PREFACE
| This booklet is one of a long series (over 30 in all) written by
John Morris Jones, former Headmaster of George Dixon Junior School,
during the period 1960 - 1980, in which he covered almost every district
of the City of Birmingham.
In many ways they were the earliest detailed local history studies aimed at the non-historian, and particularly focused at children. At the time they were first produced typewriters and simple ink duplicators were the major tools for printing in schools; mistakes were hard to remove and maps were even more difficult to reproduce clearly. This particular booklet was later reprinted by the City of Birmingham Education Department in a slightly more readable form. Since that time individuals and local history groups have added somewhat to JMJ's work but his series still forms a good platform for our young people to start from. As a school librarian I found them a very useful resource but difficult for the pupils to use - hence this effort at improvement. I have made no attempt at editing or corrections except obvious typographical errors, nor at bringing facts up-to-date with the latest discoveries and developments. There was one serious error to correct in this particular booklet and that was the transposition of two pages in the CoB reprint (pages 33 with 61) which may have caused some confusion to many people - particularly the children. My aim has simply been to make the document more accessible to young readers - splitting long, hard paragraphs, and making language more accessible. Thanks are due to Mr Andrew Blizzard (former Schools' Liaison Officer with Birmingham Central Library Local Studies Department) for some copies of original documents. Clinton Davies |
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