Cheslyn Hay & District Local History Society

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Our Annual Exhibition, which is our main event of the year, is on Saturday, 2nd October at the Village Hall (aka Community Centre) in Pinfold Lane and is open to members at 9.30am to 6pm.  The exhibition includes a variety of displays, a film show of old cinefilm and photos, the launch of our new book and of course 850 photographs.  All are welcome.
Also the Cannock Chase Mining Historical Association are unveiling an Information Sign at the old West Cannock No 5 site at 11am on Wednesday, 29th September followed by the launch of their book ‘The Annals of The West Cannock Colliery Company Limited 1869 – 1957′ but also includes its latter years up to its closure in 1982. Its author, Alan Dean, will also be available on Thursday at Hednesford Library, on Friday at Heath Hayes Library and on Saturday at Cannock Library to sign copies between 10am and 1pm.
Our Salem Base is open as usual on Tuesdays from 10am – 4pm.
More family history requests this week including the Smith and Bate families from the mid 1800s and also one from the States on the Heningham family history.
Responses received from last week’s Newsletter on the girls first day at Rugeley Grammar School with names from the past including Jennifer and Clare as well as the Middletons, John Kirby, Barry Pee and David Crosby.’  Also plenty of information on the DAS Land Developments and Joe Wilks who  had his pit on the side of Landywood Lane where the Spring Meadow estate is now.  Letters have been received from 1938 concerning W Steadman who was employed at Hawkins Colliery and George H Marshall of 40 Watling Street.
We now have in our archives the memories of Mr Joe Cadman (1920 – 2009), Part Time Parish Clerk to the Cheslyn Hay Parish Council as well as having a lifetime career at Hawkins’ Colliery.  These are available on request at our Base.

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Our Salem Base is becoming more and more popular with visitors from various parts of the country researching their family trees as well as people just dropping in to browse through our 7000 photographs, where we now have them all indexed.  Everyone is welcome and we are open every Tuesday 10am – 4pm.
More family history requests this week relating to the Wilks and Doody families, where they once owned coalmines in Cheslyn Hay and in Cannock. Plus an enquiry of the Pepper family who were involved with Harrisons pit early part of the last century.  More memories are still coming in concerning the local ‘Wyrley Whizzer’ from the 1940s and a bit of nostalgia from Margaret Buttery who now lives in Spain.  She recalls her first day at Rugeley Grammar School when she part of the first intake of girls there. The grammar school had an intake of 360 pupils so there were 30 girls and 330 boys at the start of term in 1953, and which we have a photograph in our archives on the occasion.
We are now gearing up to our main event of the year – our Annual Exhibition at the Village Hall in Pinfold Lane.  It will be held on Saturday 2nd October 2010 and we are expecting another large turnout.
We will be pleased to send a full copy of this week’s Weekly News to anyone who makes contact through the email address below.

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