Bill Pardoe Family Home

The Family Home

38 Perrins Lane

Improvements

Introduction

One side of the house was originally paved and open with only a wooden fence to break the wind. It could be very cold in winter. In the early 1960s a veranda was put up and made this side entrance much more comfortable. It housed the washing machine and other storage. The veranda also housed the central heating boiler when radiators were installed in the main rooms and from then on the house was warm - very warm as we recall when visiting in the early 1970s from our more modestly heated houses.

At the same time a pitched roof was put on the house. The art deco flat roof was an attractive feature but over the years proved difficult to seal and there had been some water penetration. The new roof prevented this and also gave a valuable work space accessed by a Ramsay ladder from the landing. Bill set up a photographic workshop here, with water, a sink and electricity. He spent a lot of time processing the pictures he amassed for his various interests, including Great Witley, the Earls of Dudley, Stourbridge Lye and Wollescote Old and New, and of course his love of stained glass including that in Chartres Cathedral. He was able to enlarge and print both black & white and colour photographs.

The new pitched roof had long struts laid from side to side to brace the roof but these made the area unusable as a room but, ever resourceful, Bill sawed these down and attached them to the tops of the walls to make the area usable. Flooring was not a problem as, of course, with the flat roof it already had a wooden base covered with bituminised felt. Even the occasional spillage was not a problem! The roof was also designed with the possibility of opening up a dormer window, though this was never done in Bill's time. That was left to a later owner to carry out.

There was an overhang at the back of the back room which was later filled in and a large plate glass picture window put in to take maximum advantage of the view. On a clear day, with binoculars, it was possible to see as far as the Wrekin. This room became the dining room with the front room becoming the one in daily use.

1948

Christmas 1966 - The front room (right) and the back room (above).

Eventually the kitchen was upgraded, the range went and in it place there was an electric cooker. The old sink was replaced by a worktop from side to side under the kitchen window, with inset stainless steel sink and cupboards underneath. The store that had the hatch leading down to the basement was divide with the kitchen side housing a refrigerator and shelves above it; a door was opened to the hall and that side became a coats cupboard. The washing machine was now housed in the veranda and the area under the stairs became a ground floor toilet.

Christmas 1975