A lovely video podcast has been sent to me by Dave Moore of Lichfield Waterworks Trust about the pumping station in Lichfield that many people are surprised to discover, fed the Black Country with water for nearly a century.
The video, narrated by Graham Fisher and featured here on History West Midlands, goes into the way the pumping station worked, and it’s massive significance to the public health and wellbeing of our region. You can watch it below.
Find out more about this film here.
Dave said of the film:
This podcast forms the foundation for a project we will start soon called ‘voices from the past’. In the podcast you should he me mention that we need to give a voice back to the people who died in the cholera epidemic and the people who worked tirelessly keeping the water supply going.
Voices from he past will give an opportunity to anyone who is interested in history, to work with us and learn new skills and a new way to look at the past.
We will put on several training days at a nice venue and show people how to do family research, social history and oral history.
I think that this will be a great opportunity to connect non-professional historians with the community and the past, bringing people together to lean and develop new skills.
Dave Moore, late of this parish and tireless campaigner for all things local and historical is doing interesting for the Lichfield Waterworks Trust, and taking a really unique approach.
Sandfields, although located on the southern edge of Lichfield, was a key force in supporting the growth and health of the Black Country further south. The provision of clean water, as Dave points out, prevented the spread of disease and helped our towns safely reach higher population densities.
Sandfields fed the reservoirs of the Black Country via a huge cast iron main that ran along the railway through Brownhills. We’ve covered that quite a bit here, and the main remained in use until past the middle of the last century.
Please check out the history of this almost forgotten gem, join Dave’s Facebook Group, attend the meetings or just help by sharing what you know of this fascinating building.
If you feel you can help, please comment here and I’ll hook you up with Dave, or send me an email at BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot Com. Cheers.
