New Boy

A Memory of Sedgley.

I came to Sedgley aged ten, having been born in the dock area of Dudley. At five we moved to Wolverhampton. Finally the family moved to the new houses down Cotwallend Road overlooking the Dingle. The 1962/63 winter was a real bad one and even the trolley buses had problems running. The bus stop was outside the Red Lion pub and some used to turn on the island. Secondary school, or big school, was Dormston that was and still is up a side road next to the Red Lion pub. Across the small road was Hartill's the buchers and, at the rear, Hartill's stables. I spent many happy hours working with the horses, learning how to ride, and drinking cups of tea in the tack room which stood at the top of steep stone steps, sometimes it was in school hours!
May's paper shop stood by the crossings where I would take papers with May. She drove her Morris Minor and we would run to and fro delivering the evening newspapers.
The Cliffton, or pictures, was our only real entertainment centre and when girls became interesting it was a place to take them. The now Market in High Street was once a large shop selling sofas and beds. The name of the shop slips my mind, but I think it replaced Eggingtons. A passage went round a centre show area giving a place where friends met and stayed out of the rain, also a shelter for the new bus stop. At the top of the High Street was Granger's fish and chip shop which was another meeting place when the youth club closed. I met my first wife at the club which was built on the old tennis court in the boys' school playground before it was moved to its new position. Time has changed Sedgley and sometimes I do not think for the better, but changed it has and long may it stay a village for any other new boy.