NEWS: Birmingham City Council “investigating” after man dies trapped under forklift at yard on Station Road

Words by Ed King / Pics from Google Maps

Birmingham City Council (BCC) are “investigating” after a man tragically died at a yard on Station Road in the morning of Tuesday 17 September.

Reports from the scene state the man, believed to be in his 50s, was crushed to death underneath a forklift truck.

A statement from West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed: “We were called to an industrial incident on Station Road at 10.11am [17 Sept], two ambulances and a paramedic officer attended the scene.

“On arrival we discovered one patient, a man. Sadly, it quickly became apparent nothing could be done to save him and he was confirmed dead at the scene.”

A spokesperson from West Midlands Police added: “We were called to reports of a man trapped under a forklift truck at a premises on Station Road, Erdington at around 10.14am this morning (17 Sept).

“A man believed to be his 50s was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

“Enquiries to establish exactly what happened are ongoing and the Health and Safety Executive has been informed.”

Following initial media reports, it was claimed the yard – on the corner of Station Road and Summer Road – was regulated by Birmingham City Council (BCC) and any assessment of the site should come from Council officers.

After West Midlands Police referred the tragic incident to BCC, Erdington Local reached out to the Council for confirmation.

A spokesperson from BCC told: “West Midlands Police have informed us about the incident.

“Health and safety inspectors from the council’s environmental health team are on site and are investigating.”

Erdington Local has requested any updates from Birmingham City Council as the investigation continues.

NEWS: Queensbury School set to open New Horizons for SEND sixth formers on Station Road

Words & pics by Ed King

Work is well underway to transform the old Osborne School Infant School on Station Road into a new satellite site for Queensbury School sixth formers called New Horizons – catering for young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).

Scheduled to open in September this year, New Horizons will have 11 state-of-the-art classrooms, a canteen, a sports hall, offices, a therapy room, a sensory room, and a pastoral mentors hub – in an ambitious new build costing around £5million.

In a prime location to support students preparing for adulthood and greater independence, accessible by neighbouring bus and train routes, the new provision will be “equipped with everything they (students) need to accelerate their learning and move closer towards realising their next steps”, told a spokesperson from Queensbury School.

The facility for 16–19 year olds will welcome up to 96 students with Autism, Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD), Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) and speech and language needs.

The Head of Centre, Mrs Bushra Adnan, told Erdington Local: “We are excited about the opportunities that will be available to all, and to start networking with local businesses to secure brighter futures and prospects for all our stakeholders.”

Mr Chris Wilson, Queensbury Executive Headteacher, added: “LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION… Our students will have access to good travel networks, a high street for work experience opportunities, leisure facilities close by, and vocational partnerships with the SEND sixth form.

“Students will experience a building that has a more ‘adult feel’ yet is fully inclusive to their needs. It’s great to see a former derelict site, contributing back to the Erdington community, supporting our most vulnerable young people with their education.”

The SEND crisis over student placements is a challenge for local authorities across the country. In Birmingham, approximately 11,500 young people (aged 0–19) have an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) and need a specialty setting, such as Queensbury School.

New Horizons has been made possible after a successful business plan from Chris Wilson, with Birmingham City Council working closely with Queensbury School and the Education Impact Academy Trust to make it a reality. 

Helen Ellis, Director of SEND and Inclusion at Birmingham City Council, said: “This is great news for young people and families in Erdington. There is a real challenge nationally for SEND places and this will provide much-needed extra provision for those with additional needs.

“Across the city and Council we are putting children at the heart of everything we do and our SEND and Inclusion strategies will ensure our children and young people are fully supported and included in all aspects of our community.

“New Horizons will be a fantastic facility for the Queensbury school community and I’d like to thank everyone involved.”

For more on Queensbury School visit www.queensburysch.com

FEATURE: A spooky spirit walk though Erdington’s ghostly past… and present

Words by Adam Smith

It’s Halloween, and as trick or treating is another COVID victim why not explore why ghost hunters still flock to Erdington.

If you believe in the paranormal, or if your things-that-go-bump-in-the-night are more down to carelessness, there can be no doubt that Erdington has more than its fair share of ghost stories.

Whether it is the ‘melting woman in the phone box’, the old fella in the Lad in the Lane or the vanishing woman of Pype Hayes Park, these stories have been passed down the generations of Erdington locals.

Even if these stories have been embellished, altered, or given a splash of colour when told across pub tables or playgrounds, they have become part of who we are – a good ghost story is part of our oral history tradition.

Erdington Local can reveal there are new ghost stories happening now, as the unexplained is explored in a new book from local authors – They Walk Among Us – released this Halloween.

