At the weekend, in my regular old pictures slot, I scanned the below image from that fine work ‘Coal Mining in Brownhills, Aldridge and Walsall Wood’ by Brian Rollins., of a 1926 miner’s strike soup kitchen in the village. It’s a gorgeous picture.
Soup kitchens such as this were common - I'm always shocked at how familiar the faces of the kids are. Put them in modern clothes, and they could be seen in any local street. From 'Coal Mining in Walsall Wood, Brownhills and Aldridge' by Brian Rollins & Walsall Local History Centre.
Following a pub discussion with [Howmuch?] I’ve just got a bit of a problem with it… whereabouts in Walsall Wood was the picture taken? That looks like a Church behind the group – but St. John’s in the village is made of red and blue brick, not stone blocks like those. Looking back at pictures of churches of the area, none match that style of blockwork. Shenstone Church looks similar, but the window frames are different.
Another soup kitchen in Walsall Wood - accepting charity cannot have been easy for many. That's a fine collection of pies, too. From 'Memories of Old Walsall Wood' by Clarice Mayo & John Sale.
I’ve no doubt the picture is local in origin – the other soup kitchen picture is taken from Memories of Old Walsall Wood by Bill Mayo and John Sale, and is credited as being in Beechtree Road. That clearly features two of the same ladies (the large lady in a black blouse in the second photo, and her friend with the dark, tousled hair to the left of her are stood in the same relation just in front of the doorway in the upper photo).
Walsall Wood church looks like this:
St. Johns Church - red and blue brick, by Flickr user g4pfk.
And St John’s school looks like this:
- Again, red and blue local bricks. Photo by Flickr user littleredglass.
So have the readers got any input on this? Am I missing something here? Both I and [Howmuch?] would be glad to hear your views…