Great Wyrley, West Midlands

Wartime Cannock

As a 9-year-old I remember after being bombed out from Birmingham and going to stay with a great-aunt in Heath Hayes (Aunt Polly Ingram) and going to a hall in Cannock and being kitted out with a set of clothes, and being given a doll. I am 78 now.

Miitre pub/signal box

Just past the signal box on the left over the motorway bridge is the Mitre Pub. Many happy evenings were spent there on hot summer nights with my parents. I remember Vimto through a straw and Smiths crisps with the blue salt wrap inside, and playing in the high fenced gardens there. Mom would enthrall us all with tales of how... [more]

Key factory

The long low building to the rear of the picture I remember as the Key factory (Huffs), my mom worked there for some time and we would rush to meet her on payday to get our treat. It was one of the few places in Essington to employ women and is still there now I believe... To the right of the... [more]

Hells Angels in the box

I'm not sure if the box was still in use in 1965. I remember it better about five years later when Hells Angels used it as a type of den. We (a few mates and I) used to walk the railway line from the pithead to Broad Lane playing fields, we always had a nosey into the box as it was... [more]

Schools

I was five and walked down this road to the infants school on the left (you can just see the school railings). My future primary school (St Johns) is in the old building to the right. There was a little sweet shop on the left (out of shot ) where we all rushed to get our halfpenny's worth of  'SUCK'. At... [more]

THE FIRST INDIAN I EVER MET

MY MOTHER WAS BORN ON HAYWOODS CORNER THELMA BEARDSMORE SHE MOVED TO GANDY RD WHERE I WENT TO SCHOOL AT PERRY HALL BEFORE LEAVING PERRY HALL MY MOM AND DAD MOVED BACK TO ESSINGTON FOUR DOORS FROM THE CHAPEL ON THE ESSINGTON RD   THE FIRST INDIAN I EVER MET WAS MY TEACHER AT PERRY HALL MRS SYAL THIS LADY IS A... [more]

Ice cream shop

The ice cream shop was near the big Catholic church at Hednesford, the church had hydraulics which were adjusted annually to keep in level from mining subsidence. The shop served the best ever ice cream soda in a tall glass with straws, my favourite was orange pop with vanilla ice cream. My Grandad Titley used to walk my cousin and I... [more]

The Tivoli in wartime

I remember the Sunday concerts at the Tivoli during wartime. These were produced in a very professional manner and were a wonderful morale booster for the local people during some very dark days. One Sunday the same concert was being performed at the Tivoli and The Empire on the same night and the artists were running between the two cinemas all... [more]