Streetly Village website in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham and Walsall, west midlands uk Free Newsletter from Streetly Village website in the west midlands uk

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Streetly Local History Group
of Streetly, Sutton Coldfield, Walsall, West Midlands UK.

See more Streetly local history stories & information on the Personal memories and History page

Visit a very informative website: www.blackcountryhistory.org to look at maps, documents and photographs showcasing the Black Country's rich industrial history.

Also....Aldridge Local History Society have been successful for many years with over 145 members and have a large regular meeting place at Aldridge Parish Church.
A brand new ALHS website has also been launched publishing meetings and inviting new members or those who just want to attend any event that takes thier interest.
see the new Aldridge Local History Society website here

Also.....An excellent website for the personal accounts of people who either served or lived in Streetly area during World War WW2 based in the local area including Streetly, Little Aston and Aldridge can be found on The Home Guard website

   

Information about Streetly History Group is very kindly provided Janet Cookson

Meetings for 2011

  • January 26th Ian Payne - Richard Wattis Gentleman Actor
  • February 23rd Kevin Collins - Whats In A Name
  • March 23rd John Harber - Aldridge Past and Present
  • April 27th Keith Clenton - Birmingham Past and Present
  • May 25th Jennifer Thomson, Curator of Walsall Museum - Walsall Market

    Details of meetings (wednesdays) where all visitors will be made very welcome are shown on the Whats on & Events Page

    Streetly Local History Group (LHG) was formed in March, 2008. It holds regular monthly meetings with speakers who talk not only about Streetly's own history but who also cover other history based subjects too.

    Meetings are held at local church centres. Admission is £2 and includes tea/coffee. Disabled facilities, and parking are available.

    The LHG has the support of Walsall Local History Centre. It hopes to gather together any information relating to Streetly's past and to archive this for future generations. Please let us have any memories, details or photographs which you think would be of interest.

    With your permission, these memories will be published on the local and personal history web page.

    Walsall Local History Centre
    The aim of the Centre is to gather together and preserve as much evidence it can about life and work in Walsall Metropolitan Borough and to make this evidence available to the community.

    Anyone can visit the Centre to research family history, study local history, get help with a school project or even look up an old news item from years ago. If you are interested in social history and the way things were you will find the Centre is well worth a visit even if you do not have a particular project. For those researching family trees, the Centre can access electoral registers, census, parish registers, coroners' records, school records - plus much more. For those researching local history there are maps, newspapers, trade directories, court records, local authority records and personal and family papers. The Centre also holds records records from the Middle Ages to the present day.

    The Centre holds over 12,000 photographs dating back to thr mid-nineteenth century. They cover the whole of the current Walsall Metropolitan Borough area from Darlaston to Aldridge and Wllenhall to Brownhills. A selection of these photographs can be seen on A click in time website

    The photographs are available for sale as prints. The Centre is also looking for help in identifying some of the photographs, and is always happy to add to its' collection.

    Archives
    Archives are documents which record an event or a transaction. As well as historical value, they can have legal or administrative importance. Archives include:

    photographs -- correspondence -- invoices -- trade catalogues -- newsletters -- title deeds -- diaries -- minutes of meetings -- accounts -- magazines

    Once these documents are lost or destroyed their history is lost forever. To keep them safe they can be archived in perfect storage conditions at the centre. They can be deposited at the Centre and still belong to you, or they can be gifted so that the ownership is given to the Centre.

    Personal recollections
    Since the LHG started we have tried to gather together residents' memories of the Streetly area. These memories will be published on this website for you to enjoy. If you can add to these memories or have other memories of your own please email them to Streetly website Please state whether you would prefer to remain anonymous.

    Currently available are the thoughts and recollections of Ian Westbury, previously living on Elmtree Road and now based in California. They make amusing and interesting reading. Could you be the Cowley, Parr, Meacham, Bristow, Parker, Yates, Dayman, Pritchard he mentions ?

