I set out solo to begin with by catching the Cross City train to Chester Road ready for an opening whiff of Wylde Green. The primary school and separate nursery are still present and correct in the environs of Green Lanes, while on Emscote Drive the Community Hall remains intact but has lost its branch library facility. My photos here mean I'm in danger of being dragged into a Zumba class so I make a sharp exit in the general direction of Walmley.
Penns Lane is my escape route and proves to be surprisingly interesting. A Mormon Church and the Ramada Hotel (Penns Hall) are noteworthy features either side of Plants Brook, then I locate Walmley Cricket Club as based at the John Findlay Memorial Ground just off Eldon Drive. Part of the ground backs onto the railway near the site of Penns Station, a former stop on the Sutton Park Line where you can still see possible platform footing masonry when looking out from Penns Lane Bridge. Passenger services ceased in 1965 but the line remains open to freight, a fact confirmed when a lengthy wagon trundles through towards Castle Bromwich.
Walmley itself is a place I've visited only sparingly so bits of it are familiar and others less so. The main shops on Walmley Road fall into the first category, as does the Fox pub and the local library although just across the road I can't really remember noticing St John's Church or the bowling club before. A flurry of text messages then precede the arrival of Stephen who has safely negotiated his way across from Sutton Coldfield on the 914 - he soon gets put to work posing at the railway bridge as a further homage to Penns Station.
- Penns Halt Pose -
With mission membership now complete, our wider Walmley walk takes us along Walmley Ash Road passing an array of local schools. The Calder Drive estate beckons with modern housing surrounding an area of open space; amenities here include the Calder Green pub and a small grocery store, otherwise there are pigeon-box cul-de-sacs galore as the road meanders vaguely back towards the village centre.
Lunch - chips come as standard whenever Stephen's about - is partaken of by the original Walmley almshouses, built in 1863 and now housing the offices of the Sutton Coldfield Charitable Trust on the corner with Fox Hollies Road. We then investigate more of Walmley Road, uncovering the second of today's three sporting locations in the process. Having already accounted for cricket, now it is rugby's turn in the spotlight thanks to the Roger Smoldon Ground home of Sutton Coldfield RFC where we neatly dodge becoming embroiled in any rucks or scummages.
An intriguing footpath opposite the rugby club driveway points to New Hall Valley Country Park, which comprises 198 acres of greenbelt land connecting Walmley with Sutton. The park partially straddles a landscaped section of Plants Brook and contains significant buildings such as New Hall Hotel, a 13th century hunting lodge that nowadays is said to be England's oldest inhabited moated manor. Our chosen track bypasses the hotel but does reveal New Hall Mill, a surviving water mill that has occasional open days during the summer months.
Emerging onto Wylde Green Road, we pass Vesey Cottage and Bishop Walsh Catholic School to reach Maney Hill, steadily plodding our way to the third sporting specimen of the mission. Whilst also hosting matches involving Aston Villa Ladies and Romulus, the Central Ground on Coles Lane is primarily the headquarters of Sutton Coldfield Town FC - given the club's nickname is the Royals, it may have been more appropriate to have Nick on hand for the requisite photos but Mr B gallantly steps up to the mark!
- Something Strigine -
Duke Street provides our approach into Sutton Coldfield town centre where I do battle with a Barclays cheque-swallowing machine in the Gracechurch Centre. There are eye-catching literary benches on display along the mall (including a particular striking Narnia lion design), plus one of our old owl friends from last year's Big Hoot has been retained for continued community enjoyment. With said strigine sculpture suitably snapped (strigine means owllike, another example of my occasional penchant for swallowing the dictionary), we are clear to catch the Walsall-bound 77 by way of rounding off the mission. Boldmere, New Oscott and Streetly all offer varied scenic service from the comfort of the top deck before I wave Stephen farewell and make my way to proper work - mission accomplished!
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