EVENTS
OUR SALEM BASE Base open this week as usual from 10am – 3pm. All welcome and we have a few visitors this week. Ann Curtis is being shown her grandfather’s grave following the Daz’s successful research, June Hales is bringing in photographs and items of her family including those of her sporting father, Perce Perry, Michael Clarke of the Wollaston family, and Denise is making a special visit with her father, a wartime evacuee, Alec Carter from the Isle of Sheppey to meet Iris Norwood and visit the Holly Bush cottages where he stayed with the Burton family during the war.
REQUESTS Peter Foxton emails ‘I came across your society while researching my wife’s great grandfather, William Hubery born about 1859 in the Heathtown area of Wolverhampton.’ Peter is joining as a member and hopes that our researcher can overcome the brickwalls he is facing and to find more about William’s parents and forebears.’
RESPONSES Vi emails ‘A fortnight ago you put in the newsletter a contact from Australia about the Hawkins family. In my Baker family tree I have a photo of Bertha A Lockwood who is the granddaughter of Benjamin’s brother George Hawkins if it’s of any interest.’ And Robyn replies ‘That’s fantastic. Love to hear more if there is any further information and please pass on my thanks to Vi. I have George as the third eldest of the 12 children of Thomas and Elizabeth Hawkins, born in 1866. My grandfather, Benjamin, was the youngest born in 1889. A huge gap. My Dad said his Mum, Florence Hawkins (nee Perry), used to write back to the family in Cheslyn Hay but after she died, aged in her forties, all communication seemed to cease as his Dad was not so good at keeping up the contact. It would be good to have contact with any descendants.’
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS Five photographs of the inside of the Old Lot School when it was used by Hudson’s the undertakers and carpenters before the refurbishments.
ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS Two pages of her time in the Cheslyn Hay Isolation Hospital in 1941 by Joyce Drew as a seven year old.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher
17th July 1964 Four paragraphs detailing the success of the Woodman Bowling Club naming all the competitors.
17th July 1964 Details of Mrs Sarah Jane Dunn of 93 Station Street and her shop.
18th July 1914 Details of a Concert held at the Red Lion.
MEMORIES The response to Don Savage’s request from his cricketing days has been quite overwhelming. A full page of cricketing stories and memories of both Hawkins and Harrison’s Cricket Clubs with Joe Baldwin, Sid Thacker, Elijah Whitehouse, Tony Hassell, Roy Taylor, John Loader, Arven Reynolds, Rob Perks, Gordon Illidge, Bob Cooper, Len Wootton, Frank Heminsley, Cyril Collins, John Whitehouse, Johnny Jackson, Dave Hewitt, Joe & Bill Cadman, George Gilbert, Bill Brough, Leon Alcock, Jack Holgate and Arthur Chilton.
FAMILY HISTORY by Andrew Pearson This week is the first of two lines of the Clewley family. It is derived from John going back to the early 1700s with 5 pages of the tree but with all the information it totals 30 pages in all. Selected pages available at £1 per page, with £5 for the tree and £20 for all the Clewley information which will include another 13 pages with the separate Clewley tree to be shown next week. Enquiries or advice, free of course, by emailing or phoning me – 01922 414772. Other names on the tree include Altree, Baker, Benton, Bowen, Brookhouse, Cartwright, Chivers, Clarke, Dace, Davis, Evans, Fletcher, Griffin, Hand, Heminsley, Hitchens, Jones, Kendall, Lockley, Mason, Mears, Mellor, Pearson, Pritchard, Reaney, Robinson, Smith, Sneyd, So(u)therton, Stanton, Wakelin, Whitehouse, Williams.
GENERAL NEWS Last month in June, we have had another 129 sightings of our local scenes on staffspasttrack. Wootton’s Post Office 26, Salem 22, Brittania Picture House 22, High Street 14, Garretts Shop 14, Hackett’s Butcher’s Shop 14, Albert Hawkins Shop 11, Walter Hackett 6.
trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

EVENTS   No Chat n Char this week, as Roger has organised a coach trip instead.  Details are – Thursday 10th July.  Meet at Salem at 7.30am.  The car park at the rear of the Salem will be open where we will double park to save inconveniencing other Salem visitors.  Last minute problems phone  Roger 07928070061 (or secondly 07960756621).  Arrive at Bletchley Park at 9.45am.  There is a cafe but we have been warned that there were large queues last week, so bringing your own sandwiches is an option. Both coaches will leave Bletchley at 2pm to arrive at Banbury before 3pm.  It is Banbury’s Market Day so cafes, hotels and pubs will be open.  Malcolm Smith, a Cheslyn Hay ‘bonker’ who lives there now will escort any of us that are active enough to a walk around the town with their official guide.  Return to the Salem at 7pm at the very latest.  One seat still available.

