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West Heath, West Midlands

Areas of Birmingham, West MidlandsNorthfield Constituency
Man on the Moon, West Heath
Man on the Moon, West Heath

West Heath is a residential area of Birmingham, England on the boundary with Worcestershire. Forming the larger part of the ward of Longbridge And West Heath it is situated between Kings Norton, Northfield, Longbridge and Cofton Hackett and lies on traditional heathland formed in the 13th century as part of the Kings Norton manorial lands, and was historically in Worcestershire. Based on a small village formed in the early 1900s that was originally centred on the medieval Lilley Lane, the majority of West Heath's expansion and growth took place just after World War II. The original expansion in the 1940s and 1950s consisted of large numbers of prefab houses, most of which were eventually replaced by permanent housing estates in the 1960s and 1970s. There are a number of buildings in West Heath that date to the 19th century and earlier. The suburb is adjacent to rural Worcestershire and a number of public footpaths allow open access to the surrounding fields up to Hopwood, Cofton Hackett and the Lickey Hills.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article West Heath, West Midlands (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

West Heath, West Midlands
Hochgesangsweg,

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Wikipedia: West Heath, West MidlandsContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.3967 ° E -1.9575 °
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Hochgesangsweg

Hochgesangsweg
35260 (Wolferode)
Hessen, Deutschland
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Man on the Moon, West Heath
Man on the Moon, West Heath
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Turves Green Boys' School

Turves Green Boys' School is a secondary school in the West Heath area of Birmingham, England. It is approximately 80 years old. The school is an all-boys school with Technology College and Humanities College status. It received Technology College status in 1995. Approximately one fifth of pupils are on the special needs register. The 2007 OFSTED inspection noted that a very small proportion of pupils were of ethnic minorities. In 1994, 5% of the pupils in the school were of an ethnic minority.The OFSTED inspection report of 2019 rated the school as ‘Inadequate’ and placed the school in special measures. The Board of Governors was dismissed in February 2020 and an Interim Executive Board was installed with view to preparing the school for academisation. The Chair of the Interim Executive Board was Chris Atkins. The school converted to academy status in May 2021. The school is now part of the Matrix Academy Trust. The trust decided to keep the former name of the school and installed Mr James Till as the new Headteacher. The Trust has track record of improving failing schools and has 5 secondary schools within the West Midlands area. As a new academy the school is yet to be inspected by OFSTED and therefore has no official judgment.The 1960s chart topping band The Rockin' Berries first formed while several members were pupils at Turves Green Boys School.Spencer Jukes, the guitarist for the band Mini Milk and the Kraves, was a pupil at Turves Green Boys School, as was BBC journalist Lewis Goodall.

Austin Village
Austin Village

Austin Village is a First World War housing estate of prefabs between Longbridge and Northfield, Birmingham. Herbert Austin, who created the Austin Motor Company at Longbridge in 1905, had to take on more workers during the First World War when his factory became involved in making tanks and aircraft. In 1917, he built a new estate for his employees in Turves Green on land bought for £7,750. He imported 200 red cedar wood pre-fabricated bungalows from the Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan, USA. They were shipped across the Atlantic and survived potential loss by U-boat attack. These were erected with twenty-five conventional brick-built semi-detached houses at intervals to create firebreaks. They were fitted with coke-fired central heating, gas cooker, gas water boiler, sink and drainer, and a bathroom with bath. The external size of the bungalows was 6.84 yards (6.25 m) wide by 11.75 yards (10.74 m) deep with an additional porch at the front and boiler room at the rear. The three bedrooms were each 9 feet 7 inches (2.92 m) square. The brick houses were also fitted with two gas fires.Two octagonal children's shelters were built in the islands in Rowan and Laburnum Way but these have now gone. Hawkesley Farm buildings were converted to a village hall and club room.Mature trees were planted along the roads: Central Avenue, Hawkesley Crescent, Hawkesley Drive, Coney Green Drive, Cypress Way, Cedar Way, Laburnum Way, Rowan Way and Maple Way. The village was completed in eleven months and rented to Austin workers with seven in each bungalow and twelve in each house.A wooden Baptist church (now demolished) was built opposite the north end of Central Avenue and an Anglican church (Church of the Epiphany, now gone) was built on the corner of the Oak Walk.After the war the requirement for workers reduced and the bungalows sold. The estate is now occupied and surrounded by conventional suburban housing. It forms the Austin Village Conservation Area. Historic England has listed the conservation area on its Heritage at Risk Register due to its deterioration.