Beacon View 1904
Another former resident of Wedderburn Road has contributed some more details about one of the earliest houses to be built on the road. Beacon View was part of the second phase of Frederick W Hayes’ housing development. Its first occupants were the grandparents of Hilda who recently made contact through our website. Her grandparents were Mr and Mrs Dandy, and they appear to have commissioned Hayes to build their house on the corner of Wedderburn Road and Pound Bank Road. Mr George Dandy was a coal merchant and within a few years he and his family moved to larger premises in Barnards Green, the double-fronted house between the shops and Pound Bank Road.
Hilda has also provided our earliest photograph of a Wedderburn Road house. Mrs Ada Dandy can be seen to the right of the front door of Beacon View while her two young daughters, Doris and Florrie, stand hand in hand in front of the bay window. Hilda’s mother, Florrie, was aged about 3 or 4 when the photograph was taken.
The house has changed very little from the front, although an extension at the back in later years provided Wedderburn Road with its local shop. The ironwork fence at the front remains and the original gate can be seen on the right hand corner.
By the 1930s Florrie Dandy had married Frank Knight, and by coincidence moved back into Beacon View in 1937. This is when Hilda lived in Wedderburn Road. She attended Pickersleigh Road Council School with her older siblings. The family moved again in 1939 to Crownlea Avenue. Hilda recalls the house being very cold and because it had no bathroom, the family used to walk up to the grandparents’ house, still in Barnards Green, where they could enjoy a warm bath.
Hilda has fond memories of her grandparents. George Dandy ran his coal business with his son who was disabled, possibly from wounds received in the Great War. George was remembered as a kindly man and was known to overlook payment for coal if he felt the customer was experiencing hard times. His coal yard was behind his house in Barnards Green. Coal was collected from the railway station and delivered locally by horse and cart for many years.