BrownhillsBob's Brownhills Blog

Do you know Angela Lloyd, who used to live in Shire Oak? Image supplied by Joan Johnson, nee Hampton.

I had an interesting enquiry a few days ago, and it would be nice if possible to reunite two old pals after a long period lost.

John Johnson, nee Hampton wrote:

Hi Bob.

I don’t know if you can help. I had a friend called Angela Lloyd who lived on Shire Oak Hill.

Their house would have been where the new houses were built a few years ago. I met her when I was at Kings Hill School Lichfield.

Shire Oak and Kingshill went to Teddersley Park camping in the late fifties early sixties. I wrote to her for a few years, then lost touch. I wondered if you remember her at all.

My maiden name was Hampton. Joan Hampton.

Thankyou.
Joan

Tanks to Joan for the enquiry, and if you can help please contact Joan via Facebook here, or alternatively, comment here or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers!

A remarkable image. For starters, four tough looking lads with a distinctly not-tough looking dog. Why were these lads photographed for a card, and is this in fact Brownhills? From a car for sale on eBay by seller ‘Interestingpostcards’. Click for a larger version.

Here’s another in the occasional series of interesting local postcards for sale on eBay that raise more questions than they answer – the above image is described as ‘SUPER-1916-EDWARDIAN-MEN-IN-CAPS-BROWNHILLS-RP-PHOTO-VINTAGE-POSTCARD’ – which seems at least to be accurate.

I’m intrigued as I’d love to know if the picture really is local, and if so where was it taken and who’s in it – and considering the no-nonsense appearance of the gentlemen in the image, that seems like a bit of a weedy dog. What’s that about, then?

Notice also the two ‘ghosts’ – someone is at the window behind, and to the right someone seems to be disappearing into the doorway.

I have a theory, but won’t share it yet. I want to see what you guys think…

If you like this, you can buy it from dseller ‘Interestingpostcards’ here.

The flip side of the above card. Usual help translating appreciated, please. Click for a larger version.

Also, it’s not new images, but they are in good quality on a card whose design I’ve not seen before – the following card from seller ‘mica’ here. In particular, I’ve not seen the canal image in such clarity before.

Anything to add? Please feel free. Comment here or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com. Cheers!

A relatively late postcard of Brownhills – while I’ve seen the individual images before, I’ve not seen this montage. Card for sale on eBay from seller ‘mycab’. Click for a larger version.

if you’re worried about the pair of socks you left in your locker, it’s a bit late now. Image kindly supplied by David Evans.

The young David Evans was yesterday a very busy chap indeed – not only did he give a very successful talk at Walsall Wood Library (which raised £40 for Macmillan by the way, so nice one and thanks for that) but he also swung past the old Oak Park Recreation Centre to take some pictures of the site as it’s being demolished.

The Recreation Centre, which was out of use after being replaced by a new state of the art facility behind, was due to be knocked down soon in any case, but a fire there last week forced the Council’s hand and men with large tools have been working there ever since.

I’ve had a few requests for pictures, so David kindly obliged. As you can see, they aren’t hanging about and the centre won’t be here much longer.

Cheers to David for making a photographic record – if you have anything to add, please do: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

Keeper’s Cottage: a sad, tumbledown and fascinating feature of local bike rides since I was a kid. Image by Pete Hummings.

Hi folks – the quiz is over – sorry, I seem to have made it too hard this year.

Please, do help me here – are you all interested in the quiz again, and if so, how could I make it more fun and what would get more of you involved? These started out really popular, and this year, only a handful had a go?

I want to do stuff that involves as many of you as possible, so please do speak up.

Please let me know – we’re not short of readers, so I guess I’m pitching it wrong. Help!

Anyway, results – my congratulations to the winners, and commiserations to those who lost, but thanks – you’ve been great sports:

Lynn won part one, here with 22 points. Lynn is brilliant at this, and maintains her crown from last year.

Andy Dennis got 1 point.

I’m going to give Helen a spot prize of a book for this answer, which was clever and amused me – see here – even though it wasn’t what I was looking for. I always stop for amphibians.

Two questions in part one remained unanswered, 1 and 13.

The answers to all the others are in the comments to the original post, but Question 1 was VJ Knitting who regularly advertised in the Gazette, and 13 was Bateman. They were all neighbours on Occupation Road as featured in the hand-drawn map in this post here.

Lynn also won part two with 11 points, but held off a strong challenge from local author Clive, who got 9 points.

