Walsall Lives 2009
November 28, 2014 § Leave a comment
After a break of four years the Walsall Lives calendar made a reappearance in 2009. The years that had elapsed from the previous edition in 2005 allowed me to add to my collection of Walsall photographs, memorabilia and ephemera.
The photograph that takes prime place on the cover is owned by Thomas Gameson Limited and shows their factory in the 1960s on the left of the picture with the now demolished premises of John Shannon & Son Limited in the background. In the near foreground is the junction of Peel Street and New Street can just be seen. The area where the cars are parked had once been a densely populated area of the town with over-crowded, dilapidated houses which were demolished in the early to mid 1930s. This area was always a good playground for us as youngsters as we made our way home to Caldmore from a Saturday morning at the Gaumont watching the “flics”. The site today is occupied by Asda Supermarket.
Don’t forget to click on each image as this will enlarge it when you do.
Walsall – A Town Plan – 1943 style
November 28, 2014 § Leave a comment
The front cover of the publication from 71 years ago price 6d (2.5p).
In the last few days whilst preparing to put the Walsall Lives Calendar for 2009 onto the blog I came across a page that I thought warranted further investigation and explanation. It concerned the Council’s plans for redevelopment seventy-one years ago.
In November 1943 the County Borough of Walsall produced a twelve page booklet telling of their vision for the future of the town. Included in the booklet were two large maps titled “Plan A” and “Plan B”, produced separately, folded and stored in a flap on the inside back cover. It is these two maps which will be of main interest to the readers of this post, don’t forget to click on the images as this will enlarge them. « Read the rest of this entry »
Walsall Lives 2005
November 12, 2014 § Leave a comment
After three successful years of the Walsall Lives calendar I decided to change the format from A4 portrait to A4 landscape in 2005. In this new format each month was spread over two pages, the top page containing the photographs and ephemera etc and the one below it a brief description of the items shown on the page above along with all the dates for the month. In effect the calendar over doubled in size but the price increased by just one pound.
The photograph that takes pride of place on the cover was one of two pictures taken by Harry Hallier of Upper Bridge Street. Pretty rare pictures by today’s standards, they show one of the street decorations that were in place all over the town in October 1886 for the unveiling of the statue in honour of Sister Dora. « Read the rest of this entry »
Whitehall Infant & Junior Schools – and ex-pupil’s memories
November 12, 2014 § Leave a comment
Some time ago wyrleyblog produced an excellent early history of my old school, Whitehall Infants and Juniors in West Bromwich Road, Caldmore. The post is in two parts, the first part concerns the founding in 1899 followed by the Sarah Jane Parker story from 1899-1923. To read these two posts click on the links below:-
http://wyrleyblog.wordpress.com/walsall/whitehall-infant-school-part-1-founding-1899/
This the earliest picture I have for Whitehall Schools. Although not dated it surely must fit the time frame of wyrleyblog’s post perfectly.
I have recently been contacted by old pupil Clive Thatcher who lived in Redhouse Street and later Talke Road and attended Whitehall the same time as myself. He has very kindly sent me copies of three photographs of life at Whitehall some sixty plus years ago, these are shown along with pupil’s names at the very end of the post. Two of these three pictures were originally posted on the now defunct website, Friends Reunited.
Walsall Life 