WHGMag7 Layout 1 - WordPress.comand a medal. The silver medal (above, left) was a major achievement. That there were only two swimmers in the race doesn’t diminish this noteworthy

Welcome to the latest issueof Wellingtonia, which(as usual) is packed with

items of interest to everyonewanting to know more about thehistory of the Wellington area.

So much has been happeningrecently that, at times, it’s difficultto keep up with events. Wheneverpossible, we try to giveinformation to the local Presswithout falling into the trap ofcreating ‘wishful thinking’ history:it’s very easy to pass oddcomments which can bemisinterpreted or misconstrued, sothe best we can do is use thesepages to set the record straight orgive a more reasoned assessmentfor a variety of features whichhave been uncovered.

Two areas worth a specialmention are the furtherexcavations of the garden behindEdgbaston House which continuesto yield remarkable finds, andrecent refurbishment work at 14Market Square, where stoneworkand timber carvings present uswith challenges in interpretation.

As ever, we welcome articles tobe considered for inclusion infuture issues of Wellingtonia:everyone is an historian with astory to tell or research to bepassed on, so please help us.

The next issue will bepublished on our web site beforethe end of September, all beingwell. In the meantime, rememberto visit the site to see what else hasbeen posted for your enjoyment.

WellingtoniaNewsletter of the Wellington History Group,

rediscovering the past of Wellington in Shropshire

Issue 7 : Second Quarter 2010

EDITORIAL

FREE ISSUE!

IN THIS ISSUE******************

Page2. Admaston Home Guard3. Taking the Plunge4. My YM6. Izzy Whizzy7. Brief Encounters8. John Houlston:

Victorian Travel Agent10. The French Connection11. 14 Market Square12. Location, Location14. Rebuilding Britain16. Workhouse Woes17. Furniture Adverts18. 100 Years Ago: 191020. Announcements

Contact Details

Is this Wellington’s CulturalIcon of the Twentieth Century?

See page 6.

Below: Archaeologists Tim Malim(left) and Laurence Hayes resume

excavations at the rear of EdgbastonHouse in Walker Street. Many morefinds have been recovered, includingthese animal bones (bottom right).

Visit us at www.wellingtonhistorygroup.wordpress.com

Ameeting was called in theVillage Hall atWrockwardine. Major

Herbert of Orleton Hall, whoowned most of the village, tookthe chair and proposed that aplatoon be formed to defendWrockwardine and Admastonfrom the Nazis. This was agreedand names of volunteers weretaken. Eric Evans was voted thePlatoon Leader. This is how myDad’s Army began.

At first the platoon had noarms at all, except for the oddpersonally owned shotgun, madefor shooting rabbits and rats, notNazis. Dad’s gun is shown below.

Their uniforms consisted of anarmband with the letters LDV. Iwasn’t allowed to join because thelowest age was 17 and I was 16. Icould hardly expect PlatoonCommander Dad not to knowthat. However, I was allowedalong as a sort of unofficialplatoon runner.

Eventually bits and pieces ofuniform and weapons were sent,including Canadian Ross rifles andGreat War Lee Enfields, withdifferent sized ammunition, whichwas confusing. There was a lot ofdrill of the kind that made themen used to obeying commandswithout thinking.

The Volunteerswere a mixture ofyoung lads waitingto be called up, mennot fit enough forservice and oldsoldiers with GreatWar experience. Dadhad been woundedon the Somme, as

2 Wellingtonia: Issue 7: Second Quarter 2010

had Sgt. Hubert (Lobby) Fisher,deputy Head of CoalbrookdaleHigh School, so neither thePlatoon Commander nor hisSergeant was able to march withtheir men.

Along with the uniforms camethe name, Home Guard andproper sounding military ranks.The Platoon Commander becameLieutenant; I found myselfsaluting my Dad. This is a verystrange thing – a British soldierfinding himself elected to be amilitary officer, especially as hisprevious rank was corporal. Mumbought him a swagger stick to gowith his new status.

As soon as I was 17, I joinedthem. By that time I was workingin the offices at Sankeys. We metin a disused stable at AdmastonSpa, a small room we could justabout cram into. For some yearsthere was a hole in the ceilingmade by a rifle bullet someone letoff by mistake. One man wholived at the Spa house insisted onparking his little Austin 7 car on

the drive. Despite repeatedrequests he refused to move it soDad told the lads to shift it. Theypicked it up and put it on thelawn. He came out andremonstrated but was told if hedidn’t keep it out of our way, nexttime it would be in the lake.

There were frequent weekend‘exercises’, often against KenHunt’s platoon, who were mostlyfitter than our lot but we usuallymanaged to outwit them.

One day they attackedWellington passenger station andwe had to defend it. Which waywould they come? Would theyattack through the cutting fromthe goods depot in Bridge Road,or from the east under the VictoriaRoad Bridge?

We had a tip-off that Ken wasbuying ropes from Walter Davies’ironmongers. ‘Ah!’ said Dad. ‘He’scoming over the wall from theBull’s Head Yard.’ So he did, andtheir whole platoon was wipedout by our (pretend) machine gunsmounted in the churchyard.Younger readers will need an oldmap to understand.

On another exercise the ‘HuntMob’ attacked our headquarters atThe Spa. Our men were deployedall over the fields, behind trees butwith instructions to make theirpresence obvious.

Ken’s ‘boys’ did as expected –they advanced down the streamvalley that led almost directly totheir destination and had plenty ofcover. Great! We knew exactlywhere they were. This was a seweroutflow, so we could smell themcoming. Our machine guns –actually a couple of football rattles– kept them out of the fields andin the stinking water. They wereunpopular with their women-folkwhen they returned home.

Admaston Home Guard foughtthe most successfulcampaign in thehistory of warfare.They defendedtheir territorythroughout the warand neithersuffered norinflicted anycasualties.

Beat that, Hitler!

ADMASTON HOME GUARD George Evans

Eric Evans

Soon after thebeginning of the Last World

War, the governmentannounced the formation of

the Local DefenceVolunteers. This is howAdmaston rose to the

challenge.

The gun that won the war ...

The little chap above wasWilliam Leslie Frost, 1913-1984, a draughtsman living

from 1938 until his demise at 74King Street. That’s about all thedetails some folk enter on theirfamily trees. Interesting, but notvery inspiring, is it? He was mydad, known as Les rather than Bill.

The photo shows him wearingthe latest in infant fashion: amaroon knitted top, shorts andcap. How do we know the ‘suit’ ismaroon when the original photo isblack and white? Because he fellinto water which had flooded thecellar at his parent’s bakery inNew Street, that’s how. The dye inthe wool ran, leaving Les’s skin aninteresting shade of maroon forseveral days!

The photo is an importantaspect of a thread which ranthroughout my father’s life. Yes, ittaught him not to wear woollenclothing if the dye was likely torun if it got wet, but the mostimportant lesson was that deepwater, even if it’s within the safeconfines of your home, can kill.

Enter Wellington Public Baths(above, seen during the 1920s withits changing rooms along one sideof the pool). Erected in 1910, thepool was demolished just a fewyears before his death when thepresent facility was built.

Delving further into the historyof the Baths, the extent of theirimportance to the population ofthe town during its earlier yearscan be judged by the advert belowwhich appeared in a 1913 editionof the Wellington Journal. Besidesswimming, it offered hot baths at atime when few homes hadplumbing, let alone a bath.

But the Baths’ main use wasfor swimming. Not only was it aclean (literally!) sport but it wasone which helped reduce thedeath toll of folk drowning in, forexample, the River Severn or inone of a countless number ofpools dotted around the area, adangerous legacy of mining andother economic activity.

Over the decades, Les was aregular at Wellington Baths. Hetaught many children to swimand, although not a competitiveswimmer (he could maintain asteady breast stroke for ages), hedid manage to win several badgesand a medal.

The silver medal (above, left)was a major achievement. Thatthere were only two swimmers inthe race doesn’t diminish thisnoteworthy achievement,although the fact that the winneronly had one leg might. However,the Diamond Badge (right)awarded as part of the early 1980sSport For All scheme wassomething special as recipientshad to swim a million yardswithin a specific period to receiveit ... and not many folk did.

Les set a record no one else cannow beat ... he was, apparently,the only person ever to swim twocomplete lengths of the poolunder water without coming upfor air. And all because of aflooded cellar (and a maroon suit).

www.wellingtonhistorygroup.wordpress.com 3

TAKING THE PLUNGE Allan Frost

Researching familyhistory needn’t be just a listof names, dates, addresses

and occupations.Why not try to put aspects of

your ancestors’ pasts in ahistorical context?


By about the middle of the1950s, the BritishGovernment had become so

alarmed at increasingly aggressivebehaviour being displayed inpublic by young people, itresolved to set in motion anational youth rescue package.

This was, after all, the age ofthe Teddy Boy, razor gangs,drainpipe trousers, beetle crushersand rock‘n’roll rioting; and of aGovernment in fear of moralstandards slipping so low as tothreaten the entire fabric ofcivilised society.

The result of Whitehall’s kneetrembling fear of contemporaryyouth was a series ofcommissioned reports intended tosteady the ship, most notableamong them the Albemarle Report(1960), which emphasised the needfor local government agencies totake on more of the responsibilityfor providing youth training andfellowship facilities.

Hence the rise of the youthwelfare movement at that time,which continues today.

Galvanised by theGovernment’s call for decisiveaction, local youth clubsflourished, focusing onintergender interaction,community service, pop musicand sport. The Church as well aslocal and central governmentinvolved itself in this tidal swell,seeing an opportunity, indeed anobligation, to guide the youngtowards a combination of goodclean fun and religiousobservance.

A graphic illustration of thisChristian/youth endeavour wasWellington’s New Street MethodistYouth Club. It attracted shoals ofmixed gender members, and

involved them in a miscellany ofwell-organised activities, fromfootball to the highly popularannual summer camp, usually at achoice spot along the Devon coast.

There were other wellsupported clubs in the town,notably the secular WellingtonYouth Club, which met once ortwice a week in the school at thetop of Constitution Hill. This clubalso could boast a long list ofmixed members, and animpressive football team, fleshedout as they were in handsomelivery of black and gold verticalstriped shirts, and black shorts.

I well remember the shock theyreceived when a group of us fromWellington Parish ChurchCovenanters hurriedly formed ascratch team to play them onespring or summer evening atBennett’s Bank cow fields. We hadroped in a few Grammar Schoolfootballer mates – and, against allexpectations, won the match.

It was soon after this red letterday that I joined the WellingtonYMCA. At first I thought it a bit‘advanced’ for me (I would havebeen just 15), but reassured andencouraged by a responsible olderboy, Jimmy Beeston, a great pal,neighbour and fellow GrammarSchool pupil, I gingerly enteredthe Taj Mahal of local youthactivity.

The YMCA building was suchan impressive place. Quite apartfrom its status as a branch of thevenerated national andinternational organisation formedin 1844, Wellington YM offeredenviable facilities in a substantialbrick and stone edifice right in thecentre of town.

Its impressive wide staircaseled upwards from Walker Street toa spacious foyer, off which werethe full-time Secretary/Manager’soffice, two large meeting rooms, ahuge smoke-filled billiards roomwith all the trimmings includingthree immaculate full-size slatebedtables, a table tennis room, and, uptwo or three steps, the big strip-litcanteen, seemingly for ever open

and always busy with the clatterof steel tables and chairs.

It was here that I took a strawto my first ice cold Coca Cola andwas intrigued by its uniqueflavour. You could also get hotdrinks, snacks, and a limited rangeof cooked meals served by a teamof personable ladies in bright limegreen uniforms.

The ornate staircase led furtherupward from the foyer to onemore level, and its magnificentsprung-floor ballroom (with fullstage). It was here that we ladswould occasionally watch themysterious slow motionmeanderings of the Olde TymeDance Club. But we watched withquiet respect, and a good thingtoo, because it was this group ofsenior business people and theirwives who subsequently raisedthe money from raffles and whistdrives that enabled the footballteam to purchase their firstgenuine club colours of red andwhite stripes/white shorts inreadiness for its debut as anofficial club team in the under-18Wrekin Minor League. We neverforgot their support and kindness.

I suppose it would have beenbest mate Ted Grattidge andmyself who had together foundedthe YM team. Initially playingfriendlies and wearing borrowedor improvised kit, our first evergame was against Hadley YouthClub, also at Cow Pat Stadium.

They were a very good side,and gave us a hammering, butfrom then on we graduallysolicited better players, alwayswith the enthusiastic hands-onbacking of the YM Secretary/Manager, Mr Houghton, a stocky,

MY YM John Westwood

An expat living inAustralia looks back on his

time as a member ofWellington YMCA, which

recently celebrated its 150thanniversary.

energetic man with blue eyes anda wild yet honest look about him.

In a year or two, the YMbecame just about the best team inthe Minor League, with consistentleague and cup victories, plus twotouring trips to Dublin to playother youth teams. The Dublinexcursions were organised by ourteam manager Johnnie “Spud”Turner, another man of greatenergy, and brilliant humour.

A distinct plus aboutWellington YMCA was the fact itwas always open. Other youthclubs unbarred their doors onlyonce or twice a week, whereas youcould wander into the YM anyday. This carte-blanche policyobviously demanded strict controlof behaviour, and although Icannot recall any ‘incidents’, theSecretary/Manager or his deputykept close vigil, and any slackness(such as being on the premiseswhilst not an enrolled member)was soon remedied either by anorderly descent of the staircaseand out into the street, or bycoughing up the subscription feeto join on the spot…your choice.

