Books published by Brewin Books

This book relates the history of Rotton Park Lodge and the surrounding area of Birmingham. Margery Elliott provides a detailed account of the Lodge and gardens and its environs including the former farm, Edgbaston Reservoir and Perrott's Folly. She includes biographies of people associated with the Lodge and their families, several played a significant role in Birmingham's history. The author's grandfather, James Richard Turner, was a builder and prominent City Councillor who lived in the Lodge from 1903 to 1933. Her father, Edwin Elliott, was founder and managing director of E. Elliott Ltd, manufacturers of injection-moulded plastic goods. The book incorporates numerous photographs and reproductions of old maps and documents. It offers a fascinating insight into the social history of Britain's second city.

Deep in the beautiful Worcestershire countryside lie a number of secret places that played a special part in protecting a generation from the onslaught of a world war. Travellers passing through leafy Worcestershire lanes may catch a glimpse of a structure that seems out of place against the backdrop of fields and hills - the dish of a gigantic radio telescope. How did such an incongruous structure arrive in the middle of nowhere, and what does it do? This book answers the question, and recounts the dramatic history of two 'Top Secret' wartime airfields, and how their activities were inextricably linked to the 'boffins' of the Malvern Telecommunications Research Establishment. It tells the story of brilliant inventions, wartime courage and sacrifice, tragic air crashes, and ordinary and extraordinary people, pushing themselves and their machines to the limit and beyond. Crafted using personal recollections - the book reveals the truly extraordinary wartime commitment and camaraderie that fuelled extraordinary endeavour and achievement.

When Alex's bowling hits a rough patch, his sister tells him he needs to be more aggressive. Alex doesn't think much of this advice and embarks on his own journey to discover what kind of preparation will work best for him. Can Alex sort out his bowling in time for the important match against the dreaded Smasher Jones and his team next week? This story touches on the themes of mindfulness, resilience and the sometimes underrated art of just being yourself. At Chance to Shine, our aim is to improve the lives of young people through participation in cricket. In schools, we take our work in the classroom as seriously as our work in the playground. For this reason, we are delighted that Alex's cricketing journey continues in this new reading book. You will find some familiar characters and meet a few interesting new ones. My favourite is Smasher Jones! Laura Cordingley, Chief Executive, Chance to Shine.

The Girl from Guildford Street describes a working class childhood, growing up in Lozells, Birmingham, 1957-1968. The author and her sister and cousins were the last generation to grow up in the back to backs: Birmingham council houses, two up, one down; no bathroom, inside toilet, central heating or hot running water; centred around a back yard with outside toilets, sheds and a brew'us or wash house. The author looks at family life in the back to backs, and how whole families lived on one street. The author's parents both worked in local factories at a time when manufacturing was booming in Birmingham. This is not a misery memoir - it is the story of a happy childhood in one of Birmingham's poorest areas. It also looks at the Sixties - the fashions, the politics, the music, the hairstyles, the World Cup - as a golden age.

This first and ground-breaking biography of Arthur Jefferson, the father of Stan Laurel (the mastermind behind the legendary comedy partnership of Laurel and Hardy), reveals that he was a major influence on his son, a fine comic actor himself, a successful playwright, and an excellent example of the provincial theatrical lessees who provided Victorians and Edwardians with their main source of entertainment. It describes the ups and downs of his life, family and career and how, in middle age, he had to confront the challenge to the world of intimate, local, live theatre from the emerging global, silent and then sound cinema industry. Ironically, it was the success of films like those of Laurel and Hardy which all but destroyed the provincial theatrical world that Arthur loved.

In Down to Earth, Nancy Cooper gives us a glimpse into the real life of a seventeen year old young woman who is recruited into the Women's Land Army in 1943. It is a big change from her life at Old Hill in the Black Country, and a welcome escape from the secretarial training that she was desperate to avoid. She soon found herself living alone, far from home and working on several farms. She managed to milk 30 cows, working alone, as she did her part in providing the country with enough food in the shortages both during and after WWII. At one farm she cared for a yard full of pigs, who cunningly tried to outwit her attempts to share their food out. Dealing with unfairly jealous wives, strange billeting arrangements with a nocturnal visitor and rats everywhere were also ways in which Nancy's resourcefulness was tested. There is now a memorial to honour the work of the Women's Land Army at the National Arboretum in Staffordshire. If you go to see it you will notice that the rats have got in on this as well!

U.S. Army Hospital Center 804' tells the story of five U.S. Army hospitals located on the Shropshire/Flintshire border during World War II: Llanerch Panna, Penley, Iscoyd Park, Oteley Deer Park and Halston Hall. They were built by British contractors during 1942-44 and used by American hospital units until the end of the war in Europe. When the American units left the area some of the hospital sites were used by displaced Poles. For a few months at the end of 1944/beginning of 1945 the hospital at Iscoyd Park treated German Prisoners of War. The headquarters of the 5 hospitals - Hospital Center 804 was first located in Gwemheylod (Flintshire) and later moved to Whitchurch (Shropshire). U.S. ARMY HOSPITAL CENTER 804 An AawMolltis U& Military Hospitals in lb. This book looks at the day to day activities at the hospitals using archive material and accounts and previously unpublished photos from those who were there at the time and their relatives. It also looks in depth at the stories of some of the patient-soldiers who passed through the hospitals. It touches on the impact the occupants of the camps and other U.S. camps in the area, had on the surrounding towns, with particular regard to Wrexham in Flintshire.

