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.
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.
Good news that Wordsley School are interested in helping to raise funds to restore Brierley Hill war memorial. But this raises questions about what conservation actually is and who should decide on the route to take.
A visit to the Bull and Bladder in Brierley Hill for a pint of Bathams triggered a line of enquiry which revealed some fantastic Brierley Hill artwork and the story of the remarkable Gibbons family and their contribution to the town.
In and around Brierley Hill we have 3 conservation areas, 2 scheduled ancient monuments, 10 grade II listed buildings and 25 locally listed buildings. It is important that we protect and preserve these. I wonder can you name them?
Brierley Hill war memorial was unveiled on 12th November 1921 by Lord Ednam. This blog post contains the press cutting from the County Express describing that day. It also lists the names of those commemorated on the memorial – some names were added later.
What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare…
This blog posting gives details of the names of those commemorated on Brierley Hill war memorial on Church Hill. Clicking on the name gives details of any press coverage I’ve identified together with war records where available. Clicking on the name of a cemetery or memorial gives details of location of death and an indication of in the action the commemorated individual lost their life. I would be especially grateful if you could notify me if you spot any errors.