A Pocketful of Memories: Blackheath – Tossie Patrick

“If you’m a gooin hoppin, doa forget to bring me back hop pickin opple.”

Old Black Country saying in Blackheath

TOSSIE PATRICK describes how she revisited the streets of her childhood just before the bulldozers erased them from the landscape. She was moved to record what were, for her, happier times; the school, Christmas, hop-picking…. Recalling characters from the community, as well as from her own family, the Blackheath of the 1930s is brought back to life.
Illustrations by Ron Slack