    Ian also mentions Blackwood and Foley Schools. Do you have any information about Streetly schools - about the teachers, pupils, how things were different, what were the lessons, what did you have for lunch, how did you get to school ?
    Here are some details to get you thinking:

    Blackwood School - built on land which was originally Foley Wood. Another school of thought is that just below Foley Road School (see below) there is a bungalow which was once a chicken farm which extended to the land on which Blackwood School and Cottage Farm Estate were built - can you verify this. Do you own the bungalow in question - do you have information on the house deeds ?

    Coogee School on Burnett Road in Streetly Village. Originated in the 1920s. A private school providing 'modern education for girls and small boys'. Pupils were prepared for all county examinations. the Principals were Miss Eilen Harris, Miss Marion Harris and Miss Winifred Hickton. Foley Road or Streetly Junior School - a council funded school situated on Foley Road West where Schoolacre Rise is now. Pupils aged 5 - 11 years. Opened 1908 or maybe 1913. The foundation stone for the building is stored at Blackwood School. Headmaster Mr. Green. Teachers - Miss Arthur, Miss Ralph (very Stern) and Mrs. Corcoran. There were two schoolrooms and the children used slates and slate markers. A big fire was kept going by the caretaker and the naughty children had to sit on a stool by the fire. The school dentist used to visit and set up his equipment which looked like a spinning treadle. It was like an instrument of torture! There were no roofs on the outside toilets.

    During the war years the male teachers were either old or very young as all the able bodied men were in the Forces. Can you remember there being many women teachers?

    Before Foley Road School was built, children would have a long walk across the fields and the railway line to a school in Aldridge possibly at Shelfield. Another school was built in Little Aston.

    Sandwell School. Headmaster and teacher Mr. and Mrs. Newton-Hearne who owned lived in the first semi on the right coming from Foley Road. They may have owned the house next door too. The entrance to the school was where Foley Wood Close is now.

    Lindens School - any information gratefully received

    Manor School - any information gratefully received

    Click here to read Ian's letter

    If you know anyone who would like to access the local history information on these web pages or add their own memories, who is not computer friendly, ask them to visit Blackwood Road library. Copies of the information will be available to read there.

    local history snap shots ! See more Streetly local history stories & information on the Personal memories and History page

    Ruth F. Vyse, Manager of Walsall Local History Group, explains the evolvement of Maps to the present day, and some information about the history of the present Census. Maps are divided roughly into Estate Maps, Enclosure Maps, Tithe Maps and Ordnance Survey Maps.
    Estate maps were started from the 16th Century and were done by landowners who employed surveyors and showed details of use of land.
    Enclosure maps were drawn to make better use of land. From the 16th Century onwards they replaced the medieval strip system.
    Tithe Maps were used to determine amounts of money paid for the upkeep of the church and ministers. Sometimes tithes were paid in kind.
    Ordnance Survey Maps were started in about 1745 after the Jacobite Rebellion. Scotland was also surveyed. The surveys were carried out by military engineers and took 90 years to do, to a high standard.
    Town Plans were also done.
    The Census dates from 1801, and in 1841 - 1851 details were collected differently, with more exact detail, from 1851.
    From 1901 the census details were closed for 100 years.

    2009 was the 100th Anniversary of All Saints Church. When the church was altered 50 years ago, a stained glass window was stored in the cellar, and was left there, only to be discovered when the church hall was altered quite recently.

    Ms Ruth Vyse, Manager of Walsall Local History Centre, in Essex Street, Walsall, WS2 7AS. invites visitors to see material which is available to look at in the public research room. and their website is www.walsall.gov.uk/localhistorycentre
    For research purposes, records are and have been collected from firms, organisations, individuals, the council itself, hospitals, courts, depositors of archives, landlists; trade catalogues of all local companies; leather, locks, metal working, handcuff makers, dog chains, sale catalogues, posters, theatres, entertainment, elections, and a great many other sources. These include maps, newspapers, over 12,000 photographs from the 19th century onwards; The census, when taken in 1840, was the first to list everyone.
    The Centre has open days and lectures such as how to trace family history, building controls back as far as the 1880's, parish registers for Aldridge and Great Barr, and biographies of well-known local people.

    Add your personal recollections, memories and stories of past and present about Streetly which can appear here to fill the gap in official local history files.
    Contact Streetly website with any information you would like to contribute and see published on this website.

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