Dennis got 3 tough ones and wins a spot prize.

David Evans very nearly got 2 points, so I think he deserved them.

I’ll list the full answers to part two below, so it’s easier.

Thanks to all of you who had a go, and happy new year. Please let me know what I can do to make this better. I think perhaps I look at the place I live a bit too closely?

Best wishes, I’ll be in touch with winners to arrange prizes.

Answers to part two:

Q26: These chimney pots are on the cottages next to Coppy Woods (or Goblin Pit Woods), on Green Lane.

Q27: Longwood lock gates – dated 2016 (they were replaced this year), built locally by Bradley workshops.

Q28: Just off Lathams Bridge, Walsall Wood, down the canal bank to the mark-it, just off the footpath.

Q29: It’s guarding a manhole, giving access to the borehole into the old minewovrkings where chemical waste was dumped years ago.

Q30:Cattshill Junction Bridge, 1892.

Q31: It’s a trail marker at the RAF Hednesford site, near Marquis Drive on Cannock Chase.

Q32: Saddler Court Mfg. – on Coppice Side.

Q33: It’s on the former Butler Foundries car park, near the old rail line and cement works bridge near One Stop.

Q34: This is just near Coppice Woods on Green Lane, Walsall Wood end.

Q35: On the friction bar on CLayhanger canal bridge.

Q36: He’s on a dog bin on the south end of Chasewater Dam. No idea why or by who, but he’s cool.

Q37:The derrick for lifting pumps out of the pit at Clayhanger sewage station, just off Bridge Street

Q38: This guy sits in a gap in the shelves against the fence next to the Vintage wagon, facing the Bric a Brac wagon, near the model railway at Brownhills West Station, Chasewater. Spotted him purely by chance.

Q39: Bench in memory of John Reeves, Hammerwich Churchyard, under a handsome, large yew tree.

Q40: Black Cock, Bullings Heath, Walsall Wood.

Q41: This is a finial from a railway signal.

Q42: It’s in the flowerbed just outside the door to the shop at Brownhills West station, Chasewater.

Q43: D Rushbrook left his mark in 1931 on the Footherley Brook bridge, Footherley, within sight of Keepers Cottage.

Q44: Monitoring wells exist along the towpath from the marlpit at Stubbers Green/Aldridge to Leighswood bridge, so I’d have had the back of RMD, Interseve, Duckhams, etc. They’re to monitor leakage from the cut.

Q45: Load 1 ton (or ‘loaditon’ as a little friend thinks) is on a handcart parked outside the train sheds at Brownhills West Station, Chasewater.

Q46: I say there are 18 steps from the upper bank to Fly Creek boardwalk at north heath, Chasewater, but there are arguably 17.

Q47: Joseph is in the centre of the small, disusedburial ground on your left as you walk to the rear of St James, from Church Road, in the plots bordered by the path to Great Charles Street.

Q48: Lower Stonnall, The Great Barn (John Smith, 1747 with the N backwards, remember?) – Mill Lane, Lower Stonnall.

Q49:Stonnall this year decorated their bus stops. I have no idea why.

Q50:Around the periphery or the Anchor Inn beer garden on the Chester Road.

Q51: 3 3A 10 10A and 24 Anchor Bridge pub side towards Shire Oak.

Q52: This is Keeper’s Cottage, Footherley. Derelict for at least 34 years to my knowledge. Susan Marie Ward, aka Staffordshirebred, spent a lot of her childhood here. Lots of interest in this old tumbledown house, here photographed by the drone of Pete Cummings in 2016.

Like the 1964 image, this  1962 whole-school panorama would be around four feet (1200mm) long, about six inches high and seems to be of around 400 pupils and staff at my estimate. Image kindly supplied by David Hughes. Click for a larger version – but please be prepared, it’s a huge photo.

What seems now like months ago over Christmas, I featured an image that has proven very popular – a whole school panoramic photo of all the staff and pupils of Shire Oak Grammar School in 1964 – well, thanks to David Hughes all the way from Texas in the US, I can share the equivalent photo from 1962.

David wrote:

Hi

The 1964 Shire Oak school photo is very interesting and as I was one of the first intake at Shire Oak I am able to recognise many faces, including my own, in the Photo.

I have only recently discovered Brownhills Bob, so I don’t know if you have already shown the first school photograph from 1962.

Attached is a copy (split into 4 sections) just in case it is of interest. Sorry about the poor quality, it’s travelled a lot and is now with me here in Texas.

