Further to Wendy Gates’ enquiry about the Wheatsheaf pub last week, and of her father, Jack Warner, Wendy posted some more family images to share with readers and maybe jog a few memories of the family and the popular lost Brownhills pub.

In amongst these I include a lovely, generous message sent in by reader Bill Blakemore who also shares some unconnected thoughts about the bungalow at Sandhills, which I’ll put in a future post.

This is wonderful material and I thank Bill and Wendy for their time taken to share such warm memories – this is why I keep this blog and what, for me, our local history is about: real people and real memories. Thanks so much to you both.

I’ve interspersed Wendy’s photos with Bill’s contribution. Bill Blakemore wrote:

Wendy says ‘This is my Dad aged 16, he was born in Ogley and became a furniture upholsterer. I have some pictures of him as a boy as well’ – Image supplied by Wendy Gates.

Dear Bob,

Greetings and can I say you do a great job with your site. I have seen some things on it which have taken me back many years.

Could you be kind enough to pass on the following to Wendy Gates, I haven’t put it on the public forum because there may well be family sensitivities involved;

I knew Harry very well from the late 60’s and despite a largish age gap we were great pals. He did indeed move to Preston (Bamber Bridge actually) about 1970, Harry was an adept carpenter and worked at a huge timber yard/sawmills (they had their own train line in from the docks) and he often made side and coffee tables for friends and neighbours. After 10 or so years, he and his wife Joan moved back to Brownhills, Commonside to be exact, where they resided until Harry very sadly passed away. Which raises the date of death shown on the lovely photo of him, I can say categorically that he had passed away before 1989, I’ve been trying to pin it down but best guess would be somewhere around 1985. His wife Joan, who was my wife’s mother has also now passed away so can’t ask her.

Wendy says ‘My Dad is in the back row right in the middle, I would to know who the other lads were, they were Dads gang and we have heard all the stories of these ‘naughty’ boys!’ – Image supplied by Wendy Gates.

He had a portfolio of odd sayings that always made me smile, a person he was not impressed with could be described as “saft as a biled swede that one”, when my daughter was a little girl and being noisy, especially if the snooker was on tv, he would invite her to “go and play on the M6” always said in the gruff, affectionate and humourous manner that was his hallmark.

Sadly missed, to this day, they don’t make them like Harry any more!.

All best wishes,

Bill Blakemore

Wendy says ‘This couple are Harry Warners parents, Joseph Warner born 1883 was a miner, he married Emily Florence Owen on Apr 20 1908. The dog was called Pat.’ – Image supplied by Wendy Gates.

Anything you can contribute, please do; we’ve mentioned the Wheatsheaf before in reference to various topics, but it always seems to generate a lot of comment whenever mentioned on Facebook.. Please comment here or BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers.

The Wheatsheaf is now long gone, replaced by houses. It rood on the corner of Mill Road and Ogley Road. A great image by Mike Leonard.