Bridgtown LHS are holding a Cornelius Whitehouse Reunion for all ex-employees etc on Wednesday 9th July from 10am – 2pm at the Bethel in Union Street .  There will be a display of photographs, documents and catalogues and there will be members of the Whitehouse family attending as well.

OUR SALEM BASE   Following on from the recent Don Savage Reunion we are now inviting all pupils who attended Pinfold Lane School starting 1943/44 with teachers Miss Hulse, Miss Thomas, Mrs Cooper, Mrs Price, Mr Blount, Mr Berry.  Included are the ‘girls’ Beryl Stokes, Maureen Poole, Marjorie Boddy, June Mills, Enid Whitehouse, Yvonne Whitehouse, Joan Marshall, Janet Davies, Brenda Horton, Delia Steadman, Ann Goodman, Janet Wood, Sheila Worsey and Muriel Malpass with also the ‘boys’ such as Derek Moore, Clifford Pearson, Michael Wilcox, Brian Bladon, Alan Fisher, Ronnie Fidler, Elwyn & Selwyn Barratt and Leonard Fletcher.  To be held on Tuesday 29th July at the Salem starting at 10am.  

Base open this week as usual from 10am – 3pm.  All welcome.

REQUESTS  From Roger Knowles who emails ‘My Dad, Joseph Knowles of Bloxwich worked at Hawkins Colliery from when he left school until it closed, when he was re-located to Mid-Cannock.  He was a Mines Electrician and worked with a Mr Arthur Horobin.  Dad passed away in 1968 aged just 57 and I wonder if anyone remembers him.’

Following a recent visit to the Great Wyrley Cemetery , Don Savage spotted Joe Baldwin‘s gravestone and says ‘It led me to think of Len Wootton and lots of others at Harrisons Cricket Club including Linda Wootton who prepared cricket teas.  Joe and Len were really good to me as a 14 year old budding cricketer.  Also the Whitehouses, Fred Garratt and Fred Gripton come to mind. There was much rivalry with Hawkins CC.  Has anyone else similar memories?’

RESPONSES  Last week’s request on the Bacon Pits created much debate and there are four details reports from tales passed down through the generations and the definitive report from our archives which is not only factual but humorous as well!

Also details of the eight years of Bloxwich Youth Club started in 1960 by Don Savage.

Andrew has looked into Ann’s John Lockett/Harriet Hodgekins request but there are two John Locketts which confuses the issue and he lists both families and proves the link to the Stokes family which Ann is absolutely delighteds with and solves her problem that she has been poring over for months.  Also our Daz has located John Lockett’s grave, as Ann has requested, and gives details of where and when he was buried and points out that he was living in Stourbridge when he died which is the reason why it has been so difficult for Ann to trace.

WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher

17th July 1964    Quite a remarkable cricket victory for Cheslyn Hay over Atherstone naming all the fine performance of the local players.

18th July 1914   John Farnell in court again with full details of the case and fines.

MEMORIES  From our archives this week is this truly fascinating piece of research from Graham Everiss in 2003 on the history of our street names.

Many of our streets were named after the people who lived there and of course the place names changed when the people changed with examples involving the families of Dace, Wood, Lockett, Stokes, Perks, Brevitt, George Warburton Lewis, Bird, Brickell, Bowdler and Buxton. 

NORRIS PEE  Norris, one of the well established Pee family of Littlewood Road , has passed away this week on the 26th June.  He was aged 81, been a miner all his life always interested in local history and he will be sadly missed by us all.   More information on any of the above stories will be passed on by request to me via my email address below.  Also to join is £5 for a full unedited newsletter every Sunday morning.

trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

EVENTS Due to one late cancellation there is now one seat available (£23) for the Bletchley Park Trip on Thursday 10th July. Please contact Roger on 01543 372856.
OUR SALEM BASE is open every Tuesday from 10am but this week we close at 2pm for a meeting. All welcome.
REQUESTS Paul Kmiolek emails in with some pleasant memories from the 1960s but with this very interesting query as well. ‘I remember being told a story about a farmer who was taking his pigs to market in the Middle Hill area of Cheslyn Hay when he and his animals mysteriously disappeared and following that alleged incident the area became known locally as ‘the bacon pits’. I’ve scoured the history books but I can’t find any mention of it so I’d like to know if there is any basis to this story or is it just folklore?’
Following on from the Don Savage Reunion, Roger Knowles asks if he is the same Don Savage who lived in Stafford Road, Bloxwich and was the Bloxwich Church Youth Club leader in the early sixties.
And Ann Curtis has come across a complex issue on her Lockett family tree. The wife of John Lockett (b1826 in Cheslyn Hay) was Harriet but Ann wants to confirm her maiden name and she says ‘There is a marriage in 1845 in Wolverhampton between a John Lockett and a Harriet Hodgekins but I can’t find this woman anywhere as if she didn’t exist until her wedding day! I believe it was another Harriet, possibly Stokes, but I cannot find that marriage either but I have found her birth in Cheslyn Hay. John’s parents were John Lockett and Sarah Walker. So do you have any records of this Harriet? Also I cannot find when John Lockett died after 1901.
RESPONSES Glenice Whitehouse remembers Rita Goodman and recalls her time in Littlewood Road and at the Star in Great Wyrley.
Also re the Lander enquiry, Jean has found that Thomas Lander is recorded as being christened at St Mary’s Church in Aldridge where he was also buried, but there is no record of his wife Sarah.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS Seven various photographs showing Nance Richards at the Woodman with Vera Wesley, Cynthia Cartwright, Gwen Giles, Jean Moore, Mrs Walker, Mu Allen, Janine Lambkin and Derek ‘Dempsey’ Richards. £1 per 7×5 Photographic Print.
ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS Newspaper cuttings and pictures of Harold Whitehouse and the life story of Paulette Bentham of the Cedar Tree.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher
4th July 1914 The problems of the Old Nook old pit.
4th July 1914 Details of the annual excursion from the Old Coppice and the Great Wyrley Colliery pits to Blackpool.
4th July 1914 Alexandra Day celebrations.
4th July 1914 Working Men’s Club collection for a wreath for one of its members.
MEMORIES The development of the off licence trade in Cheslyn Hay with details of premises and licensees over the past 120 years including Richard Bettson, John Hampton, Elizabeth Ellen Rodwell, Alice Kendall, Francis Hilda Lockett, William Morgan, Job Whitehouse, Frank Fletcher Green, Raymond Derek Bevan, John Hawkins, Thomas Holcroft, Robert Hill, John Richard Wilcox, Jane Williams, William Henry Walters, John Thomas, Thomas Williams and Willoughby Crofts amongst them. We also have photographs of most of these off licences in our archives.
FAMILY HISTORY by Andrew Pearson This week we have the Hubery family tree with all of its various spellings (Ewbury, Uberry Wooberry etc etc) of 15 pages going back to the late 1600s when they were based at Codsall. With all information it totals 75 pages. Selected pages available at £1 per page, with £15 for the tree and £20 to include all the information. Enquiries or advice, free of course, by emailing or phoning me – 01922 414772. Other names on the tree include Allen, Appleby, Ashton, Badger, Baker, Benton, Birks, Bradbury, Bradley, Bray, Bridgett, Brierley Bright, Brookes, Brough, Buckley, Burgess, Canandine, Carpenter, Carver, Challis, Cole, Collop, Cooper, Cotham, Cotterell, Cowell, Craddock, Craig, Davies, Denny, Dowen, Essex, Evans, Felton, Field, Finch, Follows, Gee, Gilmore, Green, Griffiths, Guest, Guy, Harvey, Hawkins, Haycock, Harrigan, Higgs, Hill, Hodgkins, Hooper, Hough, Hunt, Huskinson, Jaminson, Jones, Langstone, Lawson, Lee, Lewis, Lindsay, Lingard, Lord, Lowe, Lyddiate, Mannion, Mannix, Meaney, Meese, Meeson, Merchant, Morris, Oliver, Onions, Owen, Passey, Pearson, Perry, Pickersgill, Powis, Pritchard, Rea, Reynolds, Robinson, Robson, Rowe, Russell, Sandom, Sherwin, Shorter, Speedy, Spencer, Spruson, Stackhouse, Steadman, Stephens, Stocker, Stokes, Sutton, Tarbuck, Taylor, Tench, Terry, Thacker, Thomson, Tomlinson, Turner, Waller, Warrender, Weaver, Webb, Weetman, Westwood, Whitehouse, Whittaker, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilson, Wood, Wright, Yates.

