainers
7th September 1912 – Birmingham News
Municipal Notes
Music in the Parks There is general complaint amongst the bands performing in the city parks of the meanness of the large crowds who listen to the music they provide. The collections are ridiculously small for the proportions of the gatherings that throng around the bandstands on such occasions. There is, however, no question of good music being appreciated. What is wanted is for the City Council to properly grapple with the matter, both in the allocation of the bands and in regard to the allowance made to them. Were this properly done, asserts a correspondent, it could be arranged to the satisfaction of the majority, if not all, and certainly to the greater satisfaction of the public. The city’s grant for “music in the parks” is £750 per annum. London’s grant for a similar purpose is £10,000.
Music in the Parks
Programme for Next Week
Arrangements have been made for the following concerts to be given in the various parks and recreation grounds of the city:-
Saturday, September 7. Kings Heath Park, Zambra and Leipold’s Entertainers
21st September 1912 – Birmingham News
Village Gossip
A Dangerous Road
It will certainly be a boon when Vicarage Road, Kings Heath, by the Park, is widened and better lighted. At present it is a very treacherous road to cycle or walk on. I suppose the matter will be held over till building operations are completed in that road. I was given to understand in the old Kings Norton days that a strip of land in the Park would be thrown into the footpath and the fence put back. It is a great wonder some serious accidents have not occurred in this neighbourhood.
