Local History Group

The highlight of the year must be the visit by Professor Carl Chinn to the Willenhall Social Club on Thursday 21^st Oct. The resulting talk was a hugely successful evening of reliving memories and entertainment from Carl. Even the younger ones who attended had to smile when he explained the roots of the famous teenage saying: ‘I’ll do it later!’ Professors of History sometimes have to cope with lazy adolescents too.

As well as making us laugh, Carl took us on a nostalgia trip as he recalled the days when LSD meant pounds, shillings and pence, when we cribbed our times tables from the back of shiny red exercise books, and went to the corner shop for two pennyworth of kali and a packet of Spangles. It was funny and heart warming, but Carl also made the serious point that we need to know where we come from in order to have a sense of identity. Above all, we need to listen to the stories people in our community have to tell us, and write them down for posterity.

The guests, who enjoyed the Social Club’s superb facilities and generous hospitality, included His Worship the Lord Mayor Councillor Gazey and his wife the Lady Mayoress, and two long- distance visitors all the way from Sweden who came with the Federation of Family History Societies’ administrator, Maggie Loughran. 

Following on from the popular BBC programmes about researching family History the WLHG will be holding, as part of its meetings, a help session for those trying to start or hit the brick wall.

 The last year has seen many changes in Willenhall. The Electoral catchment area changed, moving our boundary for the first time ever from the ancient route along the river Sowe to the road way of Allard Way. This means the new Alan Higgs sports centre is within Willenhall. The opening of the sports centre added another public footpath, closing the old route across the Seven Trent sewer pipe, better known as the ‘White Bridge’, which according to information has been a public right of way [by virtue of the fact that no one ever replaced the fencing and barbed wire when it was removed] since early in the 1950’s. The opening of the new health centre and the building of many more new houses on the estate have been carefully recorded at each stage of building so that a record is kept of the changes we are undergoing each day.

The excellent work by Carol and Betty in tape-recording living memories, has enlarged our knowledge of what Willenhall was like years ago, and we now have a permanent record, which is important as we lose the older generation.

The Godiva Festival in July saw members wearing fancy dress for the first time, and I even attended St John’s Sunday service dress in a monk’s habit. Our new vicar Katrina got her own back at Christmas by cajoling me into for the first time in my life, reading part of the Christmas message from the pulpit! The arrangements within the Lives & Times tent were, even with the huge amount of time spent over the past twelve months talking to CV1, something out of an old Dandy comic book. As a result the group unanimously voted that we would not attend again. But the group’s displays at Drapers Hall, [National Heritage Week]; Late Autumn History Fair, and the recognition of our work in the recording the story of WW2 hostel by the BBC ‘The way we were’ programme, resulted in a great day at the Hotel Leofric.

The welcomed formation of the Whitley History Group was helped with the knowledge that our group had gained over the past two years, and assisted with documents like a draft constitution and access to the Heart of England small grants scheme. We wish them all success for the future and look forward to meeting them at the exhibitions during the years to come

Contact via the web site and e-mail was made with Mr David Iliffe (Charles Walter David Iliffe) a direct descendant of Doctor Iliffe, who built the ‘Chace’, which is now part of the Chace Hotel. Ongoing research will, it’s hoped, show any connection with the newspaper Iliffes, as both families had connections with Allesley, even though neither highly respected family would attend the same function. The reason why not remains one of life’s little mysteries. 

Inquires from ‘Awards of All’ about the 2003 funding with Arts Exchange were finally sorted with the help of Penny from Area Co-ordination, and the funding account closed.

The group’s web site has grown in the past year, and is now undergoing a complete revamp to clear away the clutter and bad links, this will take time, I should know I put them there! I think a good analogy is a husband sorting the washing out and then putting it away in the wrong draws, you have too trip the lot out to start again!

The group has over the past three years gained a high level of recognition for the work we have done to date, in recording the area’s history. However, we have more work to do, having seen the excellent book ‘Bare Backsides & Stinging Nettles’ by Susan Moore, which tells the tale of the Fillongley area. There is much still left to record and research before we can publish a book of this standard.