Keep up the good work

Regards
David Hughes

Thank you David, the scans were just fine and have stitched beautifully back into one – which as before, I feature whole and sliced for reader perusal.

Thanks so much for the generosity – to know we’re reaching all the way over to the US is very satisfying, and David, if you have anything to say, or share, you’re most welcome – there’s over 4,000 posts of archive material here too, so feel welcome to fill your boots!

To make things easier, I’ve chopped it into chunks, twice with different numbers of parts so if someone falls on an image edge in one set, they won’t in the other. Both sets are the same quality.

Click on any slice to see the image full size:

The same image, cut into eight:

If you’ve got memories of the school, or indeed this photo, or you recognise yourself, or someone else – please do get in touch, either by commenting here or mailing me. BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

How on earth did he get his rig stuck here? Image kindly supplied by reader Marie.

Something a bit odd took place behind Silver Court yesterday, Friday 6th January, at just before 5pm – reader and old pal of the blog Marie who lives nearby filled my in with the details as the story unfolded, and the whole thing left me a bit bewildered.

For those of you who don’t know, behind Silver Court, which lies just off Brownhills High Street, there is a service road providing access to the houses that form the upper floors of the Court. The service road is currently being reworked as part of the housing development between it and the canal. This isn’t really a through road, just an access drive, that leaves Silver Street just past Farmfoods on the left.

Somehow, yesterday evening, an articulated lorry bearing the Tesco name in huge lettering found itself in that service road, then got very, very stuck when the hapless driver tried to extricate it.

Man, you got that stuck in there real good… Image kindly supplied by reader Marie.

This, you might think, is an easy mistake to make if you don’t know the area, and indeed, many drivers of such HGVs are agency workers, and often don’t know their routes well.

Where Mr. Tesco (or perhaps Mr. Well Driven, who knows?) got his rig stuck. Imagery from Google Maps.

I’m sharing this with you because several odd things happened. One of them was that I tried to contact Tesco about this via Twitter. Their customer service reps on social media couldn’t have been less interested, disowning the vehicle, and pointing out that it was operated by a company called… ‘Well Driven’. I kid you not:

Well Danny, that wasn’t helpful at all. you sure this wasn’t a wind up? If not, I’d be seriously talking to trading standards about the name ‘Well Driven’ as it’s clearly a misnomer….

So despite having a stuck wagon causing local difficulties for residents, bearing the Tesco brand, it was not their problem. Repeated attempts to get Tesco customer service to respond in any helpful manner failed.

I wonder if – heaven forbid – the wagon had been opened and contents vanished, if they’d have been so laissez faire? I somehow doubt it very much.

Either way, the fact that Tesco didn’t seem to be much bothered for their operation’s impact on local communities doesn’t come as a surprise.

I called “Well Driven’ – they denied any responsibility and weren’t interested either. I don’t know what the opposite of a convoy actually is, but it seems we’d got one.

Meanwhile, Marie was watching as the driver managed to extract the trailer, but seemed to get his tractor unit into worse difficulties:

That’s not much of an improvement, and looks quite costly. Oh dear. Image kindly supplied by reader Marie.

I tried further with Tesco online but got nowhere. Later in the evening, someone turned up to help the driver get his truck out with planks of wood and wedges under the wheels. It seems, after some difficulty and several hours, the wagon was freed, and disappeared into the night.

This was the scene this morning, with quite a bit of damage:

Now, I’m not sure what you can draw from all this but if you’re involved in some strife with a lorry marked Tesco, it’s nothing to do with them, clearly – and should you try and find out who the operators are, you look set to be in for quite a hard time.

Paul Simon wrote the wonderful ‘Mean Individual Stranded in a Limousine’ (which was wonderfully covered by Michelle Shocked) – we had a lorry driver stranded in a HGV…

Moreover, how on earth did the driver come to be stuck there, and what chance is there of the company responsible for him putting any of the damage right, or perhaps sorting out decent route training?

Answers on a postcard to…

I’d love to hear from Tesco about this, but I shan’t hold my breath. BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

Cheers to Marie for all the photos and running commentary.

The Shoulder of Mutton – one of the oldest inns in Brownhills and a real community pub. Imagery from Bing! Maps.

Hey everyone – I’ve been contacted by reader Spencer Cartright through Facebook, who’s looking for a gentleman called Ernie Lawrence, who used to live in Brownhills, but possibly now lives in Cannock.

