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Meeting Places
Memorial Hall.
The Memorial Hall, Lower Gornal

Photo CDM 2014

Memorial Hall, Temple Street, Lower Gornal.

1925: Birmingham Gazette, Monday 20th April.

GORNAL WOOD MEMORIAL HALL

Erected at a cost of about £3,000, of which a balance of some £2,000 has yet to be realised, a handsome memorial hall, built largely as a result of the efforts of St. James's Parochial Council, was opened by Viscount Ednam, at Lower Gornal on Saturday.
Viscount Ednam, who was accompanied by Lady Ednam, performed the ceremony.
Building of the 'village hall' opposite St. James's Church commenced in 1925, it was to serve both as a Sunday School which it replaced on the site and as an assembly hall for meetings and concerts.
The Memorial Hall was built at a cost of £5,161 3s 8d, the funds being raised by social events, local donations and subscriptions.
The School House which was part of the old school remains, and can be seen adjacent to the present building.
1929. Birmingham Gazette, 16 September,
VILLAGE MEMORIAL
In the presence of 2,000 people who gathered yesterday outside the Memorial Hall, Lower Gornal, Mrs. Timmins, mother of the first Lower Gornal man to fall in the last war, unveiled a granite stone cross to the memory of the villages (66 in all) who fell.
The cross which has been subscribed for by the villagers, was dedicated by the Bishop of Lichfield.

A memorial was added to the frontage in 1929 initially for the local men who were killed in the Great War, 1914-1918.
Originally 66 names were inscribed and recently a further two additional names were added.
Many local family names are obvious in the list.
Another memorial was added for the Gornal men who lost their lives in the Second World War, 1939-1945.
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE MEN OF LOWER GORNAL WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918
"MAY THEY REST IN PEACE"
F. Amphlett T. Cooper W. Hughes T.C. Shaw
T.W. Baker S. Cox J. Hyde B. Simmons
G.T. Bishop W. Cox S. Hyde E. Simmons
W. Blackham T.V. Dann J. Jeavons W.W. Simmons
G. Bowen E. Evans B.C.K. Job A. Smith
F.F. Bowyer H. Greenway J. Jones W.B. Smith
A. Bradley A. Guest J.H. Jones G. Southall
D. Bradley W. Gutteridge W.A. Jones C. Timmins
S. Bradley A. Hale J. Jordan J. Timmins
C. Bradshaw W.E. Hale W.T. Lucas M.M. J.T. Timmins
L. Brookes J. Harries S. Malpass I. Tomlinson
W. Burrows M. Hickin W.H. Nock B. Wasdell
A Clarke A. Hickman G, Painter J. Westwood
H. Clarke M.M. J. Hickman D. Parkes C.S. Whorton
J. Clarke T. Hill W.H. Parkes J. Whorton
A. Collins I. Hopson T. Phipps J.W. Wilkes
W.H. Collins W.H. Hopson W. Powers F.J. Worton
Two further memorial tablets were added for the 37 local men who who lost their lives in World War II, 1939-1945.
Thomas Baker John Greathead Bernard R. Oakley
Frank Beard Edwin Hayes Arthur C. Page
Joseph Beardsmore J.T. Hickman Ernest Parkes
Cyril Bourne Frank Hodgetts Howard Simmons
Joseph D. Bradley Henry J. Hoggins Enoch J. Smith
Raymond Burrows Robert T.G. Holden James L. Smith
Wilfred Caswell John A. Hope Oscar J. Smith D.F.C.
Frank Cooke Joseph Hopson Isaac Timmins
Albert E. Cooper William R. Hopson Raymond Timmins
George W. Day Clifford Howarth Arthur Watton
Frank Evans John S. Jones Bernard Woodall
George Flavell Sydney R. Lowe
Reginald Flavell John Marsh
The Memorial Hall was popular in the 1970s for wedding receptions and other big family events, but in more recent years for jumble sales and such like.
Local family wedding group at the front of the Memorial Hall.

Photo 1980

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The Quarry Club.
The Quarry Club, off Vale Street, Upper Gornal.
The old Board School annex building, later used by the Club.
c 1940s
Site of the old school and Quarry Club.
Photo CDM 2015
The 'Quarry' was a youth club which in its heyday in the 1960s offered a great venue for teenagers, the club provided disco and live music and the usual youth activities like table tennis and snooker.
In 1969, local pop group Slade played there as did many other 'sixties groups from the Midlands.
The Quarry Club Youth Centre occupied a building which formed a part of the old Upper Gornal Board School, later to become known as the Tudor Schools.
This building was built as part of the expansion of the main School situated on Clarence Street,
The club was situated next to the recreation/playing fields which now hide the old sandstone quarries in this location - thus the name.
The building disappeared sometime between 1993 and 1996.
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Darby & Joan Club, Lower Gornal.
Darby and Joan Club, Abbey Street.

photo 2020

The term "Darby & Joan" originates in a poem by Henry Woodfall in 1735, one line reads "Old Darby, with Joan by his side....", the poem describes the life of a happily married couple.
'Darby & Joan' clubs were first instituted by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) in the period after the Second World War to serve entertainment and social activities for elderly married couples in the local community.
The Lower Gornal Club was built and formed in 1957 on land previously used by the Abbey Farm which was purchased by the local authority, the Club is is still presently active and located adjacent to the Lower Gornal Library and Gornal Wood Recreation Ground.
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this aye fur noggin yeds

St. James
Redhall School
Zoar Street