Not Great Hopes is a personal account of episodes from the author's childhood and a vivid evocation of life during the 1950s and 1960s. The chapters range from everyday life in the Birmingham suburb of Northfield, to school life, sport, television, holidays, a first experience of foreign travel, extended family and the account of a bitter family breakdown. They include details of a childhood that is in many ways dramatically different from the childhood of today, though many themes will resonate across the generations. The book also gives an account of the author's relationship with and impression of a city, Birmingham, in a period of tumultuous demographic and architectural change. It ranges in emotional tone from the light and humorous to the poignant and tragic. Older readers will find much to recognise; younger readers, much to surprise them.

Alex loves cricket! When Chance to Shine coaches come into school, Alex hopes his friends will discover a love of cricket too. Things don't work out quite how Alex had planned; but with the help of his teacher, Alex is determined not to give up.

This book, compiled by a former employee, is a look back at the history of Fort Dunlop through the recollections and memories of many other members of its workforce. What emerges is a very family orientated company which played a huge part in the lives of many people who worked there or lived nearby.

In 1813 George Walton joined the Rifle Brigade at a recruiting party outside St Philip's Church in Birmingham and subsequently kept a journal of his daily life throughout the years of his army service until 1839 when he retired.

No satisfactory explanation was given for the burial of a large Saxon gold hoard found in Staffordshire. Speculation on who buried the treasure has led to ideas based on battles, warriors and plundering kings. The Christian pieces are explained in new ways and the gold is discussed from the point of view of a Churl, Monk, Bishop, Warrior and King.

No.13 Herbert Road is an engaging autobiographical account of a young boy growing up in the back streets of Small Heath in Birmingham during the 1940s. Through fond recollections and amusing anecdotes, the reader is transported back to the often hard times experienced by many of the working classes in post-war Britain.

During the Second World War Birmingham suffered 365 air raid alerts and 77 actual air raids. These raids took place between the 8th August 1940 and the 23rd April 1943. There were over 9,000 casualties of whom 2,241 were killed. This book contains the first hand accounts of some of those who survived.

The Worcester and Birmingham Canal when it was authorised by Act of Parliament, to 1815 when it was completed 24 years later. Although intended as a broad canal for barges and having five broad tunnels, it was eventually completed with narrow locks due to financial difficulties.

Over 80 ex-employees and their descendants give perceptive and often humorous accounts of life in the Enfield works, charting its expansion from a humble needle factory into one of Britain's best known motorcycle manufacturers. The concluding stories are by those who worked there during the final ten years.

A book about Leamington's history that documents the history of its pubs. With more than 220 entries and 250 illustrations, it traces the number of co-existing pubs from just 2 to a peak of over 100 before the progressive decline to less than 60 at the end of 2013. It also includes opening/closing dates, licence listings and social history.

Cars, that we now know have ceased to be manufactured, travelling along our highways. Factories, that haven't existed for years, were in the 60's proudly standing as if their lives and ours depended on them - and indeed they did. This title features more than 350 images from a decade which began over half-a-century ago.

Charlie Hall was born into a working class family in 1899. In 1920 he left England to start a new life in New York. Incredibly, within a few years he had moved to Hollywood, and was appearing in films with some of the greatest silent comedy stars of all time. How did this come about? This book answers various questions about Charlie Hall.

The police boxes have an interesting history. The 'hey days' for the police box were the years between the 1920s and 1960s when a large proportion of the many police forces, that existed at the time, introduced some form of communication from the street for both police officers and the public to use. This book describes this aspect of policing.

Pat Roach - the 'Gentle Giant' battled with cancer for six-and-a-half years, before it eventually claimed him, in the small hours of Saturday 17 July, 2004. This work combines Pat's final experiences and thoughts, with over seventy tributes from close family and friends.

Reflecting Birmingham in the 1940s and 1950s, this work tells of the games played then in the streets: hopscotch, queenie, marbles, skipping, roller skating. It takes us back to school life during and after the war, to what it was like to be sick before the advent of the NHS and antibiotics; and more.

This title tells the story of the U.S. Replacement Depot at Pheasey Farms Estate in Great Barr, Birmingham during World War II. Part of the half-built housing estate was requisitioned by the British forces at the outbreak of war and in 1942 the first group of American soldiers moved in.

There have been many books about Birmingham's history but this one is different. It is based on the archaeological evidence from the first major excavations to be carried out in Birmingham city centre. The book is written in a lively, accessible style and contains over 100 illustrations, most in colour. It provides new evidence of Birmingham's origins and its growth as a market town and industrial centre in the medieval period. The book also offers a new perspective on the transformation of Birmingham into 'the first manufacturing town in the world' in the 18th and 19th centuries. A large part of the book is devoted to the excavation of St. Martin's Churchyard, which uncovered 857 burials - in simple graves and elaborate tombs - of the people who made the Industrial Revolution. The burials are explored in fascinating detail, together with analysis of the health of the population based on scientific study of the skeletons. New research reveals intimate details of the lives of the men and women of the town of a thousand trades. If you are interested in the history of Birmingham, this book is essential reading.