Celebrating Stirchley’s Hazelwell Lane

Join the people of Stirchley in a celebratory walk and laying of floral tributes at 2pm on Saturday 3 March, commemorating the life of a once vibrant street.

Hazelwell Lane is soon to be lost due to imminent commercial development. The lane has been boarded up and derelict for some time. It will become a car park entrance into a new development, a dead end that will no longer link the east and west of Stirchley.

It is believed that the lane was originally a track across the fields from the brick works (currently where the allotments are sited). It was probably developed into a street between 1900 and 1940 due to growth of manufacturing based in the lane, including Squires manufacturing chemists, makers of car parts, Frederick Bates tool-makers and Eccles caravans, the first purpose built caravan factory in the world. The Co-operative Grocery warehouse and the Co-operative Hall and Education Centre were based there from the late 1930s and it is still home to the lively Ten Acres and Stirchley Co-operative Society (TASCoS). Many local residents who worked in local industry also called Hazelwell Lane home.

Place Prospectors, a non-profit community interest company have been working with Stirchley residents over the last month collecting memories of the area and creating tributes to the lane in a series of workshops. The tributes include candles representing the businesses that used to be in the lane, and floral wreaths spelling out Hazelwell Lane.

Tracey Leaning, former resident of Hazelwell Lane said: ‘I remember happy childhood days whilst growing up in Hazelwell Lane from the early 60s onwards… I for one will be there [on Saturday 3 March], teary eyed at the memory of my life starting, and my parents lives ending at number 7… Thank you Stirchley Prospects for bringing to light the history of and respect for Hazelwell Lane.’

On Saturday 3 March walkers will meet at the Hazelwell Pub and then proceed with musical accompaniment to Hazelwell Lane to lay the tributes in a celebration of the history and community in the lane. A ‘wake’ with refreshments will be held afterwards in Stirchley United Working Men’s Club.

For more information on Place Prospectors and the Stirchley Prospects project visit: www.prospectors.org.uk

Celebrate the life of a once vibrant lane, soon to be lost due to development
2-3pm Saturday 3 March 2012
Walk starts at Hazelwell Pub, 227 Pineapple Road, B30 2SY and ends at Hazelwell Lane, Stirchley. B30 2PR