Further details of any of the above stories are available by request to the email address below, or £5 to join to receive the unedited Members Newsletter every Sunday.
trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

EVENTS We have the renowned Performance Historian, John S White, as our guest speaker this week with his talk ‘An Audience with the King’ as Henry VIII. Thursday, 26th June at 7.30pm at the Salem. £1 including refreshments. Not to be missed!
OUR SALEM BASE is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm. All welcome and this week we are helping Ann Curtis to research her Lockett family tree. Last week we had 23 visitors for the mini-reunion of Mr Don Savage’s ex-pupils and the day was not only an outstanding success but a wonderful chance for everyone to show their appreciation for a well respected and influential teacher. Amongst the many plaudits I received afterwards, this is from John Heminsley – ‘I had the most fascinating and enjoyable few hours meeting and talking to some lovely people who I had not seen (in some cases) for 50 years, some of whom I would have passed in the street and not recognised. I really believe gatherings like today are invaluable in bringing old acquaintances together. So keep up the incredible good work you do and the data you have collected is absolutely priceless.’
And a final word from Mr Don Savage himself – ‘Many thanks for making MY DAY so very special. Everyone was so warm and welcoming and I was overwhelmed by their kindness. I never knew I was so special to so many lovely people! Please thank them all through your newsletter. May I again congratulate you and your colleagues for creating such a splendid local history organisation – so alive, so efficient, so progressive – clearly your dearest dream! Cheslyn Hay should be very proud.’

REQUESTS Ivor Plant asks if anyone remembers Rita (nee Goodman) who was a great friend of his aunt Sybil (nee Plant). Ivor believes her husband’s name might have been Vernon Fisher, but he is not sure of either of these names, but he thinks they kept the Star in Great Wyrley during the sixties. Also Iris is enquiring about the Fisher family as they were part of her history but apart from knowing that they lived at Fishers Farm throughout the 19th century she has very little knowledge or information of them.
Robyn emails from Victoria in Australia ‘My great grandfather Thomas Hawkins married Elizabeth Bird. Their youngest child, Benjamin, my Grandfather, emigrated to Fremantle/Perth in Western Australia and married Florence Perry also from Cheslyn Hay. They had 8 children, including my father, Joseph. My grandfather Benjamin Hawkins is listed in the 1911 census as living at 4 Hill Street with his parents, Thomas Hawkins (aged78) and Elizabeth Hawkins (68) and his older brother John Henry Hawkins (29). He is aged 21 and an Ironworks Stamper in the edge tool industry. My father said he worked at Gilpins and he had a set of miniature tools in a box with Gilpins on it. In Perth my grandfather worked as a blacksmith but I would appreciate any information from anyone connected to this Hawkins side of my family.’

Following on from the Bowen request, Vi has now produced the death certificate of (William) Robert Bowen’s death showing that he died at home in Cheslyn Hay on 8th July 1919 from Bright’s Disease and Norma responds with ‘I was always told that three of the Bowen brothers fought in WW1 and that George and Robert both were killed in France but John Henry Bowen fought in that war as well and was badly gassed and never completely recovered. He went to London in WWII and we think he was killed in the blitz. My mother tried to find out what happened to him but discovered nothing. He was the eldest of the five brothers. He came to say goodbye and I remember the time because he gave his sweet coupons to me!’ Has anyone knowledge of this John Henry Bowen?

RESPONSES Both our researchers Andrew and Jean have been able to add advice to Jenni’s enquiry for the parents of her g-g-grandfather Joseph Heminsley who married Sarah Baker in 1836 and Andrew has also researched her Caroline Pearson family line for her going back to the 1750s.
For Bernard’s enquiry on the Sarah Jackson and Thomas Lander marriage in 1773, Jean has found information on Thomas Lander back to 1753 in Aldridge.
Bob has produced more information on George Albert Lockley for Lyn including details of his desertion before he was killed.
And Jean has completed her researches for Norma on her Handel Thomas request and says that he is not in any of the books at the Walsall History Centre including Satterthwaites and Walsall Servicemen in the Great War.

NEW PHOTOGRAPHS Four old photographs of the Altree family with the Reverend Albert and his family of Mary, Margaret and Constance, one of William and Dorothy and children and two of Lizzie Altree & Cyril Chivers and their family plus one of Edward Noden. Plus a 1962 Great Wyrley School classroom photograph with Alan Cronin, Derek Crawford, Nigel Taylor, Ray Eccleston, Tony Brough, Paul Whitehouse, Mr Don Savage, Kenny Butcher, Michael Walker and Ron Wall. £1 per 7×5 Photographic Print.

ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS 1961 & 1963 Annual Speech Day magazines, a 1965 Magazine published by the Cannock Chase Literary Society with contributions from Martin Birt and Christine Cadman, a 1953 RAF Concert programme including Iris Heminsley (Holly Bush), Peter Jones (Churchbridge), Wendy Machin & Sidney Smith (Bridgtown) all in the Violins Section and the Annual Speech Day and Prize Distribution naming everyone and their contributions in the 1963/4 year and the Birth and Baptism Certificates of Donald Savage.

OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington On request.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher
26th June 1964 A story about Mrs Alice Hawkins of Cross Street and the pavilion on the Rec.
26th June 1964 A group of youths complaining about lack of facilities in Cheslyn Hay and the Council Meeting.
26th June 1964 The funeral of 81 years-old Mrs Matilda Perks (nee Handy) and her life as a licensee of the local pubs.
27th June 1914 Details of the seventh Annual Garden Party in connection with the Unionist Association at Grasmere House.
27th June 1914 Lawn Tennis match report between Cheslyn Hay and Essington.

MEMORIES More of the memories of Harold Whitehouse and his family.
FAMILY HISTORY by Andrew Pearson This week we have the Pearson family tree of 12 pages going back to the 1700s and with all the information it totals 56 pages in all. Selected pages available at £1 per page, with £12 for the tree and £20 for all the information. Enquiries or advice, free of course, by emailing or phoning me – 01922 414772. Other names on the tree include Alcock, Allport, Allsopp, Appleby, Bailey, Baker, Bate, Benton, Biddle, Birch, Blake, Brevitt, Brookhouse, Brough, Carpenter, Clewley, Dace, Davies, Dawkins, Dawson, Dean, Derbyshire, Dutton, Edmunds, Emanuel, Evans, Follows, Foxall, Garratt, Hargreaves, Hartopp, Haycox, Hemingsley, Heminsley, Hitchins, Hodgkins, Holt, James, Jones, Layland, Leeke, Lindop, Lockett, Lockley, Lunt, Lyons, Maiden, Marriott, Marshall, Mincher, Morgan, Mountford, Paesen, Parbrook, Parker, Pearce, Pearn, Perks, Perry, Pitcher, Pilkington, Pitt, Reaney, Richards, Roden, Rogers, Sambrooke, Savage, Sayce, Sayer, Seager, Sharratt, Shorter, Smith, Stanton, Steadman, Stokes, Stone, Taylor, Thacker, Thomas, Tricklebank, Tuft, Turner, Walker, Westwood, Whitehouse, Wood and Wynn.
GENERAL NEWS On request
More information and fuller details of any of these above stories are available on request to the email address below.
trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

