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A Pocketful of Memories: Coseley (An Unofficial History) – Raymond Smout
"Hannah Johnson Cox... astounded the Officer on duty, PC Bailey, by confessing to him that she had just pushed her two infant daughters into the canal, at the tunnel."
From The Coseley Tunnel Tragedy.
In A Pocketful of Memories - Coseley, RAYMOND SMOUT indeed describes the Coseley of his youth. But first he takes the reader through his ‘unofficial history’; he charts its beginnings in the ancient Manor of Sedgley, the immense changes brought about by the industrial revolution, its heyday when it was governed by its own Urban District Council, and its eventual demise as Coseley was lost in urban reconfiguration to three different towns.
Raymond’s great grandfather was a founding member of Coseley UDC and it is a story he tells with pride, interspersing the history with anecdotes of people and events. Read about the wakes and of byegone pubs, of Dr Baker the local philanthropist, of Hannah Johnson Cox and the tragic Coseley Tunnel murder, of the 1912 coal strike and the building of the Brummagem New Road.…across which Coseley still stands. A POCKETFUL OF MEMORIES - COSELEY reminds how it got there.
Royalties from this book are being donated to Rowans Hospice, Waterlooville.
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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
A Pocketful of Memories: Rowley (Milestones of Memory) – Irene M Davies
"Once, houses, cottages, villas, all nesting cheek by jowl with one another in disorderly array and reaching out from the Church down the hill to the Sir Robert Peel pub was officially Rowley Village"
IRENE M DAVIES describes her childhood and youth in the village of Rowley. Written originally for her family as “Milestones of Memory” she set out to record a place and lifestyle that would otherwise be lost forever. In so doing, a vivid picture emerges of people and pass times; through Christmas and bonfire night, Rowley Wake and the chapel the Rowley of the 1920s is brought back to life.
A Pocketful of Memories: Roseville (Wartime and the Fifties) – Raymond Smout
Raymond Smout, follows on where he left off in his book about Coseley and describes his childhood in the district of Roseville. From his early years when there was a war on to the 1950s he portrays school and leisure, transport, health and local charaters. It is a very different world from today not only in amenities but also in attitudes. Raymond contrasts these with pithy humour to add another valuable title to the series and paint a picture of where we have come from.
Royalties from this book are being donated to Rowans Hospice, Waterlooville.
The New Brutalism – Shaun Hand and Tom Hicks
21st Century Britain. A Brutal, uncaring place marching headlong into fascism? The photographs of Tom Hicks capture the everyday scenes of urban decay, the sort of deterioration we’ve watched as it worsens year in, year out, the familiar, yet uncared for.
The poetry of Shaun Hand provide companion pieces to these visual images; verbal images of a society in decay. We’ve watched it worsen year in, year out, the familiar, yet uncared for. This is the New Brutalism, a mix of stark realism and dark humour and profound statement from the collaboration between poet and photographer.
Chain-Makers, Chapels and Pubs – Peter Head
Cyprus based author and son of Cradley, Peter Head, takes us on a journey spanning two centuries. It is the Journey his family took from the countryside of Shropshire to the industrial heartland of Cradley where much of the world’s chain was being forged.
It is a story of Chain-makers, Chapels and Pubs as some family members became ministers, and others became publicans. In charting the story of his own family Peter Head tells the history of the most important chain-making town in the world from its infancy to its post industrial present.
Born into a family passionate about the Black Country dialect, the final part of the book contains the most comprehensive glossary of Black Country words and phrases since Jon Ravens Black Country Waerd Books of the late 1970s
Includes:
Many Previously unpublished photographs
Glossary of Black Country words
Those Were The Days – Carol Hathorne
The first part of nationally acclaimed author Carol Hathorne’s autobiography, SLURRY & STRAWBERRIES was published by the Black Country Society in 2002 and covered the early years of her Tipton childhood. Carol went on to write a further two parts, BREAD PUDDING DAYS, and A WOODBINE ON THE WALL covering her teenage years.
In 2006, The Kates Hill Press brought out FIVE MINUTES LOVE, bringing together in one volume all three parts of this incredible story as a comb bound publication. It was made available in paperback in 2011. In the meantime Carol Hathorne continued with her story, writing ALL SHOOK UP which was published by the Kates Hill Press in booklet form in 2007.
The final two parts of he her autobiography are, UP, UP AND AWAY, and ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE. The three part to the story are brought together in THOSE WERE THE DAYS.
ALL SHOOK UP takes the author into the world of work and relationships.
UP, UP AND AWAY wherein Carol Hathorne becomes a published author from a youth culture fuelled by Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan and caught up in the antagonisms of the time. A first trip abroad completes the section.
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE with Carol working as a reporter for West Bromwich News, her emergence into adult life.
At turns moving, endearing and funny, THOSE WERE THE DAYS is a must for anyone interested in the social history of the Black Country, and for anyone for whom those were indeed the days.