There was minimal pressureplaced upon members to paymuch attention to the C word inYMCA. Sporadic attempts by theSecretary/Manager to rustle up aBible study class on Sundayafternoons received polite, andoccasionally compliant responsesfrom some of us, but generally,most members, rightly or wrongly,regarded the YM as their socialhub, not an annexe of the Church.

Men, young and not so young,formed the mainstay of WellingtonYMCA membership, some drawnto its sporting activities such asfootball, snooker and table tennis,others to the martial art of karate,others to the non-martial art ofchess – we had it all.

The quietest corner in the entirebuilding was the billiards roomwith its three perfect tables. As amember, you could use the tableswhenever you wished, and wedid, but Friday nights belonged tothe snooker team, a specialsquadron of high flyers led by thestolidly enigmatic Ted Haden(incidentally one of the drivingforces in raising funds for the

football team’s new red and whitestrip). Ted must have been a manof fifty in those days (you didn’thave to exactly match the Y word),and most of his fellow playerswould never see 40 again.

But when the team performedin their snooker league matches onFridays, the darkened room fellsilent but for the clack of the whiteon the coloured balls. We wouldwatch, soundlessly enthralled asthese unflappable maestros tappedand clicked away at their craft; thebiggest break any of us had evermanaged was about 11.

Eventually, the M word inYMCA also lost its significancewhen girls were finally allowed in.

This was a bonus for thefootball team, because weinstantly gained a corps of‘groupies’ during and followingmatches, a novelty not to bespurned.

Mr Houghton, our worthyhuman dynamo of a Secretary/Manager, was subsequentlysucceeded in the late 1950s byanother worthy human dynamo,Mr Henry Lightbown. The newman was just as supportive ofmember activities as hispredecessor, but under hisguidance, the YM marketed itselfwith a little more enterprise.

Possibly encouraged by hislively young daughter, Jean, andhis wife Winifred (who also hadcharge of the canteen), Henry

introduced Saturday night rockand roll ‘hops’ to the otherwiserarely used ballroom. These werean instant hit, and gave a few localbands their first chance to performin public. Henry Lightbownhowever, was a stickler for ‘doingthe right thing and everythingright’. He ruled Wellington YMCAwith, if not an iron fist, anunbending steely determination,and no situation was allowed toget out of hand – the consummatebusiness manager and youthleader.

But he rarely totally rejected asuggestion, good or otherwise.One example: I once had thesomewhat crazy idea of amidnight summer ramble aroundthe base of the Wrekin. Hethought it over for a second ortwo, and then not only organisedthe jaunt, including refreshments,but walked with us all the way!

For many years the YMCA wasa significant part of Wellingtonlife, for young and older. It offeredus a structured way of wastingour time that might have beenspent doing extra homework orhelping our mothers with thedusting. On the whole, I think wemade the better choice, becausesimply being a member of thatAssociation taught us socialdiscipline, respect for differentpoints of view and the value ofconstructively associating withothers – the A word.


Executive Committee of the Y.M.C.A., 1959, clockwise around the table: H. Chaplin, J. Tipping, W. Jenkins, T. Haden, T. Anslow, E. Mosdell, H. N.Lightbown (Secretary), T. C. Buttrey, M.B.E. (Chairman), W. J. Laud (Vice-

Chairman), W. G. Newman, T. W. Pollard, R. Pritchard.


In 1948, Bradford-born engineerHarry Corbett bought a TeddyBear glove puppet to amuse his

three-year old son David. Harrywas also a part-time magician andpianist who gave performances toentertain children, and thepuppet, with its water pistol andxylophone, became a crucial partof the show. Contrary to popularopinion, Harry was not aventriloquist, so the puppet‘communicated’ by speaking intoHarry’s ear.

In May 1952, Harry andlovably naughty Sooty made theirtelevision debut by appearing onBBC’s Talent Night. As a result,they were given their own show.To make Sooty distinctive (andgive him a name), Harry putchimney soot on the puppet’spaws, ears and nose. The rest, asthey say, is history.

But how does Wellington comeinto the picture? RecognisingSooty’s enduring appeal tochildren, and the fact that axylophone featured in the show,Britain’s most notable toy

manufacturer was asked toproduce them (above) and Sootyglove puppets for the massmarket. As the company’s WrekinToy Works in Wellingtonspecialised in the manufacture ofsoft toys, it was the obvious placeto make them. Sooty’s companionsSweep (introduced to the show in1957) and girlfriend Soo (1965)were also produced here.

Harry’s brother Leslie hand ahand in making Sweep the dimdog squeak and perform, whereasHarry’s wife Marjorie operatedprim and perfect panda Soo, andmade all the costumes for thethree main characters.

Over the years, other propsappeared with (some might say)sickening regularity ... with Harryinvariably the butt of disasterscaused by Sooty: eggs, water, flour(lots of flour), ink squirting from atrick camera whichever way it waspointed ... and even a hammer!Sweep liked bones and sausageswhich fed out of a mincer. I alsorecall a miniature caravan. But itwas the wand which was special.

Sooty could perform magic,

with spells conjured up with theimmortal incantation, ‘IzzyWhizzy, Let’s Get Busy!’

In addition to puppets andprops, commercial wheels ensuredevery Sooty fan (usually, but notexclusively, children) could followhis adventures in comics, storybooks, and the ubiquitous Annual,the first of which was publishedby the Daily Mirror in 1957. Eggcups, packs of Sooty playing cardsand games like ‘Tidleywinks’helped satisfy an ever-increasingdemand.

In 1968, the BBC decided todrop the Sooty Show, whereuponThams TV broadcast the show.

New characters and stageprops appeared in the show afterHarry’s younger son Peter (he hadto change his name to Matthew asanother Equity member with hisname was already registered) tookover as Sooty’s ‘handler’. This firsthappened on Christmas Day, 1975,when Harry suffered a heart attackand Peter had to take over theSooty Show.

Harry Corbett was awarded theOBE in the 1976 New Year’sHonours List; Sooty also went toBuckingham Palace to receive hisown miniature medal.

Harry died, aged 71, in August1989. Sooty and his friendscontinue to perform on television,and Soo even won a Christmasedition of The Weakest Link in 2007.Sooty must be regarded asWellington’s Cultural Icon of theTwentieth Century. I can’t think ofanyone more deserving, can you?

That’s all. As Harry said at theend of every show ... ‘’Goodbye,everybody. Goodbye.’

IZZY WHIZZY Allan Frost

Sweep, Sooty, Harry Corbett and Soo

Wellington has itsWilliam Withering and

Hesba Stretton ... but wemustn’t forget the town’s

most famous twentiethcentury cultural personality

... Sooty!

Agood way of learning is toteach. This appliesespecially when giving

talks or writing about local history.Obviously, you have to researchyour subject before you start.

Many Wellington people areinterested in our rich and variedhistory and some will haveinformation you don’t know aboutthe subject of your talk. If you’relucky, they’ll tell you.