But first let’s walk through the spooky shadows Erdington’s of macabre memory lane…

The ‘melting phone box woman of Station Road’ is one of the most talked about ghost stories in Erdington. Two men were waiting to use the phone in the 1970s, a woman was in the box, and after a long wait they asked her how long she would be… only to find she had ‘melted away’.

The story gained traction, now local folklore says it was a young mother who ran to the phone box to phone the fire brigade as her house was on fire, her children died, and she committed suicide not long after. The phone box, however, could not survive the onward march of progress and was removed due to the popularity of mobile phones.

The Lad in the Lane is the oldest pub in Erdington, once called Ye Olde Green Man, so it stands to reason there would be a ghost story attached to the premises which dates, back to 1400. Ghost hunters claim the Bromford Lane pub has “considerable poltergeist activity” and a grey shadowy figure is said to roam the site.

If anywhere in Erdington would have a reputation for ghostly goings-on it would be Pype Hayes Park. The historic park, which has connections to both the famous Bagot and Arden families, also has a macabre side.

Society belle Mary Ashford was found dead in the park on May 27th 1817, she had been sexually assaulted and been thrown into a pit where she finally drowned. The gruesome murder took place after she had been to a dance at the Tyburn House, when she was just 20-years-old. Castle Bromwich man Abraham Thornton was eventually tried and acquitted of the crimes, not once but twice.

But Mary’s ghost is still said to roam both the park and the Tyburn House, angry at her attacker who was never brought to justice.

Bizarrely enough, 160 years later on the same day – 27th May, Whit Bank Holiday Monday, 1974 – Barbara Forrest, also 20 and also returning home from a dance, went missing only to be found dead on the edge of Pype Hayes Park.

Incredibly, a man named Thornton was also arrested, charged, and eventually acquitted of her murder – her co-worker at a children’s home, Michael Thornton.

However, the most cited ghost sighting in Pype Hayes Park is that of a young woman in an old fashioned, yellow dress who has been seen floating through the park. She is said to walk towards a tree but vanishes and never come out the other side. The West Midlands Ghost Club took the story so seriously they investigated it in 2008.

A Roman Centurian is also has been seen wandering across the Chester Road near Pype Hayes Park too, alongside a white misty figure who takes a seat on the stone bench in Tyburn.

It is surprising locals can get a seat at The Tyburn House with all the ghosts believed to haunt the place. Yet a friendly monk called Fred is believed to be a regular there, with several licensees having reported a “dark human shape” jump past them on the stairs to the cellar.

On Erdington High Street, there have also been sightings of ghosts at the Roebuck Inn. Poltergeist activity has been reported at the old watering hole – as glasses were found smashed all over the function room and a pool ball has been thrown through a window, from inside, during the night. A barmaid was also covered in shards from exploding sherry glasses and a figure in a white shirt has been seen sitting in a locked, darkened restaurant.

There have been other ghost stories attached to the railway arch on Station Road (a monk with a lantern), Orphanage Road on the site of the old orphanage (crying children heard and the caretaker wandering around), and a 16-year-old girl with an expressionless face in Woodend Road.

However, there are new ghost stories also popping up in Erdington, Kingstanding, and Perry Common.

Two friends who met at school used their time in lockdown to write a book about new ghost stories in the West Midlands called They Walk Among Us, and Eridington was not without it’s spooky spectres.

Kingstanding journalist Charlotte Hart and Perry Common writer Louise Blackburn are releasing their book on this Halloween and have told Erdington Local about ghostly-goings on in Erdington.

Charlotte, 42, said: “One the best tales in the book is in Erdington. Someone reported thinking they’d run someone over by the cemetery but when they got out of the car to investigate, there was no-one there.

Our contributor said he’d be left very shaken by it, it left him feeling chilled.”

She added: “Another story involves a toddler from Kingstanding regularly talking to someone at the if her bed in the middle of the night and an Erdington couple who told us about her TV jumping from a chest of drawers to the floor on the other side of the road without getting damaged and waking the cat up.

There’s other stories about people being visited at Good Hope Hospital and spooky events at Highbury Theatre in Boldmere.”

Louise, from Perry Common, was amazed with the response when she asked for contributions from people with modern ghost stories.

She said: “It’s impossible to check the integrity of people’s stories because they’re all first-hand accounts and if people tell us something has happened, then that is good enough for us.

It’s up to the reader whether they believe something or not, and different people accept varying levels of paranormal activity.

If the stories we have shared make people question what they are willing to believe, then we will have achieved what we set out to.”

They Walk Among Us – Unexplained Tales of Ghosts and Spirits of the Midlands is available from 31st October. For more information and links to online purchases, visit www.amzn.to/34yvlm9

To find out more about ghost hunts in the Midlands visit  www.hauntedhappenings.co.uk/ghost-hunting-events/West-Midlands