COMMUNITY MAGAZINES
Village Voice
PRESERVING THE COMMUNITY
SPIRIT IN THE WEST MIDLANDS
DID YOU KNOW?
The old Wordsley Hospital, when it was the local workhouse, had three padded cells which were used for “those driven mad by drink” (according to the superintendent).
Rivalry between the Kingswinford Horticultural Society and its equivalent in Clent was so great that prior to the annual quiz between the organisations, special ‘coaching sessions’ were held to pass on the knowledge of the members to the team. On one occasion there were also dark mutterings about possible cheating!
After the end of the Second World War a ‘Blind School’ was established in a large
house in Lodge Lane. The children, all of whom had some form of sight impairment
were the offspring of ex-
Kingswinford’s Grand Cinema opened in 1920 and finally closed its doors in 1964. The first film shown was ‘The Yellow Claw’ starring A.C. Fotheringham Lysons and Mary Massant. The last film to be screened was ‘From Russia With Love’ starring Sean Connery as James Bond.
About half way along High Street between the Cross and the Courthouse was Fenns Farm on whose property was one of two sandpits in the area. The sand was dug out and then transported to Dudley where it was cleaned and then sold as ‘Kingswinford Gold’ to foundries throughout the Black Country. The consistency of the sand made it ideal for mouldings.
In 1882 Hannah Mercy of Penzer Street was found guilty of biting a man passing by.
She was fined 1/-
PEDDLING THEIR WARES -
In 1933 Kingswinford Parish Church at Wordsley had its centenary and as part of the celebrations a booklet detailing the church’s history was published. Whilst the details of the first 100 years of its life are interesting, what is as fascinating are the advertisements that were included in order to offset some of the production costs:
Alfred Yeates & Sons, dispensing chemists of Wordsley and Stourbridge were advertising
their own ’Stomach and liver mixture’ (trial size 1/3d) and at just 2/-
One of the many coal merchants in the area was Thomas Fletcher of Amblecote who took an advertisement extolling the virtues of his “best Cannock coal” and the availability of “cobbles and range nuts”. He also announced that Miss P. Fletcher of North View, Mount Pleasant was his agent for Wordsley and Kingswinford.
Darby’s Quality Bread of Brettell Lane left readers in no doubt about why their bread was so good —”because it is MADE CLEAN in the best equipped bakery in the district, BAKED CLEAN in steam in dust proof ovens and DELIVERED CLEAN by courteous men in spotless vans.”
Other advertisements were included from The Midland Radio-
There were also advertisements for the “Stour Wheeler” bicycle available from Petty & Co. (who described themselves as ‘manufacturers of machines of the finest quality’) and for “Matchless Sewing Machines” from the Parkes Sewing Machine & Equipment Company of Wolverhampton. In both these cases it can only be assumed that local shops were offering these goods as there were no contact details included in the advertisements.
Our favourite, though, is Pearson & Harley who are described as ’Coffin makers, tree fellers, stockists of spectacles and wholesalers of sugar confectionery’.
DID YOU
KNOW?
The distribution of VILLAGE VOICE changes every month. This ensures that regular
advertisers have their advertise-
seen by as many potential customers as possible.
This means that around 5000 households in the area receive their own copy of VILLAGE VOICE every three months.
In addition, copies are made available every month in local libraries, health centres and other public buildings.
HIMLEY’S “ROYAL” CONNECTION
Best known for playing Edward VIII in the highly successful television series ‘Edward
and Mrs Simpson’, Edward Fox has close connections with Himley and the real Edward
VIII. The actor was married to Tracy Reed, the daughter of film director Carol Reed
and his wife Penelope Dudley Ward. Her mother was Freda Dudley Wardwho had been the
long-
KINGSWINFORD, WALL HEATH & WORDSLEY -
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