After talking about WilliamWithering the other day, I learnedthat his daughter married aBotfield of Old Park and his sonprobably helped start KewGardens; also that his teacher, Rev.Wood of Ercall, invented atimepiece, later manufactured byMatthew Boulton.

My friend Geoff Harrisonhelped with the pictures andsupplied much of the researchused in my talk.

Often when walking inWellington town centre, especiallythe market area, I’m accosted bysomeone who has something toask or tell me. I’ve just heardabout a bread oven, found inShifnal, made in Wellington. AndAllan Frost is justifiably excitedabout recent archaeological findsat Edgbaston House in WalkerStreet.

If you know something aboutlocal history the rest of us don’tknow, please tell us, take it to thelibrary or publish it yourself. EvenAllan Frost and I don’t knoweverything and never will. Likeyou, we’re always learning.

7www.wellingtonhistorygroup.wordpress.com

Sooty wasn’t just a bundle offur; he was part of the Corbettfamily and even went on holidaywith them. Shortly before he diedin 1989, Harry Corbett said: "Ioften found myself wonderingwhat he was thinking. It was asbad as that. Before every show, Iwashed his face and brushed hisfur. If I accidentally dropped him,I immediately apologised. I knowit sounds ridiculous regardingSooty as a person because he wasreally only two fingers on myright hand, but I can't help it. Theworst thing was having to break ina new Sooty puppet. I used tothink of it as a new partner whodidn't know me yet. I got soanxious, I used to come out inbeads of sweat. And I felt terribleabout the one I had just discarded- I used to apologise to them andsay, 'I'm sorry but I'm not usingyou again.'

It’s estimated that around 1,000Sooty puppets were used by Harryin his act.

The former Chad ValleyWrekin Toy Works,where countless Sootyswere made for childrenbetween 1952 and 1975.He and his friends havesince been undertakenby other manufacturers.

BRIEF ENCOUNTERS George Evans

Matthew Corbett (above) succeededHarry as Sooty’s handler. He sold therights to Guinness Mahon in 1998.In 2008, presenter Richard Cadellhad a hand in acquiring Sooty and

friends for himself.

Some Sooty Memorabilia


The running of such specialtrains had begun some 11years earlier when Thomas

Cook took a party from Leicesterto Loughborough for a temperancefete in collaboration with theMidland Counties Railway, hehimself selling the tickets andtravelling on the train.

Considered to be the very firsttravel agent, Cook was soonfollowed by others in differentparts of the country.

In Shropshire, one man whoorganised a number of theseexcursion trains in the 1850s and1860s was John Houlston.

Advertisements in local andprovincial newspapers announcedthat details of such trips could beobtained from ‘John Houlston,Manager and Conductor,Wellington and Oakengates,Salop’.

Born in 1810, a member of thefamily that had been printers,publishers and booksellers inWellington since the lateeighteenth century, John Houlstonbecame an auctioneer in 1842. Heappears to have continued thefamily business in the MarketSquare and was also appointed bythe committee of the new markethall to collect the rents from itsstallholders.

By 1851 he was described as‘auctioneer, office over the CountyCourt Office, Market Square,residence Oakengates,’ to whichhe had moved a year or so earlier.

John Houlston’s earliest

ventures into the field of railexcursions appear to have beenoutside the county. In August1851 he was advertising:‘the cheapest and pleasantest tripto London and back ever projected’ from Bangor (North Wales); and inAugust 1855 he announced theambitious ‘Houlston’s well-arranged Irish and Englishpleasure train from Dublin to Parisand back’. This was by steamshipto Liverpool, by train viaShrewsbury, Oxford and Readingto Winchester, Southampton andPortsmouth, and by steampacketto Le Havre for the French capital‘… enabling tourists to visit theParis Exhibition’.

The middle section of thisparticular excursion route wasover the metals of the GreatWestern Railway, but in May 1857Houlston included in one of hisadvertisements the followingannouncement: ‘J. Houlston respectfully announcesto his numerous friends and thepublic that he has now no interestin the Great Western trains and hasbecome favoured with permissionfrom the Shropshire Union andLondon & North WesternCompanies to convey hispassengers over their lines…’

So for the next few years mostexcursions organised by Houlstonwould have travelled on theShropshire Union Railway’s line

from Shrewsbury via Wellingtonto Stafford and from there north orsouth on the London & NorthWestern Railway. At Whitsuntide1857, he advertised a trip toLondon: ‘affording an opportunity forparties to visit the fairy-formedCrystal Palace at Sydenham,likewise the Leviathan ship atMillwall, which is constructed toconvey 4,000 first and second classpassengers to Australia, or 10,000soldiers, and is the largest ship inthe world’.

He was keen to emphasise thatthere would be no change ofcarriage between Shrewsbury andLondon.

During 1857, Houlstonorganised several rail trips to theGrand National Exhibition of ArtTreasures in Manchester, thereturn fare on that of May 25thcosting 9s. 6d. first class and 5s.6d. in covered carriages, whichincluded admission to theExhibition. The advertisement inthe Wellington Journal for the tripon September 21st is reproducedaside.

In the following years,Houlston continued to organisetrips to London and also toManchester, Liverpool, stationsalong the North Wales coast andthe Isle of Man (presumablytravelling via the line betweenShrewsbury and Crewe, opened in

JOHN HOULSTON: VICTORIAN TRAVEL AGENT Neil Clarke

A previous article (inWellingtonia issue 5)

described the rail excursionto London, organised by

David Lewis of Shrewsbury,on the occasion of the Dukeof Wellington’s funeral in

November 1852.There were other excursions,including those promoted by

Wellington’s ownJohn Houlston.

John Houlston’s Printing Works are shown at building 4 in this 1864 plan ofWellington. The Corn Exchange at that time was on the ground floor of the

adjacent Town Hall which had been erected c.1842.


1858), which allowed returnwithin the week. Day excursionsto special events in 1861 includedthat to the Cup Day at ChesterRaces on May 8th and toBirmingham Onion and PleasureFair on September 26th.

One rail trip organised byHoulston is well documented inthe Newport Advertiser inSeptember 1868. The issue of

September 19th announced:‘Houlston’s second special expresstrain from Stafford, Newport,Donnington, Coalport Branch andWellington to Aberystwith (sic)and back’to run the following Monday,arriving at Aberystwyth about 9.30am, returning at 6.15 pm andarriving at Wellington at 10.15 pm.

Another item in the same

newspaper commended to itsreaders the trip’s ‘extraordinary low fares [8sh. firstclass, 4sh. covered carriages], withthe option of returning the sameday or any day up to Friday’[at an extra cost], and went on toextol the organiser’sconscientiousness: ‘Mr Houlston enters into theseholiday trips with much genuinesympathy, makes such carefularrangements for the comfort of hispassengers, and pays suchpersonal attention to their wantsand safety, that a journey with himis made exceedingly pleasant’.

