OS Explorer Map is the Ordnance Survey's most detailed map & is recommended for anyone enjoying outdoor activities such as walking horse riding & off-road cycling. The series provides complete GB coverage & can now be used in all weathers thanks to OS Explorer Map
- Active a tough versatile version of the OS Explorer Map.
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Popular guide covering the canals & waterways around Birmingham & central Engl&. Colour Ordnance Survey (R) maps clearly show locks towpaths & boating facilities. There are also comprehensive navigational notes as well as descriptions of the towns & villages pubs & restaurants alongside the waterways. In print for over 30 years the Collins/ Nicholson guides to the waterways have always been a vital part of journeys along Britains canals & rivers. They are designed for anyone & everyone with an interest in Britains inland waterways -- from experienced boaters to those planning their first boat trip as well as walkers cyclists & visitors. The Ordnance Survey (R) Maps have added information showing: * Locks bridges tunnels aqueducts winding holes & towpaths. * Waterpoints sanitary stations pump out facilities & refuse disposal. * Boatyards pubs restaurants & local shops. * Mile markers & milestones (distance in miles & number of locks to strategic points along the waterways). Text
Includes:: * The history & background to each canal. * Local services & places of interest pubs & restaurants & NEW for this edition: postcodes added for each place. * Opportunities for walking & cycling. * NEW for this edition: notes on wildlife to be found along the waterways. Comprehensive navigational notes include: * Maximum

Dimensions & low bridges. * Mileages advice & potential hazards. * Navigation authorities & contact details. Waterways covered in this guide -- Ashby Canal Birming Canal Navigations (Main Line) Birmingham & Faxeley Canal Coventry Canal Erewash Canal Grand Union Canal (Main Line Leicester Section & the River Soar) Oxford Canal Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Stratford-on-Avon Canal Worcester & Birmingham Canal Trent & Mersey Canal.


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Perfect for day trips & short breaks the OS Landranger Map series covers Great Britain with 204 detailed maps. Each map provides all the information you need to get to know your local area &

Includes:: places of interest tourist information picnic areas & camp sites plus Rights of Way information for England & Wales.

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Its August 1939. Genie Watkins a Birmingham kid would love to have a proper happy family like her Italian friend Teresa. But Genie hasnt reckoned with the outbreak of war her already rocky family being split up & the strangely liberating effect it all has on her mother.. . Under Birmingham skies darkened by blackout Genie shares her fears & hopes with Teresa keeps her spirits up with her nan & glamorous auntie Lil & tries to hold her family together. & amid it all she discovers love... Collect the Birmingham set: Birmingham Rose" & " Birmingham Friends"." ...

Towards the end of 1924 Birmingham Corporation Tramways placed into service its first significant numbers of closed top double-deck buses. These were immediately successful & BCT decided that the motorbus was the way forward. It built up a fine network of bus services generally radiating from the city centre supported by three circulars at different distances from the centre. An earlier agreement with Midland Red dating back to 1914 generally meant that BCT vehicles were contained within the city's boundaries while Midland Red provided the links to the town beyond. Many books have been written about buses but very few are based around the service network despite the fact that routes are of prime interest to many enthusiasts. Birmingham's network was very logical & stable lending itself to this treatment. The creation of WMPTE in 1969 & the takeover of Midland Red local services four years later ended this stability as rationalisation exercises began from November 1976. The proposed end dates avoids the ensuing complexity but allows for some WMPTE content for those interested in that period. Malcolm Keeley provides readers with an in depth look at the city terminus arrangements & the infamous one-way system also included is a variety of mono & colour illustrations many of which have never been seen before! ...

Anna has always been exceptionally close to her mother Kate & as a child was captivated by the stories her mother would tell of her childhood in Birmingham with her best friend Olivia. Olivia & Kate seemed to have a magical friendship. But when Kate dies she leaves her daughter a final story one that this time tells the whole truth of her life with Olivia Kemp. As Anna reads she is shocked to discover how little she really knew about the mother she felt so close to. With Kates words of caution ringing in her head she goes in search of the one woman who can answer urgent questions about her mothers life & about her own...A remarkable stirring novel Birmingham Friends" perfectly captures the complicated intimacy of female relationships." ...

In the summer of 1914 our finest young men flocked to the colours in Northern towns & cities to answer Lord Kitchener's ' Call to Arms' in a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm & patriotism. The Call appealed to their sense of adventure & offered an escape from the humdrum life of office factory & mill. The new recruits volunteered with brothers cousins friends & work mates. The newly-formed units became the focus of local civic pride & soon became known as the Pals. The City of Birmingham formed three such battalions with over 3 000 local volunteers. This book tells their story. Birmingham Pals is a story that covers the full range of human experience in war
- the highest courage & bravery the misery & tedium of trench life the exhilaration terror & slaughter involved in 'going over the top'. Above all it is a story of interest to people of all backgrounds & ages as a tale of comradeship which for many survivors was to last a life time.
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In the 1950s & 60s aware of what was about to happen to Birmingham Dennis Norton took his camera & went to work. Photographing buildings along the route of the forthcoming inner ring road around New Street station & in other areas of the city due for redevelopment he captured a Birmingha that is now long gone but fondly remembered by many. Almost half a century later Mark Norton discovered these photographs taken by the father he never knew: Dennis died just nine weeks before his son was born. Mark set about retracing his fathers footsteps to discover what has been lost & to compare past with present. In the process he gained a respect for Birmingham that had been missing when he grew up amid the concrete subways & urban motorways of the 1970s. Anyone who remembers Birmingham as it was in the 1950s & 60s will be fascinated by these recently rediscovered photographs while those who only know the city of today will be astonished to see the changes that have taken place. ...

The railway network within Birmingham has long been important for the movement of passengers & freight to serve the centre & its suburbs & as the road network around Birmingham has become more congested the railways in the city have once more taken on an important role. As the network declined in the twentieth century trains were regarded as shabby & also suffered from poor punctuality & stations became unkempt & many had no staff although the majority of the network remained intact. However things began to change during the 1980s. Today Cross-City services operate from a number of Birmingham stations & similar services function between Wolverhampton & Walsall & other cities. The stations serving the city centre have very different & fascinating histories. New Street was the first to appear built by the London & North Western Railway in 1854. The station at Snow Hill was built by the Great Western Railway & opened in 1852. Moor Street terminus was opened in 1909 close to the tunnel mouth on the Snow Hill line. The station was abandoned for a while but has since been beautifully restored to something near its former glory & now allows termination of Chiltern Railways trains from London (Marylebone). Indeed such renovations have ensured that Birmingham is still well served by a modern railway network. ...

Life is bleak for Rose Lucas a spirited intelligent girl born into a large family in the slums of pre-war Birmingham. But her friendship with Diana daughter of a vicar from middle-class Moseley gives her hope. She learns to aspire to a different kind of existence vowing never to become a child-bearing drudge like her mother. Life however never follows the way of dreams. After a childhood marked by tragedy Rose eventually finds & loses the love for which she has striven so hard. From Italy where she has travelled during the Second World War she is forced to return to Birmingham & an unhappy marriage her hopes & illusions shattered. But Rose will not be defeated & she too is determined to rise once again above the devastation of her life.. . Collect the Birmingham set: Birmingham Friends Birmingham Blitz"." ...