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Memories of Staffordshire

Rounders in The Road

I was brought up in Brewood, in the cottage which is called South View and later next door in what is now 38 Shop Lane. There were four children in our family, I had  two older brothers and a younger sister. Our friends came from the cottages (some no longer standing) in Shop Lane, and Horsebrook Lane.

We would gather at the junction of Horsebrook, Shop Lane and Bargate Lane where there was a triangle of grass we knew as The Green Patch. There we would play rounders using the centres of the various roads as our bases. When we tired of this game we would play in the disused chapel that stood where the entrance of Pendryl Close is now. Later we would congregate under the gas lamp which stood at the top of Horsebrook and lit the junction. I can remember many long summer evenings spent laughing, joking, sometimes arguing and at times fighting, until we were called in by our parents.

I can't ever... Read more

Childhood in Chadsmoor

I lived at no 134 Cannock Road oposite the Baptist Chapel. The first memories was of playing in the school band, I was on the triangle and we were took to the hall in Cannock to play for some soldiers, I don't if they enjoyed it as we were no Joe Loss band. The most that comes to mind was the shops in Chadsmoor, there was a lot of them including Bertha Smith's and Bianci's for sweets and homemade pop. My mother made me an RAF uniform and we stood on the corner in Cannock centre and watched as hundreds of American sodiers marched past from the railway station, I still wonder today how many made it back home. I am trying to put together the story of Chadsmoor in the war years, if anyone can help I would be grateful for the input. I have the names of all the people that lived there in 1945. The one thing i would like to know is when the wooden boys'... Read more

The Blake

The following information relates to the opening of the Blake school in Hednesford.

The Blake school was built to replace the Central Secondary school for boys which was in Burns Street Chadsmoor (where Chadsmoor junior school is now sited)
The building of the school commenced in March 1961 and was taken over in December 1962. The cost was £157,000. The school then consisted of a large and small hall, a library, 7classrooms, a music room, 5 practical rooms and a kitchen which could serve up to 200 meals a day. A caretaker’s house was also provided.
The information given at the time of opening stated that the school was of traditional construction but very adverse site conditions necessitated the use of heavily reinforced foundations and restricted the height of the building. Praise was given to both the architect and the playing fields department on the transfiguration of a derelict site.
The school was built on land formerly owned by West Cannock Colliery Company. It is... Read more

Cannock Road Chadsmoor

The row of houses mentioned earlier were re numbered in the early 1950s. Our row started at 206- 214. The row of houses we lived in were actually owned by my grandmother Minnie Garbett. She bought them sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s. I remember being told that she caused chaos by fencing off her property and making the people next door at 204 use the next entry by number 202 instead of taking a short cut across our garden. The well at the top of no 208 was also filled in. My parents Mr and Mrs Bill Bridges, lived in 206 (next to the entry). Mr and Mrs Alf Carter lived at 208. Next to them was Gwen Groves. The next was someone called Brown and Mr and Mrs Hollingshead lived in the last of the 5 houses. I can remember Harvey’s shoe shop on the corner of Burns Street. Other shops down from there were Goodwins butchers and a greengrocer owned by various families - Richards, Smart and... Read more

Journals in The College

Bus Station And Mining College c1965
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My grandfather, W. W. Share, was a mining engineer who worked at Walsall Wood Colliery. After he died, his mining engineering journals were transferred to the college.

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