The following week’s issue ofthe Newport Advertiser (September26th) gave a report of the train’soutward journey, noting theprompt departure from Newportat 5.20 am, the delay at Wellingtonbecause of the late arrival of theCoalport Dodger, using theavoiding line at Shrewsbury,making a refreshment stop atWelshpool, awaiting the passing ofan up train at Cemmes Road andarriving at Aberystwyth at 10.30am.

It again praised the organiser:‘The excursionists (about 300)expressed their entire satisfactionwith the arrangements made bothfor their safety and for theirenjoyment, as all was admirablyconducted under Mr Houlston’spersonal superintendence’.

From the time they moved toOakengates, John Houlston andhis wife Elizabeth ran a bookshopand stationers: in the 1861 censusJohn is described as ‘booksellerand auctioneer’, in 1871 Elizabethas ‘bookseller and stationer’ andJohn as ‘auctioneer and generalagent’.

The latter appears to be thefirst reference to the work he hadbeen doing for some 20 years inthe travel business. In addition tothe rail excursions, John appearsalso to have made arrangementsfor those contemplatingemigration; and it was this side ofthe business that his son Henrytook up. In trade directories of the1880s and 1890s Henry Houlstonis listed as ‘emigration agent,Stafford Road, Oakengates’. Hisfather, John, had died in 1875.


The concept of ‘twinning’ onetown with another wasvirtually unknown until

after the Second World War ended,and the notion gradually spreadthat forging links withcommunities of similar size and‘feel’ could help inhabitantsunderstand and appreciatecultural differences, and take partin joint projects intended to fostergood relations between the two.

Châtenay-Malabry is a south-western district of Paris, withineasy reach of the city’s airportsand train stations (Châtenay-Malabry is served by the station atRobinson on Paris RER line B).

Those who have visited thesettlement have been more thanimpressed with its cultural life,and sites well worth visiting.

When Wellington first signedthe twinning charter on 13th April2001 (a copy is held in the CouncilChamber at Wellington CivicCentre), Châtenay-Malabry wasalready twinned withBergneustadt in Germany (in 1967)and Landsmeer, Netherlands(1986).

Former councillor Gary Davieswas a key figure in promoting thetwinning from 1998 onwards;Châtenay-Malabry was chosen asa result of discussions with aFrench teacher at Charlton school.Since then, Wellington & DistrictTwinning Association, which has alink on the Wellington TownCouncil web site, is the channelthrough which all mattersregarding the twinning pass; thelink provides various details aboutthe twinning as well as importantcontact details.

(If you’d like to know more andbecome involved in the Association’sactivities, please get in touch with theAssociation.)

Several important people havebeen born or lived in Châtenay-Malabry, including writers Voltaire(1694-1778, right) and François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848); poet and essayist SullyPrudhomme (1839-1907, NobelPrize winner in 1901); painter andsculptor Jean Fautrier (1898-1964)and Christian philosophersEmmanuel Mounier (1905-1950)and Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005).

Perhaps the most notable ofthese, in the context of Châtenay-Malabry is Chateaubriand (below),who settled at a modest estatecalled La Vallée des Loups (WolfValley) in August 1807.

Adjacent to the house is theArboretum de laVallée-aux-Loups:this park was created c.1777 byChevalier Francois-Louis Durantdu Bignon and confiscated duringthe French Revolution. In 1804 it

was acquired by Louis Cadet deGassicourt, pharmacist toNapoleon, who collected and grewrare flora in the park. The grounds(below) now form one of severalbeautiful parks in the area.

Continuing the pharmaceuticaltheme, another important aspectof the town’s economy is theFaculty of Pharmacy at the EcoleCentrale Paris, whose FrenchNational Laboratory is responsiblefor drugs testing among athletes.

Châtenay-Malabry’s web siteaddress is;

www.chatenay-malabry.fr

THE FRENCH CONNECTION Allan Frost

The tenth anniversaryof Wellington’s ‘twinning’

with Châtenay-Malabry wasmarked by a re-signing of acharter in Market Square on

Thursday 29th April.

Re-signing the Charter, from left to right: Councillor Janie Noele Helies(Châtenay-Malabry town councillor), Tom Heaton (Twinning chairman), Jean-

Paul Martinerie (First Deputy Mayor, Châtenay-Malabry), Barry Tillotson(Mayor of Wellington), Claudie Bouchard (Châtenay-Malabry town councillor).


Roger Jones (below) ofTruewood Joinery Ltd,Shrewsbury, is in charge of

renovating the former Shoes in theSquare shop at 14 Market Square,Wellington.

The owner of the premiseswants Truewood Joinery toreinstate, as far as possible, theoutward design of the shop as itappeared in 1960 (above) at whichtime it was used by long-established chemists Bates &Hunt.

Removal of a panel on the leftinside of the front window hasrevealed a stone plinth withsurmounted carved column,which in turn supports a curvedwooden feature which has severalcircular dowel holes drilled into it(below, centre right).

As is often the case with suchdiscoveries, they raise morequestions than answers.Nevertheless, we can drawncertain conclusions.

It’s most unlikely the stonecolumn is an original feature ofthe property; the implication isthat it was ‘recycled’ from someother, presumably demolished,property. The fact that it is acolumn may tempt some tosuggest that it came from theformer Market House, also inMarket Square, which wasdemolished c.1805. However, thecolumn seems too narrow tosupport the heavy timberedstructure which comprised theMarket House itself. Furthermore,the overall column isn’tparticularly high, unless thecolumn itself has been shortenedat some stage to make it fit intothe space available. So, where didit come from? And why put ithere?

I would suggest that both thecolumn and the wooden featureabove it were intended to makethe premises appear moregrandiose than they had donepreviously. The dowel holessuggest other lengths of woodwere attached to it, perhaps to addother impressive features to theshop frontage. However, it seemsodd that only one column exists ...

or is there at least one more,perhaps hidden behind a panel inan adjoining shop?

A trip to the cellar raises a fewmore questions. The oldest wallsare blocks of dressed sandstone(above). Interestingly, there is abricked-up doorway which seemsto have led into the cellar of thenextdoor premises on the southernside. The doorway frame (below)is made of carved stone and stillsports heavy iron fittings.

What conclusions can we drawfrom these tantalising discoveries?

That the properties joined bythe two cellars once formed asingle shop.

That the frontage to the shopwas previously set back a few feetfrom the Square itself and that it,together with other properties,encroached into the open space ofthe Square over the years.

That several adjustments to theshop front have been made, eitherto modernise or repair firedamage.

Sadly, none of the photographsin my extensive collection of1890s+ Market Squarephotographs yields any cluesregarding the stone column, nor ashop front which features thecurved wooden feature above it.

14 MARKET SQUARE Allan Frost

Maps are very useful tools forhistorians. Not only do they revealplaces and features which mayhave disappeared long ago, orgained or reduced their relativeimportance over the decades, theycan also indicate information thatwas considered especially relevantat any given time.

