Memories of Wally Beech
I have very fond memories of Kingstanding,haveing moved there in 1938 from Vauxhall, I was 11yrs old.We lived on the corner of Esher Rd and we could look down Cooksey Lane from our window. The houses on the other side of Esher Rd were still in various stages of Construction. One night I was out there playing on a pile of sand and the night watchman came along and caught me, said he was takeing me to the police station but he took me to his shelter with a big coke fire in front of it, sat me down and gave me a sandwich from his lunch bag. Needless to say, after that little episode I would go down Cooksey Lane and sit with him almost everynight till they finished the houses in Esher Rd and down the one side of Cooksey Lane.
We moved to Kingstanding in 1938 from Vauxhall.We moved into a new house up Cooksey Lane on the corner of Esher Rd. I was 11yrs old, went to Kingsland Rd school and Peckham Rd school. When we moved in there the houses across the Street were still in various stages of construction. At that time it was a wonderful place to live even though the war had just started. I was able to walk to Sutton Park and Barr Beacon and I remember the family Sunday afternoon walks to the various pubs in the area, Deers Leap, Parson & clerk, and a few others. I grew up and went to work at W.Cannings in Birmingham, my youngest brother went to wok at Thompson’s Butchers on Hawthorn Rd. I was drafted into the RAF in 1945 was released in 1948, married my childhood sweetheart who also lived up Cooksey Lane, and in 1953 we came to USA where we still reside in Sunny California.
Memories of Mike D
I also remember Stone’s newsagent in Kings Rd but you have got me on the fair at the Beggers Bush !!! The only fairs I recall was at Perry Barr park ,Sutton Park and Cooksy Lane.
Mike
Voices of Kingstanding 
hello mike do you have any recollection of the stephenson family of lisson grove off cooksey lane my father was george stephenson trying to trace any family regards paul
By: ebbwvale1 on September 4, 2012
at 10:10 am
hi dont forget Binstead road A lot of our memories on this site come from there, although i can remember ones saying She comes from Binstead the home of the bins,im glad i had my childhood there although at the time,didnt appreciate being so far,as it seemed back then from bham city centre as i always felt sick as a child travelling on the buses.
By: Hazel Willington on October 29, 2013
at 6:26 pm
Hi Wally, Do you remember any of the Checkley girls number 100. My Mom Is Maureen I think she is younger than you but her older sisters were Irene, Flora (died very young as a child) Beryl. Their mother was Alice I believe they moved in late 1930’s. Sue
By: sue on December 28, 2014
at 11:32 am
100 Cooksey Lane
By: sue on December 28, 2014
at 11:33 am
Hi, Sue, I remember the name but don’t know where #100 was can you explain for me. We lived on the corner of Esher Rd and I remember the Holliers and Holliwoods lived across from us on Cooksey lane
Thanks, Wally.
By: Walter Beech on June 18, 2017
at 10:42 pm
Hi Wally, We must have lived 4 or 5 doors away from each other. I was born in 1940 at 6 Esher Road. I went to Kingsland Road school from 1945 to 1951 then on to George Dixon Grammar School in Edgbaston. The families that I knew living in Cooksey Lane were the Dorman family near Esher Road, the Hodges family living opposite Esher Road and the Chester family up towards the Deers Leap Pub.
By: Brian Bate on December 8, 2018
at 2:10 am
42 COOKSEY LANE. HAROLD MOON NELLIE MOON CHILDREN RENE MARGARET DENNIS AND PAUL MOON
WIFE SANDRA MOON. CHILDREN HEATHER PAULA AND JOANNE ALL LIVED AT COOKSEY LANE
WE KNEW THE DORMANS AND WE LIVED NEXT DOOR TO THE HOLLIERS A FEW DOORS DOWN WERE THE GREENS AND THE WHITES AND THE WOODHALLS. TOP OF THE ROAD WERE THE TOPPINS SADLERS AND THE CASWELLS
By: Heather And Paul Byrne on September 17, 2022
at 6:59 pm