Yesterday evening I attended the latest Open Public Meeting of the Fox Hollies Green Neighbourhood Forum. This Forum covers Acocks Green Ward to the south of the Warwick Road and the east of the Fox Hollies Road.

Dave Swingle gave an update on the work of the Fox Hollies Community Association (I sit on the management committee of this local organisation) and the wide range of work it carries out for the community.

PCSO Ludford then gave an update on policing and crime in Acocks Green. This presentation was similar to the one at last week’s meeting of the Acocks Green Neigbourhood Forum. However we heard that Inspector Goodrich will be leaving our patch on 10/2/14 and will be replaced by Inspector Ruth Lockyer. He also told us that Esso plan to sell the Merestones petrol station to the Co-op in the next 6 months.

Finally Mike Byrne gave a fascinating talk on the history of Acocks Green. One of the many things I learnt was that the name Acocks Green comes from a hamlet which was roughly where Dolphin Lane meets the Warwick Road, when (pre 1850 or so) our area was farmland with just a few hamlets dotted around . I can strongly recommend Mike’s talks to anyone with an interest in the history of our area.