The 1741 map of Britain(below) reflects the journeysconsidered most common and/oressential to people predominantlyfrom the merchant classes living inthe LOndon area, who needed toknow which were the most directroutes from the capital city tocounty and other important towns,and the distances between them.

Travel between a town on onemajor route and a nearby town onanother could, more often thannot, be arranged locally and didn’tneed to be included. Note theinteresting name for the NorthSea.

The 1835 map of Shropshire wadevised to meet entirely differentneeds. Here the informationdetails stage coach routes,padministrative divisions, majorand not-so-major roadsserving allcorners of the county and beyond.An incredible amount ofinformation is contained on thismap, and an essential key, or‘explanation’ is provided.

Comparing maps fromdifferent periods can also befascinating, and often indicatechanging priorities and tastes indesign.


Maps are veryuseful tools for historians.

Not only do they revealplaces and features which

may have disappearedlong ago, or increased or

reduced their relativeimportance over the

decades, they can alsoindicate information thatwas considered especiallyrelevant at any given time.

Maps are usually madefor a reason, and serve a

specific purpose.

LOCATION, LOCATION Allan Frost



Renovated prefab homes at WoodlandsAvenue, Wellington (above) and a

‘double-decker’ prefab of the type builtat Arleston and Donnington.

Nobody was more surprisedthan Clement Attlee whenhis Labour Party was

swept to power with a hugemajority in the summer of 1945.The country was full of hope andoptimism that the election pledgesof homes for all, full employment,free health care and education,social security protection againstpoverty would now be fulfilled. Itwas a massive programme ofradical social reform combinedwith plans to nationalise most ofthe major industries.

Clement's wife, Violet, whoalways drove him around in theirold Hillman Minx saloon, waitedoutside Buckingham Palace as herhusband was asked to form a newgovernment. She wondered, overher knitting, whether he would beable to deliver these ambitiouspromises.

Amongst the raft of Actspassed in those first years ofAttlee's attempt to build a NewJerusalem, was the 1946 NewTowns Act. Housing was a hugeissue. Nearly 750, 000 homes hadbeen destroyed through bombingand no new houses had been builtduring the war years. Many olderproperties were falling intodisrepair. The papers of the timeare full of housing articles chartingthe progress (or lack of it) in theattempt to build 5 million newhomes in ten years. The mainproblem was money. In 1946 thegovernment was effectivelybankrupt. All our resources hadbeen spent on the war. Only anAmerican loan on very strictconditions kept us afloat. MaynardKeynes, our leading economist,

went to New York to ask the moreright wing American governmentin the USA for $5 billion dollars tobuild a socialist state in the UK.He failed. What we got was $3.5billion at 2% over 50 years.However the conditions underwhich it was granted were soharsh, parliament came within awhisker of rejecting it. By 1949 thepound had collapsed from $4.03 to$2.80 and Britain's position as theleading world economic powerhad been replaced by the USA.

In Shropshire housingconditions were as bad asanywhere. People, often exservicemen were living in tents,railway carriages and convertedbuses. The conditions according toone official report were ‘worsethan the slums of eastLondon.’Anger became so strongthat groups of illegal squatterstook over old army huts(Donnington, Ketley Brook andArleston) and even occupied oldprisoner of war camps (Cluddley,Orleton and St Georges).

The desperate attempt to buildmore houses led to many newbuilding designs. On the HolliesEstate, steel single storeyprefabricated houses were erected.Joan and Wolfgang, who had beena prisoner of war at Cluddley,were early residents. She and hernew husband lived with herparents for three years (1952 to1955) before a house becameavailable. ‘They were fine,’ shesaid, ‘apart from the noise of therain on the tin roof and acondensation problem. We hadheated towel rails, a fridge,immersion heater, gas cooker and

gas boiler and a fittedkitchen. I brought upmy two children in thishouse. It was restyledand improved in the1970s and I still livethere.’

On Arleston estate,the new houses wereerected using Germanprisoner of war labour.They were ‘Airey’

houses; double decker prefabsmade from concrete panels fixedto uprights with looped copperwire. The upper story was boltedonto the top of these uprights anda conventional sloping roof added.They were large spacious semis,well suited for family life. Georgeand Olive had been squatters inthe old German prison camp atCluddley for nearly two years.(1949 to 1951). They and their twochildren were delighted to be rehoused in their new house.

These expanded housingestates were the precursor to thebuilding of the new town ofTelford. Under the 1946 NewTown Act the first 14 new townswere started between 1947 and1950. The second wave began in1961 and by early 1968 eight more

REBUILDING BRITAIN Phil Fairclough

Temporary homes (above) and the firststyle of steel prefabricated houses.

15

towns were under constructionincluding Telford. From thebeginning there was controversy.When the Minister of Housing,Lewis Silkin, went to a publicmeeting to launch Stevenage NewTown, he was shouted down withcries of ‘Gestapo’ and ‘Dictator’.His ministerial car had its tyresslashed and the petrol tank filledwith sand. Some wit changed thesign on the railway station to read‘Silkingrad.’ E M Foster said, ‘Thenew town fell out of a blue skylike a meteorite upon the ancientand delicate scenery ofHertfordshire.’

Similar reactions were notuncommon as the New TownsProject unfolded. AlthoughShropshire County Council andDawley Urban District Councilapproved the establishment of anew town here, there was popularopposition. Initially, three newtowns were proposed in ourregion: one at Dawley, one atWoofferton on the border withHereford and one in Staffordshireat Swynnerton. Only the Dawleyproject went ahead (1963). It wasto cover the old settlements ofDawley, Madeley, Ironbridge andCoalbrookdale, with ananticipated population of 90,000covering 9000 acres under theDawley Development Corporation(DDC). By 1968, all the plans hadchanged. Wellington andOakengates were to be included,the population forecasts weredoubled to 200,000 people and thesize went up to 19,000 acres.Telford Development Corporation(TDC) was born.

Part of the problem of localacceptance lay in the initiallegislation of the 1946 Act.Development Corporations wereestablished to buy the land,sometimes by compulsorypurchase, and push theinfrastructural building workforward as fast as possible soprivate contractors could develophousing, shops and factories. Themembership and chairs of thecorporations were nominated bythe government at Westminster,who funded the projects, but theywere in no way democraticallyresponsive to local people and

frequently bypassed the wishes ofthe locally elected town and parishcouncils. Profits from land salesand rent income went back toLondon. Hence the cries of‘dictator’ that greeted Silkin atStevenage.