Spencer wrote:

Hope the good people of Brownhills and surrounding areas can help me locate someone!

I’m trying to get in touch with Ernie Lawrence. He would be approx 71-72 years old now and have heard in lived in Brownhills for a good few years, then moved to Cannock.

My father in law Alan Horobin and Ernie were partners in a painting and decorating business for 30 years or more. Alan went on to run the Shoulder Of Mutton pub and lost touch with Ernie about 2000.

If anyone knows Ernie or knows any of his family, his wife was called Brenda – can you message me through here please.

It is quite urgent as well… thanks all

Cheers to Spenscer for the enquiry.

Can you help please? If you can, you can either message Spencer through Facebook here, or mail me in confidence if necessary: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

Cheers all – and Happy new year!

Image posted on Facebook by Chico’s Pet Supplies of Brownhills.

This is an important post on behalf of a respected and decent local business – I’d be grateful if you could read, share it, and do all we can to get this wee fellow back where he belongs.

Chico’s Pet Supplies in Brownhills High Street yesterday (Thursday 27th December 2016) suffered an unusual act of shoplifting – thieves have taken a live baby snake.

I’ll let the victim explain:

Right ladies and gents. It’s with an angry, sad heart I am posting this.

On Tuesday 27th Dec someone came into the shop while we were open and decided to help themselves to our snake.

I would like to point out that we have signs up explaining you are on cctv. Well we have now got a copy of this and will be handing it to the police Monday morning if the snake does not materialise back in the shop by 5pm Saturday when we shut the shop.

We would rather get the snake back (as he needs his feed as he’s only a baby) otherwise not only will the video be handed to the police but I will happily post it all over Facebook for everyone to see.

Do the right thing and bring this poor baby back before its to late for him.

Photo was taken with one of our shop girls before he was taken (not of the person who stole him)

That seems straightforward enough.

If you have any information, but don’t want to post, send anything you might have to me – BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com – I’ll pass it on to Chico’s without hesitation.

You can also contact Chico’s on Facebook here, or call them on 01543 370610.

Tesco Brownhills where a security guard was injured last Tuesday.

Following wildly differing rumours of a security guard being injured in an incident at Brownhills branch of Tesco last Tuesday (27th December 2016), I sought a statement from West Midlands Police as to what had actually happened.

Today (Thursday 29th December 2016) they issued the following statement:

A man and a woman have appeared at Walsall Magistrates Court today charged with assault and theft.

Lisa Walters, aged 34, was charged with actual bodily harm after a security guard at a supermarket in Silver Street, Brownhills, suffered cut wounds to her hand which were treated at hospital on 27 December.

Walters and Robert Steatham, aged 37, both unemployed and from Sandwell House, Highgate, were charged with theft from the same supermarket and further thefts from stores in Willenhall on 28 November and Brownhills on 30 November.

I post this statement for information only, and would point out that rumours circulating that a security guard had been ‘stabbed in the chest’ are not true.

Cheers to the police for their swift action and considered response, and my best wishes to the Security Guard for a fast and complete recovery.

Just one of the great images in the Heath Hayes History book: striking miners pick coal in Wimblebury during the 1921 strike.

The wonderful and kind local historian Robert Selvey has generously donated another local history classic to the blog archive for readers to enjoy, and this one’s a cracker – it’s Old Heath Hayes, the companion ‘Green Book’ title to the ‘Old Chasetown’ book donated by Stuart and posted here a couple of weeks ago.

It’s another, nearly hundred page work packed with photos and information, written and compiled by John Bucknall and J Francis under the wing of R Lewis, and this is a sad one as the first page notes – it records the retirement of Mr. Lewis.

The introduction notes the following:

Having already been principally involved in the production of the illustrated booklet ‘Old Chasetown’ for the Staffordshire Authority, I thought that, on transfer to a Heath Hayes school, it might be possible to produce something of similar interest for the Heath Hayes area. After all, the villages of Heath Hayes and Chasetown seem to have had surprisingly similar patterns of development, from desolation and heathland to thriving village communities as the exploitation of coal commenced. In fact two of the collieries in the Heath Hayes area were owned and developed by the Cannock Chase Colliery Company as a widening of its interests from its Chasetown base, 8’s pit and 6’s both being to the east of the Wimblebury Road from Five Ways island. The former was opened in 1862, remaining in production until 1961, while 6’s colliery (the Cannel – so named because it produced worthwhile ‘Cannel’ coal for specialised usage) was only of limited life, opening in 1866 and closing in 1874. Both spoil heaps are still visible, but now of course fully overgrown by trees, shrubs and smaller vegetation as nature reclaims her own. Such is the variety of vegetation on a site of previous intense human exploitation and activity, that in 1986 a class of children undertaking Natural History work on the site discovered a wild orchid, very happy with life among the coal-dust and shale. By quirk of fate it seems that the return to the wild might be shortlived, as further intensive opencast mining is being proposed for the area, modern methods using giant machines being able to recover coal which in the days of the deep mines was either too shallow to mine safely, or was or limited seam thickness and therefore unprofitable to mine. Todays economics are however different. With deep coal mined from the Chase’s two remaining pits, Lea Hall and Huntington, vast quantities or shallower coal with far less sulphur content than produced from these deep mines is required to blend with the latter to satisfy the enormous needs in the production of electrical energy by the C.E.G.B.

Robert Selvey kindly scanned the book from his own collection and assembled a very professional PDF file which you can download below. Thanks to him for the hard work and dedication, without this kind gentleman our history would be much the poorer. Respect.

Old Heath Hayes (PDF file, 11.4 megabytes)

You can also peruse the first 20 pages in the gallery at the foot of this post; click any page to see a legible version.

Like the Brownhills book, this is a remarkable work, completed long before the internet- and I bet it’ll raise a few questions and debates amongst readers.

Maybe you remember the book, or were involved in some way. I’d love to hear your story.

You can comment here or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

This image is around four feet (1200mm) long, about six inches high and seems to be of around 400 pupils and staff at my estimate. Image kindly supplied by Clive Roberts. Click for a larger version – but please be prepared, it’s a huge photo.

This is a quick one, but being as it’s Christmas holidays, I think this will prove an interesting one to ponder on for locals of a certain age.

The above image is an old-style wide panorama school group photo taken of what I believe to be the entire of Shire Oak Grammar’s pupils in 1964. This photo has featured here before, but courtesy of local history author Clive Roberts who’s scanned an original four foot print (from which I’ve stitched them back together), I can now share a high quality version above – click on it to see full size, but be patient, it’s huge.

To make things easier, I’ve chopped it into chunks, twice with different numbers of parts so if someone falls on an image edge in one set, they won’t in the other. Both sets are the same quality.

Click on any slice to see the image full size:

The same image, cut into eight:

If you’ve got memories of the school, or indeed this photo, or you recognise yourself, or someone else – please do get in touch, either by commenting here or mailing me. BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

Thanks to Clive for his patience and hard work here – please don’t forget that his current book, ‘Old Public Houses of Brownhills (Part One) is available now and selling fast – so you need to move fast to bag a copy. To find out more, click here.

Ordnance Survey sheet 43/00, 1947 revision. Click for the full version – make take a while as it’s very large. Alternatively, use the gallery below.

Here’s the full version of that map I promised yesterday, the 1947 one with the curious markings – I’ve scanned it full size at 600DPI and stitched out properly into one image, so fill your boots.

This is a very large image, so you may want to use the mosaic gallery at the foot of the post – just click on a tile to view it.

Ordnance Survey Sheet 43/00, 1947 covering Brownhills, Chasetown, North Aldridge, Pelsall and Stonnall. It cost £2 from a chance find in a Rugeley secondhand shop.

I’m very curious as to the markings – manly enclosures – and who made them. Damn sure I recognise the handwriting here.

Any ideas? Comment here, or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

Click on any tile to see the full size image.

Found in a Rugeley secondhand shop, an old map. Marked. What the Dickens is going on? Click for a larger version (ignore the grey box watermarks for now).

Whilst shopping in Rugeley just before Christmas, I found a map for sale for a trivial £2 – 1:25000 series OS, it was a rolled sheet for display rather than a folded, conventional edition.

It’s 1947, Sheet 43/00 covering Brownhills, Chasetown, North Aldridge, Pelsall and Stonnall. But what’s interesting isn’t the map – although that’s a gorgeous period piece in itself – it’s the crayon and pencil markings on it.

The hand they were written in looks familiar – have I stumbled on a map once belonging to one of our local historians hereabouts?

Any idea as to what’s going on here, what the markings are and what they’re about?

I’ll feature the whole sheet later today, as soon as the license comes through for the stitching software.

In the meantime, any ideas? Comment here, or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.