1st Hazel Slade Scouts

A Memory of Hazelslade.

I was born at the bottom of the Rawnsley Road, by the double bridges, known as Pool End, after Hednesford Park which used to be a pool.

I was a Cub in the 1st Hazel Slade Scouts, our meeting place was at the church near the post office. We would play fox and hounds in the forest at the back of the church. On Sundays we would march to the beat of the drum around the houses of the Slade. None of the old back to back houses exist, all have been replaced.

After leaving school I joined Cannock Wood Colliery as an underground pony driver, I would travel to the pit on 'the paddy', the three coaches used to ferry the miners from around Hednesford up to Cannock Wood. These coaches are at the Chasewater Railway Museum being restored.

One of the summers the Scouts and Cubs went to camp at Hunstanton, Norfolk. We travelled on a Harpers coach from Heath Hayes. Midweek our relatives came to visit for the day. I remember the cauldron on the open fire that was filled with baked beans, we would help ourselves with a large ladle.

Today my son lives in the colliery manager's house and the old surveyor's office is an old people's home, still known as The Grange. The rest of the Slade is all new houses and the colliery is an industrial estate.

Time changes everything.

Pete.

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