Not everyone was antagonistic.Sallieann (below) was living in acaravan at Coven nearWolverhampton. It was a bitterlycold winter; she was expecting ababy. The offer of a terraced houseon the recently built estate atWoodside seemed like a gift fromthe gods. She moved there in 1972,after seeing an advert in theExpress and Star. It was aimed toattract young married coupleswith families. LocalWolverhampton people feltTelford was stealing the brightestand the best for the new town.However, when she arrived thingsdid not work out well to startwith. ‘Never have I felt so lonelyand isolated,’ she said. ‘I was sohomesick for Wolverhampton andall that had been so familiar there,I felt bereaved. The house was finebut I could not settle. WhenBrookside, the next estate to be

developed, was finished. I askedfor a transfer. There was noproblem. I got a nice three-bedroomed terrace with a garage.One of the best things was that allmy neighbours were also new tothe estate and we soon gottogether and built a friendly andsupportive group. Those firstyears were really happy. We wenttogether to the town centre to thenew Carrefour supermarket,enjoying the shopping and eachother’s company. The very bestthing that happened was meetingone of my new neighbours: Andy.Needless to say we soon marriedand are still together. However,the atmosphere on the estatechanged quite quickly. Two newfamilies moved in and the crimelevel increased. I was burgled, aswere several other neighbours. Itwas quite amazing what such asmall group could do to spoil allour lives. My friend and I decidedto move and came to Shawbirchwhere we both still live.’

The talk amongst planners wasall about powers for centralredevelopment, curvilinearplanning forms, satellites,dispersal and overspill, greenbelts, new towns and districtcentre finance. The real story wasabout Joan and Wolfgang, Georgeand Olive, and Sallieann andAndy whose lives weretransformed for the better by thepolicies and energy of Violet'shusband Clement when heaccepted the post of PrimeMinister from the King on 27thJuly 1945 and returned home inthe old Hillman Minx to begin thetask of renewing his country.

Arleston: three types of home. From the left: red brick 1930s Council houses;white painted 1948 ‘Airey’ prefabs; flat-topped 1930s Air Ministry houses.

www.wellingtonhistorygroup.wordpress.com

Shropshire Archives has beenleading a project funded byFind Your Talent with three

local Wellington schools. They have been looking into

the past and future of WellingtonLibrary.

Children from Apley Wood andWrekin View Primary schoolsvisited Shropshire archives to seeall sorts of documents aboutWellington, and found that part ofthe Library in Walker Street usedto be a Workhouse.

They walked from their schoolsto the library and were shownclues in the building, like oldfireplaces and staircases, andheard ghost stories from JimHatfield about its days as aworkhouse and how someVictorian children were scared ofit.

With Appletree Theatrecompany, they created storiesbased on the real experiences ofthe library's former inhabitants,taken from Archive documents,and developed these into dramaswhich were performed in theoriginal building.

Film of the whole project hasbeen made including 'TalkingHeads', short pieces straight tocamera, from Charlton Schooldrama class. Members of thepublic will be able to see a shortversion of this film on the FindYour Talent and archivezonewebsites at Shropshire Archivesand in Telford Libraries, and laterin the summer there will there will

be a display of work some WrekinView children are doing about thefuture Library now being built aspart of the town’s Civic Quarter.

Partners in the project were:Shropshire Archives, TelfordLibrary Service, Appletree TheatreCompany, Engaging Places(Campaign for Architecture & theBuilt Environment) and Telford &Wrekin Architects, IronbridgeGorge Museum Trust and, mostimportantly, students fromCharlton School and Apley Woodand Wrekin View Primary Schools.

For further details contact LizYoung at Shropshire Archives on01743 255353, or [email protected].


WORKHOUSE WOES Liz Young

Teaching local historyshould be an essential part of

school curricula. With thehelp of Shropshire Archives,some Wellington youngstersgain a unique insight into

Life in The Workhouse.

Examining original documents held in Shropshire Archives.

Pupils from Wrekin View primary school outside aformer entrance to the Union Workhouse. The

original 1797 building was replaced by the premisesseen here c.1840. A completely new workhouse was

constructed on Holyhead Road in the 1870s,whereupon the former workhouse in Walker Street

became the Union Brewery (with an archway into arear courtyard), which continued to trade until the

1920s. The photo above was taken in the 1960s,shortly before the furthest right section wasdemolished to make way for the Tax Office.

Dates of adverts appearingin trade directories and

newspapers.

Left column, from the top:1859; 1878, 1881, 1889.

Right hand column:1920, 1913, 1903, 1906.

17

FURNITURE ADVERTS Allan Frost

www.wellingtonhistorygroup.wordpress.com

JanuaryWELLINGTON WELCOMES

IN THE NEW YEAR‘With the exception of a little hilarityin the streets caused principally by theexuberance of sportive youths andfrolicsome maidens, the Old Yearpassed from Wellington in a verypeaceful way, and the last hour wasattended with fitting solemnity. Thenight itself was serene, the atmospherequite balmy and the New Year steppedinto its predecessor’s shoes under thebest of atmospherical conditions.Strongly contrasting with the buoyantbehavior in the streets were the watch-night services in the various places ofworship.’

There were positive signs of theyear commencing with a fairamount of prosperity and activity.The town was looking forward tothe completion of the Public Baths‘bringing with them not only a boon tothe inhabitants who regard cleanlinessas next to godliness, but providingfacilities for the youngsters of the townto learn to swim.’

MR LLOYD GEORGEAT WELLINGTON

Mr Lloyd George, Chancellor of theExchequer, visited Wellington andaddressed a large audience in theCollege Gymnasium and later in theLecture Hall. He was there to supportthe Parliamentary (Liberal) candidateMr C S Henry. The Chancellor wasvociferously cheered, causing laughterwhen he said he was surprised to seesuch a large number of ‘cheeryLiberals’ as the Daily Mail seemed tosuggest they had all disappeared. Heremarked he was also pleased to seethat the influence of the Daily Mailhad not had a demoralizing effect onWellington. Although ‘found the heartof England absolutely sound’, he didremark that he was glad ‘that all theladies had not joined the Suffragettes’.

Apparently in Shrewsbury therewas scarcely a child over ten whocould not swim, whereas inWellington only 1 in a 100possessed the ‘natatory art’.

There were plans for buildingsand extension of the reservoir,water mains, and sanitary projects.Signs of increased employmentand general prosperity wereaugmented by a large Colonialcontract secured at Donnington,advantageous for Wellingtonmarkets.

‘A fire of a destructive characteroccurred at the premises of MessrsAston furnishers, at the corner ofWalker Street and Tan Bank, andlargely filled with valuable stock. Theoutbreak was discovered in the smallhours of Saturday morning, just whenworkmen were hastening to theiremployment but the alarm was reallygiven by a maiden of the next doorneighbour.’ ‘The work of the Fire Brigade came infor special praise which seems to havebeen well-deserved and the wisdom ofproviding a steam fire engine seems tohave been thoroughly appreciated. Itwas within an ace too that the fireescape might have been equallyvaluable.’


100 YEARS AGO: 1910 Joy Rebello

The following reportsappeared in the Wellington

Journal & ShrewsburyNews at various times

during 1910.

Left: An advertisement for Astons in 1909 when it was located on the corner ofWalker Street and Tan Bank.

Above: The main Astons furniture showroom in New Street (to which the firmmoved after the devastating 1910 fire), as seen in May 1960.

