Advertiser 18 Dec 1915 Advertiser 25 Dec 1915 BRIERLEY HILL SOLDIER’S DEATH. On Tuesday Private John Thomas Rowley, 1/5 S. Staffords, died in the Military Hospital, Wordsley, from diabetes. He was the son of Mr T Rowley, 37, Albion Street, Brierley Hill. The funeral is today at Brierley Hill Church. County Express 18 December 1915 • Read More »
Last year it was revealed that Dudley Council had lost the historic painting of Sg William Jordan’s act of heroism in saving a wounded colleague. The painting was by Francis Gibbons, an artist of some renown who had exhibited at the Royal Academy and had also started the Gibbons and Hinton tile works at Buckpool. Now a trawl through Dudley archives have a revealed and article in The Advertiser of 21st August 1915 in which Sgt Jordan told of the exploits which were to inspire the painting.
At this June’s Civic Society we heard Dudley Council’s conservation officer Jayne Pilkington and planning policy officer Dave Piper talk about proposed changes for the local listing of buildings. Concern was expressed about trees being damaged in Marsh Park and news was received regarding Brierley Hill in Bloom and the Christmas Festival.
You are cordially invited to the next meeting of Brierley Hill Civic Society which will take place next Monday, 15th June at St Michael’s Church, Brierley Hill. The main topic on the agenda will be the future of historic buildings in the borough.
DCVS has a good blog post on their website about the Civic Centre following up on their event there in March regarding its future. Users seem to be somewhat unhappy with how they’re been treated under council control. Hopefully, now this has been identified the new management arrangements will help to put things right. Although • Read More »
May’s meeting of the Civic Society had updates on Brierley Hill in Bloom and the Christmas Festival; established some targets to make a difference in the town centre and discussed planning applications in the area.
These extracts from the County Express 100 years ago contain letters from Brierley Hill soldiers who were serving at the front in 1914 when the famous Christmas Truce took place. There is also an article which describes how much the town raised to send parcels to serving soldiers and where they were stationed.
Once again Brierley Hill will be a flurry of festive activity on Saturday December 6th.
We do hope that you can turn out for the event to have some fun and make the lights go on with a sprinkling community sparkle! Please spread the word.
This poem, by A. Billingham, published in the Black Country Bugle in January 1983, is really moving. The late seventies and early eighties were terrible times for local industry. Factories that had been providing employment for over 100 years disappeared, seemingly overnight. With them went the sports and clubs which provided social networks for local communities. The town has never recovered.
The Beggar’s Poem – written by the first vicar of St Michael’s Church, Brierley Hill, in the eighteenth century became so famous both Jane Austin (Northanger Abbey) and Charles Dickens (Nicholas Nickleby) refer to it in their novels.