Newsletter: December 2021
Dear Members,
As we have not produced a Progamme Card this year, the main purpose of this Newsletter is to tell you what has been planned from January to March.
We start off with:
Tuesday 18th January 2022 – Phil Clayton – Walking in the Past: Ramblings through History
Phil takes a look at our past, from a walker’s viewpoint, finding Stone Age tracks, Roman ways, packhorse routes and turnpike roads in the present landscape.
Tuesday 15th February 2022 – Simon Briercliffe – The Story of Caribee Island, Wolverhampton
In Victorian Wolverhampton, Caribee Island – just off Stafford Street – was considered the most notorious, unhealthy and dangerous neighbourhood in town. Much of this was based on its population, many of whom were Irish, a group held in very low regard during this period. This talk explains how the area came to gain such a reputation, and how the Irish of Caribee Island fared in a British industrial town.
Tuesday 15th March 2022 David Burton-Pye – Codsall Footbridge
Codsall Footbridge – the inside story of its "removal" and restoration by
David Burton-Pye, ex-South Staffordshire District Council (1974-2011) and former head of Conservation, Design and Tourism.
I wonder how many of you remember that Sunday in 2005 when a crane accidently crashed into the historic footbridge on Codsall Station leaving it heavily damaged and leaning over the railway track beneath? It could not have happened at a worst time. It was the day of Cosford Air Show and the trains were packed with people desperate to get to Cosford.
In the aftermath, David was embroiled in a struggle with the insurers who wanted to replace it with a modern steel structure and the conservationists who wanted a faithful reproduction of the original wrought-iron bridge. Come and find out what happened.
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We are planning on reintroducing our July coach trip – this time to Leicester’s Richard III Museum and Cathedral. More details will be forthcoming in the Spring Newsletter.
If you are interested in receiving the FoSSA Newsletter (Friends of the Stafford and Stoke Archive Service) please send me your email details as it has to be passed on electronically.
Don’t forget about our website: codsallhistory.org It is used by followers to ask for information and to order our publications. It also contains details of forthcoming meetings and will be promptly updated should Covid rules force us to postpone or cancel events. The revised Codsall Wood Trail has now been published on the website as a free download.
A wreath from the History Society was laid on the War Memorials in Codsall and Bilbrook for Remembrance Sunday. There was an impressive turn-out at both venues.
The latest Church Register printed by the Staffordshire Parish Registers Society is of St Michael’s, Penkridge, 1735-1790. There is a copy in Codsall Library if anyone is interested.
We are still looking for a replacement Treasurer. Please put your thinking caps on.
The Committee wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas.