Cheslyn Hay & District Local History Society

Malcolm Astley, this month’s speaker comes highly recommended and he is the current Tour Guide of Moseley Old Hall and having been Secretary of the Wolverhampton Astronomical Society for 35 years he is giving a talk on his favourite subject ‘The Short History of the Calendar’ this Thursday, 29th July at the Salem Hall, Cheslyn Hay at 7.30pm.  £1 including refreshments as usual.
We entertained sixteen visitors last Tuesday at our base with an arranged meeting of the Thomas family from all over the country and we were able to supply them with previously unseen photographs of their family as well as some missing information dating back 200 years on their family tree – albeit an illegitimacy!  Plus other researchers from the Poole family as well as the Griffiths’.  And we look forward to a visit from the Ridgway family this Tuesday who have connections with our village through Jack Ridgway who is on our War memorial.  Base open every Tuesday from 10am – 4pm and all are welcome.
From our website we have been contacted by Michael E Groome of Nutley, New Jersey, USA  who is researching the Groom and Brindley family trees.  And we have also heard from an old friend John Harley who emigrated to Australia sixty years ago.
And in this week’s Weekly News, available by request, through the email address address, are more touching memories from Kathy Brough of Low Street in the 1940s.

trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

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We have organised a get together for a handful of people this week who are tracing the family tree of the well established Cheslyn Hay family – the Thomases.  They will be meeting at our base at the Salem this Tuesday morning to view our photographic and documentary archives on the Thomas family and it should prove to be a very interesting and productive day.  The base is open for all and sundry every Tuesday from 10am – 4pm.
Following a recent request on John Ridgway who was killed in WWI, our Military Researcher has responded to supply a photograph of his grave but is querying the family’s story that he was drowned in the Dardenelles, whereas it appears from the War Diary he was killed on the battlefield.
We recently appealed for anyone who suspected that their house is haunted and we did have two responses that were followed up and will be included in a book to be published some time in the near future.  One story relates to the smell of freshly toasted bread on the landing of a property of a well known house in Cheslyn Hay and the other concerns a property on the site of an old church.  In this instance the owner has had a visit from a team of paranormal investigators that the author has been collaborating with and he fully agrees and is keen to hear what they find – all done scientifically and with no seances.
More photographs have come in this week of Carnivals, including those from 1953 and 1977. Plus excellent photos of a schools football match on the Old Falls in 1949 and some of the High Street shops in 1959.  We have also received a fascinating illuminated plan titled ‘Earl of Shrewsbury Lodge No 1520 Installation Night 1938′ with a string of well known Cheslyn Hay people on it.  It appears to be some sort of Masonic Lodge organisation and it has recently been found in one of the old houses of the village.
In this week’s ‘Memories’ column, Ivor Plant, whose grandparents were George and Agnes Plant of 63 Littlewood Road, recalls all the residents around Littlewood from 1945 – 60 in a facinating article. More details can be obtained from the email below.

trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

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We supported Salem’s Open Day on Saturday 10th July where we opened our base to all comers and dealt with all of their enquiries in what was a very pleasant day.
This Monday we are conducting  a walk around the village for Glenthorne Primary School to introduce them to local history.
Dr Alan Jones has completed his two year researches on the Edaljis and the draft of his book is now completed.  Hopefully it will be available for oue Exhibition when Alan will be doing book signings.  In my opinion this book is the most factual and illuminating of all of the tomes that have been published to date and it leaves the readers to make up their own minds as to whether George Edalji was guilty or not.  It also blows the myth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle taking on the mantle of Sherlock Holmes and solving the mystery right out of the water.  Rather than being tempted by the London Publishers and marketed through WH Smiths and the High Street shops at an exorbitant price, we will be handling it and it will not be sold at more than £5 a copy.
Also John and Sylvia Crump came up from Droitwich Spa to visit us at our Base this week.  Sylvia is researching her Brevitt family tree but John was a teacher at Pinfold Lane School in the early 1970s and he enjoyed scanning through all the old school photographs.  The base is open as usual this Tuesday from 10am – 4pm.
On Tuesday 20th July we are having a get together of the Thomas family to try and link up all the family connections.  Held at our base.
Information is filtering through on the 1946 photograph but we still have no details at all of Ann Turner, Maureen Kingston, Mary Mitchell, Joan Garrett, Doreen Bailey, Mary Roberts, Iris Heminsley, Margaret Kendall, Janet Smith,  Elsie Barker, Beryl Pearson, Mavis Bladon, Geoffrey Barnes, Tom Hulme, John Kirby, Frank Cartwright, Graham Morgan and John Stanley.
Memories this week come from the Craddock, Newman, Jones, Wilde, Ridgeway and Beasley families.
Gail Middleton devoted a complete page in this week’s Black Country Bugle to our Society and on the evening of Ian Wyke’s Anglo Saxon Hoard talk.  It is an excellent article, particularly on the coverage of Ian’s talk.

More information on the above by emailing
trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

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We are trying to contact all members of a David Blount class from the 1940s in a ‘Where Are They Now’ feature and amongst the pupils are Ann Turner, Maureen Kingston, Mary Mitchell, Margaret Davies, Joan Garrett, Mary Whitehouse, Doreen Bailey, Mary Roberts, Iris Heminsley, Margaret Kendall, Janet Smith, Phyllis Steadman, Dora Davies, Elsie Barker, Beryl Pearson, Mavis Bladon, Geoffrey Barnes, Bert Parker, Tom Hulme, John Kirby, Frank Cartwright, Alan Bate, Frank Giles, Graham Morgan, John Stanley, Michael Griffiths, Clarence Sambrook, John  Harris and Tommy Meakin.  Any information at all would be appreciated.

trevor.cheslynhayhistory@talktalk.net

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