EVENTS Peter Cadman is giving his popular talk, supported by Bob Brevitt, ‘What’s in a Name’ to the Essington TWG on Monday evening.
OUR SALEM BASE is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm and this week we welcome Mr Don Savage, who taught English and History at Great Wyrley Secondary School in the early sixties together with several of his old pupils in a ‘mini-reunion’ throughout the day. It has been advertised in the Chronicle and it should prove to be a very pleasant ‘get together’. Everyone welcome.
REQUESTS Jenni from Australia is appealing for help in tracing her g-g-grandfather Joseph Heminsley (b1816) who married Sarah Baker (b1818 Cheslyn Hay) at St Matthews on 27 September 1836 and asks if we have access to these records and is also researching her female line including Caroline Pearson who married William Thomas.
Bernard Jackson from Sacramento has found a marriage between Sarah Jackson (b1754) and Thomas Lander of Aldridge at St Matthews, Walsall on 10 September 1773 and witnessed by Joseph Jackson and his future wife, Lucy Davison. So Bernard believes this Sarah is his g-g-g-g-aunt from the Tatenhill Jacksons and he asks if anyone has any proof that she came from Tatenhill, or that her mother’s maiden name was Pentrice.
Lyn Lockley appeals for a photograph of her great-uncle George Albert Lockley, who was a boy soldier in WWI and he returned home about June 1916 when his brother (Lyn’s grandfather) William Henry Lockley (Harry) was injured and invalided out. Lyn believes George would have stayed with one of the sisters of his mother, Charlotte Butler.
RESPONSES Our Military Researcher, Bob, has sent to Norma six pages relating to her uncle George Whitefield Bowen containing his enlistment, details of next of kin, receipt of war medals, his service record and two reports of an accidental shooting and her other uncle William Robert was buried in Cheslyn Hay Cemetery on 11 July 1919 in Plot 25E with no headstone.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS A handful of photographs from 96 year old Evelyn Lunt’s album and they include a range of photographs from the 1920s to the 1960s. On them are named Olive Ford, Doris & Minnie Meakin, Jack Lunt, Evelyn, Alf & Ellen Bird, Bella Morgan, Art & Kathleen Pearce, Frances Rodwell, Irene, Brenda & Lil Wilkes, Maureen Fletcher, Lucy Ann, David & Percy James, Marlene Evans, Elsie Crowther, Lucy Ann Smith, David Seedhouse, Freddie Holloway, Elijah Whitehouse, Ted Denny, Gertrude Mason, Herbert & Chris Harris. All available at £1 per 7×5 Photographic Print.
ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS Interview with Evelyn Lunt (nee Bird), the Service and Celebration of the life of Malcolm Scott (1934 – 2014), a 1973 Council Map of Cheslyn Hay & Great Wyrley and a 1971 ‘Guide to the New Decimal Money’.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher
19th June 1964 Vandalism and problems around the recreation ground in Cheslyn Hay.
20th June 1914 A story on William Wilkins.
MEMORIES We complete the story of Harold Whitehouse’s early years, his working life and his involvement with the ‘Four Wanderers’ on the radio.
FAMILY HISTORY by Andrew Pearson Database has now 16193 names and 4988 families and this week we look at one of the smaller trees – the Morgan Family going back to the 1700s and including other names Altree, Aubrey, Baker, Bate, Bladen, Bryan, Bullivant, Butler, Cooke, Cotterill, Cox, Crutchley, Fletcher, Hackett, Hitchens, Hodgekins, Hubery, Jackson, Jones, Kingston, Lawson, Lyons, Mason, Owen, Parker, Pearson, Poyner, Pye, Sargent, Stokes, Walker and Whitehouse.
GENERAL NEWS
trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

