COMMUNITY MAGAZINES
Village Voice
PRESERVING THE COMMUNITY
SPIRIT IN THE WEST MIDLANDS
DID YOU
KNOW?
Over the last five years over 180 editions of VILLAGE VOICE have been published. This represents some 360,000 copies distributed to homes in and around Dudley and South Staffordshire.
We are always pleased to provide advertisers with full details of our circulation
including a road-
Indeed, often we can alter our distribution patterns according to advertiser wishes.
© 2010 ARCOS DESIGN
Thanks to one man—Jack Henry Turner—Seisdon became the unlikely centre for a successful, if somewhat short-lived, motor sport industry.
Born in Wales, Turner moved to the Old Smithy in Seisdon in the late 1940s where he looked after and tuned racing cars for a variety of wealthy owners. One of the most enthusiastic of these was John Webb, chairman of Stourbridge glassmaker Webb Corbett, who raced a ‘Turner’ (in fact a converted MG Magnette) for a number of years.
In 1953 Webb became a director of Turner Sports Cars Ltd. and the factory moved into Wolverhampton where larger premises had been found in which a new single-seater Formula 2 car could be designed and built. The car, which used a Lea Francis 1767cc engine, unfortunately suffered from poor reliability and it failed to finish in most of the races in which it took part.
The following year a new engine—an Alta—was fitted into the same chassis and the car was entered into various Formula 1 and Formula Libre races with the same disappointing result. As well as track races the same car was frequently used in hill climbs and sprints but its inherent unreliability was still a significant problem.
In 1955, having left behind competition cars, Turner turned his hand to producing small, open two-seater sports cars. Using a standard Austin A30 engine some 670 were manufactured and a number were still used until the mid 1970s. A number were exported to Australia where, for a short while, tracks around Melbourne saw “Turner Challenges” between the Wolverhampton-built cars.
Despite this minor success, though, the factory closed in 1965 when Jack Turner retired through ill-health.
In 1953 Webb became a director of Turner Sports Cars Ltd. and the factory moved into Wolverhampton where larger premises had been found in which a new single-
In 1955, having left behind competition cars, Turner turned his hand to producing small, open two-
SEISDON’S MOTOR SPORT HERITAGE
The 1920s and 30s saw vast amounts of housing—including the first council houses—being constructed. It was a time when, generally, quantity was thought more important than quality.
One architect and developer who did not, however, subscribe to this was Major Kenneth Hutchinson Smith. He originally came to this country in 1915 as a member of the Canadian Cavalry and later transferred to the Royal Engineers. In 1918 he married his ‘English rose’ and settled in the Midlands where he became a builder. Using hand-picked craftsmen he specialised in using reclaimed materials in designing and constructing mock-Tudor houses.
When Lymore Hall, near Montgomery, was demolished in 1930/1 Smith purchased various parts of it including the roof timbers and staircase which he then used in a number of projects around the Wombourne area. Parts were used, for example, in Lymore, a house built in Greenhill, Wombourne for the Law family. The house also included items from Montgomery Castle.
Another property to include various parts of Lymore Hall is Wychwood on the A449 at Lloyds Hill.
Smith died in September 1945 but even today his legacy of houses lives on.
One architect and developer who did not, however, subscribe to this was Major Kenneth Hutchinson Smith. He originally came to this country in 1915 as a member of the Canadian Cavalry and later transferred to the Royal Engineers. In 1918 he married his ‘English rose’ and settled in the Midlands where he became a builder. Using hand-
Another property to include various parts of Lymore Hall is Wychwood on the A449 at Lloyds Hill.
Smith died in September 1945 but even today his legacy of houses lives on.
RECYCLING HOUSES
In the 1870s John Ruskin, art critic and social reformer promoted a scheme called St George’s Guild to get factory workers from the cities back into farming communities.
His idea was to set up a completely new village using families who had been living in the industrial suburbs and to make it self-supporting. He also believed that rather than money all trading should use simple bartering to determine the value of goods.
At first he looked at setting up this experiment at a site between Wombourne and Bobbington. Indeed, at a speech in Birmingham he even announced that the site had been acquired.
At that meeting George Baker, a previous mayor of Birmingham, was fascinated by the idea and immediately offered Ruskin the use of 20 acres of land just north of Bewdley. He was obviously very persuasive as Ruskin immediately abandoned his plans near Wombourne and set about establishing the community just outside Bewdley.
A total of eight families originally moved onto the site and, whilst things went well initially, soon it began to fail. The local population of Bewdley and Far Forest did not take kindly to the newcomers and soon friction led to a number of the families abandoning the project and moving back to Birmingham.
His idea was to set up a completely new village using families who had been living in the industrial suburbs and to make it self-
At that meeting George Baker, a previous mayor of Birmingham, was fascinated by the idea and immediately offered Ruskin the use of 20 acres of land just north of Bewdley. He was obviously very persuasive as Ruskin immediately abandoned his plans near Wombourne and set about establishing the community just outside Bewdley.
A total of eight families originally moved onto the site and, whilst things went well initially, soon it began to fail. The local population of Bewdley and Far Forest did not take kindly to the newcomers and soon friction led to a number of the families abandoning the project and moving back to Birmingham.
WOMBOURNE IN THE FRAME
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