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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A coach trip to Chasewater has been organised for Thursday June 10th starting at the Salem at 9.45am.  It includes a visit to the Chasewater Railway Museum and a light snack before a midday return.  £3 per person and please contact Jim Brevitt on 01922 – 414863 for bookings.
Nine more visitors this week at our New Base, mainly working on research, and we are open this Tuesday 10am – 4pm which will include the setting up of the Hawkins project to catalogue the activities of Hawkins Colliery, Brickworks and Tileries on behalf of the Cannock Chase Museum.
Since mentioning the Staffordshire Pasttrack website we have had an incredible 140 viewings of our old photographs in the month of April – about three times as many as normal.  They were of Albert Hawkins shop (55), Britannia Picture House (41), Salem Chapel (13), High Street (10), Wootons Post Office (10), Walter Hackett’s shop (9) and Garrett’s shop (2).  New photographs received are of Streetway House that was owned by the Noden family and was demolished for the Toll Road.   Photographs and news items included in theis week’s News concern Kath Reeves (nee Brough), Mrs Hicken,  Mrs Baker, Tom Brough,  Mary Ann (nee Wedge),  Vivienne Davis, Christine Wilcox, Sarah Brough
and  Mrs Jellyman.

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We welcome our monthly speaker Mike Hewitt from the Cannock Conduit Trust this Thursday, 29th April at the Salem at 7.30pm with a talk on ‘Old Cannock 1890 – 1900′.  It will be an enjoyable night and entrance will be £1 including refreshments.
Nine visitors on Tuesday again dealing with enquiries on Dundalk Lane, reviewing our archive collection plus information on an entire collection of photographs generously donated to us from the Walker family. This week we have also had a full set of the Pinfold Lane School Magazines from 1928 – 35 which are now available at our Base which is open this Tuesday 10am – 4pm.
More photographs have been handed in and family history enquiries made this week on the following names – Bate Parker Stanton Whitehouse Edgerton Stokes Hart  Heminsley Cuthbert Bale F Waltho Harry Dace Miss Thomas  Miss Hulse Mrs Price Mr Berry ‘Taffy’ Blount John Middleton  Ian Bickley David Gardner Victor Fidler, Follows, Jeynes, Smithyman.

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our Members.
Well our annual exhibition was a great success with lots of new faces dropping in to see the exhibits. Darren Butler’s project on the streets and people featured some large scale maps of popular streets and areas at the turn of the last century. Darren had located houses and the names of the people who lived in them; the whole project was very well received. Darren is planning to further develop the project to include other streets and areas for next year. Continue Reading »

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We have two new aspects for our members to enjoy in 2010.
A New Base
Once again our thanks go to our old friends at the Salem who have agreed for us to use a room in the church as a base. We are currently painting and decorating the room and together with a new carpet and blinds we are hoping for our base to be officially opened by mid January. Opening hours have yet to be confirmed but provisionally we are looking to open to the ‘general public’ on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons until 6pm but to our members we intend to be more flexible and to arrange alternative times. This is of particular importance to any of our ‘distant’ members when they visit their relatives in Cheslyn Hay or any of our member’s friends visiting the area and wishing to indulge in a bit of nostalgia by looking through our photographs. Our main aim is to collate many of our records, currently tucked away in our archives, together with many of the Photograph Volumes that are being stored elsewhere, together in one place. And when you consider that we have now in excess of 5000 photographs with over 7000 individual names there will be much for our members to enjoy that has not been available before. Obviously we will be encouraging potentially new members with help on researches and their family trees and we intend to use the base as a centre to arrange interviews with the more senior residents of the village, as well as cataloguing items of the Hawkins Colliery, Tileries and Brickworks for the benefit of both the Cannock Chase Museum and ourselves plus bringing up to date all the items in our own archives. For this we will be needing volunteers and any help would be appreciated – even to make the tea and coffee for anyone that just turns up.

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Many years I have kept in mind a wonderful memory when I was a young child aged ten in 1943, where street posters of ‘Dig for victory’ and ‘Join the Women’s Land Army’ reminded us all that we were right in the midst of the war years. It was nearly Christmas and everywhere was cold and frosty and on my way to school I had to pass the shops in the High Street. They were all decorated with glittering tinsel and handmade paper streamers of all different colours. I stopped at Hassall’s and immediately caught sight of a toy that melted my heart. It was a black doll in a green and black suit with a matching hat of soft material and he had such a kindly face and I couldn’t wait to get home from school to ask my mum if I could have this beautiful doll for Christmas. Every morning afterwards I looked in at Hassall’s window to see that
friendly face and counting down the days to Christmas. Then on Christmas Eve I had to ‘run some errands’ for my mum with money and coupons for grocery from Mr Perks and bread from Stanton’s cake shop returning home by Hassall’s. But the doll was gone. I went in to the shop only to be told ‘Sorry Kathy, it’s been sold.’I felt drained of everything. The next morning I got out of bed not even wanting any presents. My Christmas had been ruined. But when I went downstairs into the kitchen, my mum said ‘Happy Christmas – here’s a present for you’ and handed me a brown paper parcel. I slowly unwrapped it to see a little black doll’s face made of fine china looking up at me. I said a loud and heartfelt ‘Thank You’ and my mum said that I had to give him a name. I cuddled the doll and thought of several names but a warm memory of when I was picking blackberries in the summer with my close friend floated into my mind. I thought about him, then looked at mum and said ‘Yes, I’ll call my little black doll Lenny’.
Kathleen Reeves

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Unfortunately the details of one of the winners of the free raffle at the Exhibition has been mislaid. The lady was notified and we still have a bottle of red wine to hand over. So if anyone is aware of this lady still
awaiting a bottle of wine – please let us know as soon as possible. Particularly if it’s wanted for Christmas!

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Rhymes and Jingles from our youth – Part one.
In every country and in every time there have been rhymes and jingles sung, or said, to children to amuse them, yet most of what are now called nursery rhymes had their origin in subject matter intended for adults. The young, however, have a way of taking what pleases them; and thus they have preserved the parodies, lampoons, bits of homely wisdom and folk ballads that have long lost their social significance. Continue Reading »

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2/1/1960 Glancing Back to 5/1/1935
On Sunday, the vicar of Great Wyrley, the Rev.A.H.Lanfear, preached his last sermon to a large congregation at St.Mark’s Church, on his retirement after 16 years in the parish. During his stay at Great Wyrley the parish room, vicarage and school house were restored as also was the church and organ at a cost of £1,000. Continue Reading »

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