EVENTS Chat ‘n’ Char morning this Thursday, 12th June in the Salem Lecture Room starting at 10am and the theme is ‘Silence is Golden’.
Also Bridgtown LHS have the Bridgtown Show Band Concert on at the Bridgtown Social Club on Monday 16th June at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5. Telephone 01543 – 277268.
OUR SALEM BASE is open on Tuesday from 10am onwards for everything from serious research to just a chat and a cup of coffee and biscuits whilst looking through our 8,000 Cheslyn Hay photographs. All welcome.
REQUESTS We often have old photographs copied or donated to us but without any information except that they were Cheslyn Hay people. However in the last week we have viewed some exceptional photographs which are too good to be just filed away and we need help in identifying them. Firstly we have been donated 18 glass plate negatives from Geoff Barker whose grandfather Chas Barker, lived in New Street in Landywood, worked as an engineer at the Plant Pit until he retired and he was a keen photographer from the early 1900s. We have now been able to produce prints that show six miners at the Plant Pit, a Great Wyrley Cricket team, several group photographs of various occasions, a groom and bride, some individuals and a soldier. Also some excellent photographs of the finest quality of the Weetman family and friends from the late Victorian, Edwardian times and two CDs from Ray Hallworth and John Heminsley. They include black and white photographs from Cheslyn Hay and from John a selection of school photographs, which will be put to good use at the Don Savage Reunion as well as a selection of Heminsley photographs. All these photographs are available to be viewed at our base except for the Weetman ones, when prior arrangements can be easily be made.
Also Norma from Baltimore recalls seeing the names of her two uncles on the War Memorial when she was a small girl and asks for more information on them. They are William Robert Bowen and George Whitefield Bowen.
RESPONSES The George Thomas Fletcher enquiry from last week has been solved.
Also Colin has been able to locate a family tree for Charlotte Stacey.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS A presentation at Gilpins with not one person named, George Plant and mate working at Gilpins, George Plant and colleague on the footplate of Hawkins engine, Graham Sleigh and his ‘Swinging Trio’ at the Swan in Great Wyrley, the Whitehouse sisters Ann, Janet and Yvonne, and Morna Williams running the Cheslyn Hay Reading Club in 1979.
All available at £1 per 7×5 Photographic Print
ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS 1902 Birth Certificate of Alfred Bruce Turner and Hawkins Colliery First Aid Certificate (November 1950).
OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington. Stories relating to Miss Bettson of Churchbridge, weddings of Richard Plant of Low Street and Jeannie Horton of Station Street, Mabel Hood, and Hazel Altree, and also a story about Mr & Mrs I Stokes. Copies available at £1 per report.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher
12th June 1964 Glancing Back to 10th June 1939 HA report on Hospital Sunday and the Cheslyn Hay Victoria Brass Band.
13th June 1914 Some concernation on the amount of rain.
13th June 1914 Cheslyn Hay Bowls Knock Out Competition with 22 entrants’ names and a report on the individuals progress right through to the final.
MEMORIES A response from Steve Gwilt of Park House on Miss Crutchley’s memories.
And this week we have the first of a two part story of Harold Thomas Whitehouse, born on the 23rd February 1926 naming all of his family and friends in his early life in Cheslyn Hay.
DON SAVAGE REUNION Everything confirmed for Tuesday 17th June at our Base at the Salem in the main hall. Mr & Mrs Savage will be there at 10am, with many of his ex-pupils, plenty of school photographs – and the coffee pot will be on. Everyone welcome from the early sixties.
GENERAL NEWS Still tickets available for the Musical Concert in aid of ‘Help the Heroes’ and the Salem Boiler Fund for this Thursday, 12th June at 7pm in the church. Telephone Claire Minton on 07875658332.
Last month in May, we have had another 123 sightings of our local scenes on staffspasttrack. Salem 29, Brittania Picture House 22, High Street 19, Garretts Shop 14, Albert Hawkins Shop 14, Wootton’s Post Office 12, Hackett’s Butcher’s Shop 9, Walter Hackett 4.
trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