MarchHEALTH IN WELLINGTON

Dr White, the Medical Officer ofHealth announced that thepopulation of Wellington mid-1909was 7,500. The death rate was 10.9of the population which waspossibly a record for the town andwas probably due to improvementin sanitation and the sewageworks. The chief causes of deathwere pneumonia, cancer, phthisis,TB- and heart-related diseases,and influenza. There were 16deaths of children under 1 year,which compared favourably withrural England and Wales.

It was also reported that a letterhad been received from theWellington Ladies’ AmbulanceCommittee offering the Councilthe use of the new horseambulance.

New sewage works werecompleted; consumption of waterreckoned to be 14 gallons per headper diem.

COOKERY LECTURES ATWELLINGTON

‘Man … is largely a creature of thegrosser instincts and good cookingdoes much to lubricate the wheels oflife.’ Lectures given at the TownHall, Wellington were intended topopularise Brown and Polson’s‘Paisley Flour’.

AprilEASTER CELEBRATIONS

‘Almost before the breaking of GoodFriday’s brilliant morning, the treblevoices of bakers’ boys were heardproclaiming the presence of hot crossbuns as filling repasts in the solemnhours about to be spent by people ofpious inclination, indicating that thisold custom of affected gastronomicdenial linger long as a Lenten rule.’

Easter Sunday church serviceswere well attended, but the quietstart and religious calm soon gaveway to motor cars which ‘began to scatter the dust and diffusethe petrol’. Football crowds descendedon the towns and ‘Lenten seriousnessand serenity appeared to be obliteratedwith carnival gaiety’.

Easter Monday was theoccasion for outdoor sports,

amusements and climbing TheWrekin. ‘One gratifying feature of the Easterfestivities was the extreme orderlinessof the crowd, with only a few cases ofexcessive indulgence’ and peoplebehaved with ‘agreeable propriety andsplendid good temper even in the faceof rivalry of the keenest description’.

MayDEATH OF KING EDWARD VII

The Wellington Journal devotedmany pages to the death (on 6thMay) and funeral of the King. AMemorial service was held at theParish Church on 20 May at 3 p.m.(the hour of the burial), with flagsat half mast and muffled peals.Messages of condolence werereported from the Colonies,around the world, and locally,with columns edged in black.Other pages described hisachievements, activities, with apotted life history.

WHIT MONDAYThe Whit Monday sports festivalat the Bucks’ Head groundattracted a large number ofholiday makers. Sporting eventsincluded a marathon, 2 mileswalking handicap, kicking thefootball, sack race, tug of war andCatch the Train race (whatever thatwas!). Music was provided by theWellington Old Volunteers BrassBand at a country fair and dancingon The Green in the eveningconcluded the festivities.

DEATH OF MRS BOWRINGMrs Bowring, wife of Mr. JohnCrump Bowring, died aged 72.She was described as being of a‘generous disposition, considerate forthe poor and unrestrictedphilantrophy’. Her husband wasreportedly one of the oldest andmost successful tradesman thatWellington had ever had. Hergenerosity extended to gifts to theParish Church, including a marblepulpit and gates (below).

She also played a part in thesocial side of the Church‘particularly as it had regard to theelevation of the character of womenand girls’.

Her funeral was well attended -the flag at the Parish Church flewat half mast and the bells weremuffled. Her bequests were wide-ranging – to hospitals, distributionof coal to the poor and provisionfor what became the BowringRecreation ground and the CottageHospital, off Haygate Road (whereshe had lived).



WELLINGTON AND

DISTRICT TWINNING

ASSOCIATION

If you’d like to know moreabout Châtenay-Malabry and

how you can help toAssociation, or just simplytake part in their activities,

visitwelltwin.pwp.blueyonder.co.ukor telephone their Secretary

Phyllis Harpham(01952) 740315, or email her at

[email protected]

CONTACT DETAILS

Please address general correspondence to:

Secretary: Joy Rebello, 6 Barnfield Crescent,Wellington, Telford, Shropshire, TF1 2ES.

Tel: 01952 402459. email: [email protected]

Other officers of the Wellington History Groupcommittee are:

President: George Evans, 18 Barnfield Crescent,Wellington, The Wrekin, TF1 2EU.

Tel: 01952 641102. email [email protected]

Chairman: Allan Frost, 1 Buttermere Drive,Priorslee, Telford, Shropshire, TF2 9RE.


Treasurer: Wendy Palin, 35 Pembroke Drive,Wellington, Telford, Shropshire, TF1 3PT.


DISCLAIMER: Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is correct at the time ofgoing to press. Wellington History Group cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, nor do opinionsexpressed necessarily reflect the official view of the Group. All articles and photographs are copyright of the authorsor members of the Group and must not be reproduced without prior permission and due credit.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

WELLINGTON HISTORY GROUP: PUBLIC TALK 2010The last talk for this season will start at 7:30 p.m.

in the Civic Offices at Wellington. Admission is free butdonations are invited after the lecture. The talk will be:

Tuesday 15th June:Allan Frost

WELLINGTON’S MARKETS AND FAIRS

*Throughout October:

WELLINGTON LITERARY FESTIVALSee Press for details of talks, or visitwww.wellington-shropshire.gov.uk

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS SPECIAL EVENT

JOHN RANDALL 1810-1910:SHROPSHIRE'S GRAND OLD MAN

A day school to celebrate the bicentenary of his birth andthe centenary of his death, on Saturday, 4th September,

10.00 am - 4.00 pm at The John Randall School,Queen Street, Madeley, Telford, Shropshire.

The day school will cover all aspects of John Randall'slong and fruitful life from his birth and early years in

Broseley, through his wide-ranging interests in geologyand history and his skills as a china painter, to his death

as a respected writer, publisher, local politicianand Freeman of the Borough of Wenlock.

Speakers will include George Baugh, Neil Clarke, Roger Edmundson,Shelagh Lewis, Hugh Torrens and Barrie Trinder.

A small exhibition of Randall memorabilia will be on display. Lunch andmorning and afternoon refreshments included in the ticket price of £5.00.

Tickets and further information from Shelagh Lewis, Madeley Living HistoryProject, Jubilee House, 74 High Street, Madeley, TF7 5AH. Tel: 01952 567288

email: [email protected]

TELFORD HISTORICAL

AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL

SOCIETY

If you’re interested in listeningto a variety of other speakersand enjoying history-basedentertainment, pay a visit to

http://thas.co.uk

They, like us, need yoursupport to spread the

historical word throughoutThe Wrekin area.

The site gives details ofplanned visits, events and

monthly meetings.

For details of the Midsummer Fayre in Wellington onSaturday, 19th June, and this year’s summer season of public

entertainment, visit www.wellingtonunderthewrekin.co.uk

Documents

WHGMag7 Layout 1 - WordPress.comand a medal. The silver medal (above, left) was a major achievement. That there were only two swimmers in the race doesn’t diminish this noteworthy