Waste and refuse collection times

Waste and refuse collection times across Birmingham are as normal over the new year period. Household recycling centres are open from 8a.m. till 6p.m.

Nisa New Year opening

Nisa, Castle Vale’s High Street supermarket, is open from 8a.m. till 10p.m. on New Year’s Eve, and from 8a.m. till 5p.m on New Year’s Day.

Vale FC give Loughborough students a lesson; JKS are Mann enough

  Castle Vale FC  maintained their promotion hopes with a 3-1 victory over mid-table Loughborough University at Farnborough Road this afternoon (Sat 29th) in the premier division of the Midland Combination. Vale went a goal down early in the game, but strikes from Keen and Benjamin gave the home side the lead at half time. Swann scored a third goal for Vale late in the game to seal the win.

In division two, Vale JKS scored an excellent 2-0 victory over 2nd placed BNJS Mann + Co. JKS are in third position in this league, with plenty of games in hand over BNJS and current leaders Worcester Academy.

Subway – new restaurant for Vale

  Subway, the fast food restaurant, is the latest addition to Castle Vale’s shopping centre in Tangmere Square. It opened for business on the Wednesday before Christmas. 

  Subway manager Carl Sanders said”I’m pleased with the start we’ve had. So far over the holiday period we’ve served a lot of customers. ” Subway opens daily, including Sundays, from 8a.m till 10 p.m.

Currently the third largest fast-food chain in the world, the Subway franchise has built its image as a health conscious provider of fast foods, specialising in sandwiches and salads. It markets itself as a healthy alternative to the alleged obesity-inducing American burger chains.

Vale’s Boxing Day Swan song

    A late equaliser from Swan eight minutes fom time gave Vale FC a point against third placed Coleshill in the local derby Boxng Day fixture against Coleshill in the premier division of the Midland Combination. Vale were trailing by a two goal deficit before a strike from Benjamin  put Vale back in the game by half-time at the Farnborough Road stadium.

Hardest pubs in Birmingham

  

The Skylark is the only pub left standing in Castle Vale. Gone are the Artful Dodger, the Trade Winds, The Lancaster, The Albatross and The Trees.
Perhaps pubs are no longer as much a part of English life as they used to be. Clubs, restaurants, drinking at home… have they replaced the good old English pub?
Castle Vale is unrecognisable from the place it was ten years ago. But for some who haven’t visited it in recent years, its reputation stays the same. There’s a campaign in Birmingham that wants to rid Birmingham of its poor reputation. It’s called, rather sadly, ‘Birmingham’s not sxxt‘. Its calendar is on sale around the City centre.
It has a website, and over the past months, various contributors to its forum have been discussing the merits of various pubs of the ‘old days’ and assessing which is entitled to the claim of ‘ the hardest pub in Birmingham’.
As an indication of Vale’s  low reputation amongst the drinking classes, here is a selection of the comments:

Comment A: What about the (ex)Trooper in Chelmsley Wood. The Artful Dodger or the Trade Winds on Castle Vale ? Or , dare I say it, The Bagot ! 
Comment B: The Trade Winds on the Vale certainly takes some beating, but I’d like to nominate the British Oak in Stirchley. Go in there on your own without a crash helmet on and you’ll certainly take some beating. 
Comment C: what about the shotgun in castle vale (well its what the locals call it). 
Comment D: Some that I came across that have long lingered in the memory and some that I have heard great things about are;the Bagot, Pype Hayes. The Chester Arms, Castle Bromwich.The Mackadown .The Stockland, Stockland Green.The Skylark, Castle Vale.The Yenton, Wylde Green.
Comment E : The Adventurers – by Villa Park.  The Dubliner – Digbeth.  The Skylark, Lancaster, Trade Winds, Artful Dodger, ( or anything on the Vale). 

Comment F: Been in Bondi for 20yrs I remember drinkin in yates wine bar then over to the windsor & parrsiene? had me scooter nicked from round the corner there.In the suburbs always thought the bulls head and swan yardley full of Skins on cov rd. Castle Vale was cool lots of good drugs.

 

Times change, so do places. But reputations linger a little longer !

Local soccer: early Boxing Day kick-off for Vale

 Castle Vale have an early kick-off (11.30 a.m.) in their local derby against fellow high-fliers Coleshill in the premier division of the Midland Combination on Boxing Day at the Farnborough Road stadium. Coleshill are currently in 3rd position, one place above Vale in the league.

Merry Christmas

the last few lines of the  1843 story:  A Christmas Carol – by Charles Dickens

   “A merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit.”

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but
lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!

Nisa Christmas opening

Nisa supermarket in Castle Vale High Street will be closed on Christmas Day, but will open from 8a.m. till 5a.m. on Boxing day.

Marie’s treasured memories

 (Marie, with a photo of her son Simon and two friends; Simon is on the right of the photo)
Marie White, whose son Simon was killed, aged 24, in a motorbike tragedy near the Vale Stadium in 2004, says that she wants the graffiti writers to stop writing their tributes to her son, known popularly as “Spam”, on the stadium gates.
 (The memorial cross that was removed from the stadium gates)
Marie has a photo of the cross that was originally fixed to the stadium gates where Simon was killed. Once it had disappeared, Simon’s friends removed the memorial stone  from the site, and brought it round to Mrs White’s home in Sopwith Croft. She keeps it as a shrine to her son, in her garden.

 (The stone memorial that now rests in Marie’s garden)
Marie said: “Simon’s friends were absolutely marvellous to me following his death. Because I could no longer work, they had a collection for me and raised £1500 between them.”

Simon’s ashes are scattered around the stadium site. Mrs White has expressed her wish that an oak tree be planted in her son’s memory.