EVENTS Two forthcoming events and both worth our support. Joanne Barber and Sandra Marshall are opening their gardens on Sunday 8th June from 11am to 4pm in aid of the Cheslyn Hay Pre-School at the Village Hall. Entrance fee is £2 which covers both gardens at 97 Station Street and 16 Frensham Close with home made refreshments and plant sales available.
And Salem are holding a Musical Concert on Thursday, 12th June at 7pm in the church in aid of ‘Help the Heroes’ and their Boiler Fund. Adults £3 but children under 16 free with free tea, coffee and cake. Tickets available at the Salem or the Cedar Tree.
OUR SALEM BASE Our Salem Base is open every Tuesday from 10am – 3pm. Last week, the Altree get-together was a great success and we had 28 visitors throughout the day.
REQUESTS An interesting point was raised last week at the Altree meeting. In last year’s book ‘Tales of Cheslyn Hay’ p37, we have George Fletcher marrying Beatrice Altree and according to our records he died in December 1950 and is buried in the Cheslyn Hay Cemetery but Wendy from Wiltshire says she remembers her Uncle George (Fletcher) and her Aunt Beatrice were still living in the late sixties. So are there two George Fletchers in the Altree tree? Any help would be appreciated so we can update our records.
RESPONSES Our researcher Jean looked into last week’s Stacey enquiry and she has traced all three Staceys, including marriages, addresses and children and a member helps out with one emigration to Australia.
NEW PHOTOGRAPHS 16 excellent photographs for the Heminsley Collection including family photographs from the 1800s with Richard (b1812), Mary Ann (nee Fisher b1819), Walter, Sarah Jane, Millicent, Alfred, Iris, Joseph Wm, Thomas, Alf, Isaac, Ellen, Nellie, Janet and Lucy Ann, also William Leeke, Albert Marshall, Bill & Doris Cartwright, Edward Nolan, Sarah Hughes, the wedding of Albert Richards & Miriam Heminsley and all their guests, a photo of Walter’s house and smallholding in Old Landywood Lane and an advertisement postcard with pictures of the ‘Holly Bush Tiles’ plus a message dated 3rd October 1920. All available at £1 per 7×5 Photographic Print.
ARCHIVE ADDITIONS/ARTEFACTS/DONATIONS Newspaper report of the death and funeral of William Thomas Altree, the sexton, and the 1897 Birth Certificate of John Thomas Altree. Also a seven page history of Kenneth George Griffiths (1915 – 1943) whose name is on our War Memorial.
OLD NEWSPAPERS researched by Dave Washington Copies available at £1 per report. with stories from 1925 containing the following names – J Webb, J Baker, H Stokes, L Fletcher, W Follows, G Allen, W Savage, C Wood, P Webb, H Baker, E Fletcher, R Jenkins, W Davies, P Bown, WE Whitehouse, S Evans, W Kingston, A Whitehouse, W Savage Jnr, W Evans, P Perry, W Edwards, W Hemingsley, J Hodson, A Cope, W Leach, G Brough, W Thomas, F Thomas and J Kingston.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK 50/100 YEARS AGO ……by Mike Belcher
5th June 1964 A newspaper report of Alice Hodgkiss of 26 Low Street, Cheslyn Hay.
6th June 1914 A story involving Albert Cope.
MEMORIES Of Harry Dace (b1912) from an interview on 2nd March 2010 and containing stories involving the Lawsons, the Duttons, Jackie Lunt, Alf Jukes, Fred Hawkins and Fereday the Chemist.
FAMILY HISTORY by Andrew Pearson This week we have 15 pages of the Shorter Family Tree going back to Joseph Shorter in 1765, still living in Cheslyn Hay, and it includes 121 individual Shorter names and with all the information it totals 93 pages in all. Selected pages available at £1 per page, with £15 for the tree and, as usual, all trees have the maximum fee of £20, which would include the 93 Shorter pages. Enquiries or advice, free of course, by email or phoning me – 01922 414772. Other names on the tree are Ault, Austin, Baker, Barlow, Bate, Beveridge, Bird, Boddice, Boot, Briggs, Bromley, Brough, Buckley, Bull, Burville, Butler, Caddaye, Cartwright, Cawthorne, Churn, Cliffe, Coldrick, Cope, Cross, Culkin, Dace, Day, Dodd, Doughty, Dyke, Edwards, Emery, Evans, Fisher, Follows, Gilbert, Goodman, Green, Haddaway, Hadley, Hallett, Handley, Harbeck, Harper, Hatton, Hawkins, Haycock, Haynes, Henshall, Hillis, Hobson, Holland, Holmes, Holtam, Homer, Hopcraft, Hubery, Hughes, Jackson, James, Jones, Jordan, Kent, Kitchen, Kruger, Lawson, Lea, Lee, Lees, Lewis, Lindsay, Lloyd, Luckins, Lyons, Mann, Moore, Morgan, Mottram, Norris, Owen, Pearson, Perks, Penny, Petford, Pitchford, Plant, Plimmer, Pugh, Read, Rhodes, Roberts, Robinson, Rogers, Roney, Shaw, Sims, Skitt, Smith, Smythe, Speedy, Stokes, Talbot, Taylor, Thacker, Thomas, Townsend, Upton, Walker, Waller, Webb, Wheatley, Whitehouse, Wilhelm, Wilkes, Wilkinson, Williams, Windsor, Wollaston, Wright, Wykes, Wynn.
DON SAVAGE REUNION Here are the names of ex-pupils that I have been unable to contact – can anyone help please? Tony Brough, Derek Crawford, Alan Cronin, Christine Denny, Ann Holloway, Jennifer Jarvis, Jennifer Jones, Christina Pugh, Nigel Taylor, Ron Wall, Edward Atkinson, Lindsey Bateman, Pat Tudor, Jennifer Yates, John Eve, John Sneyd, Barbara Chilton, Pat Robinson, Christine Cadman, Joan Rigby, Jennifer Carmichael, Robin Crowshaw, Eddie Atkinson, Philip Smith, David Dixon, John Heminsley and Philip Bowker.
GENERAL NEWS Although we announced that we have sold all seats on the two coaches to Bletchley Park on Thursday, 10th July, we have received a cancellation and so there are now two tickets available priced at £23 each. Please telephone Roger on 01543 372856.
Fuller infomation on any of the above stories will be willing supplied by emailing me at the email address below, or if anyone wishes to join and receive the full Newsletters every week please apply for the £5 Annual Membership via the same email address.
trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net