I feel that this forthcoming year will consolidate what we have found out, and enable us to bring it more into the public arena by adding lots of detail to our displays and the web site.

John Russell   Chairman

 

Secretary’s Report

  In three years of research, we, the members of the Willenhall Local History Group, have discovered a rich and complex network of personal histories within just a few square miles.

  The ancient village still exists in the minds of those people who grew up when Willenhall was a cluster of quaint cottages and farms surrounded by rich agricultural land. Traces of vanished buildings and childhood haunts have left their mark on the modern landscape, for those who know where to look. Tape-recording the living memories of original village residents, as well as collecting and displaying their photographs of long-ago Willenhall, has helped us to bring the past to life for future generations.

  As work continues on the Village Green, on the site of the old ‘Manor Farm’, it seems appropriate to give an extract from the interviews which group members Carol Hinde and Betty Leather have been conducting around the area. They spoke to Anne Luckman, nee Cuthill, who used to live at the farm (sometimes referred to as ‘Home Farm’ or ‘Cuthill’s Farm’)

            Anne : We lived in Manor Farm until the Corporation wanted us out because they wanted the land… That was where the Willenhall Precinct was going to go… They didn’t even wait for the corn to ripen : they went through it with a bulldozer. It was a dairy farm, a pedigree attested Ayrshire herd…They wouldn’t be allowed to do that today, because the building would have been listed… Some of the windows were bricked up, from when there was the window tax. My mother always told me it was the Dower House for Coombe Abbey… We had a very big kitchen with a black range, and off the kitchen we had a dairy and what they called a larder. Then we had a second kitchen and that also had a range in it, very cosy. If ever any of the lambs or the baby pigs were ill they used to come in and sit in front of the fire… The house was exactly where the Winnall Pub stood…Our land stretched from what is now the top of Robin Hood Road, right down to the Chace Hostel, under the railway bridge, and the first two fields under that bridge were our fields…

  The history of our area is all about change. World War 2 brought diverse groups of people to the government-built Hostels at Baginton Fields and the Chace. First of all, workers came to help with the war effort; later on, the Hostels became home to displaced persons from all over the world.

  Carol and Betty went to see Mrs Rosita Bowerman, who told them all about her post-war experiences after leaving Changi Camp in South East Asia, where she had been interned by the Japanese :

  Rosita: I was 24 when I came to England in 1945…on the Amanzora. It was a troop ship. Ten of us came over. It took us a month to come home : we went all round the islands and landed at Southampton…I went straight to Baginton Fields Hostel…Mrs Lakey was in charge for the first few years. It was wonderful, a really nice life.

  Stories like Rosita’s are an aspect of the people’s history which up till now has been neglected : we are in the process of seriously researching this huge movement of people from all over the world. Former Hostel residents,from places as far away as Iran, Singapore, Burma, West Africa and Latvia, are happily settled on the Willenhall estate which was a green and pleasant example of post-war planning. We never imagined, when we started this project, that the network of Willenhall memories would stretch so far across the world.

 

Treasurer’s Report

 

The group is showing a very healthy balance within the accounts set out below.

Members should be aware that agreed expenditure for the next year will include;

Costs of redesigning the group’s web site £200 -£300;

Design and making of the Village Green sign = £100

Converting the VHS Video to DVD= £85.

Design and supply of master DVD with the group’s photographic album £200 - £300

Purchase of DVD copying equipment, discs, covers and labels = £150

Fees chargeable for displays at both the Summer and Autumn History Fairs = £120

This will reduce the current balance of the account by   £855 to £1,050p

With the expected reopening of the Coventry History Centre, more research will be able to

be carried out, increasing our stock of documents which will require storage in the appropriate

materials.

 

Financial statement for period 04 Feb 04 to 04 Feb 2005

Income

Expenditure