A lady – I wonder who she is? – smiles at Fred filming her, bows, and walks on.
I’ve had a bunch of film clips for a while, which were recorded in short sections and obtained by the young David Evans from Barbara, the daughter of Fred Shingler who ran the Park View Methodist Chapel, which used to be on the Watling Street, just on the corner of Chapel Avenue.
The clips are taken from family cinefilms recorded by Fred, and feature the lost world of the A5 Watling Street just as the road was being converted into a dual carriageway. Barbara kindly allowed David access to these family films for use on the blog, and I have reassembled all the clips into a eleven minute film, and it really is quite something.
The shops in the Howdles Lane precinct are still a building site.
In it you will see the Watling Street, and the Howdles Lane area, in what must be the late 60s and early 70s. The maisonettes on the corner (now demolished) – look quite new. There are terraces over the road, and a shop. The precinct off Howdles Lane looks new. We can see Charringtons Oil Terminal, and the black path, running across a very tree-less common. Busses in Walsall livery pull up, and pull away. A lady, caught on film, bows and smiles; a man in his window waves at Fred.
All this ties in nicely with the Mavis Woodhouse material, of which the next instalment is due in a couple of days – this is the area that Mavis is writing about.
Charring tons oil terminal in the sunshine.
Like the Brownhills Cine Club film, there’s much to see here – and I wonder if Fred was involved with the club?
Please do comment, and let me know what you spot, or recognise. Thanks to Barbara for allowing such generous access to her father’s work.
