Black Country news and blogs Monday 22 June 2015
Coal
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Blog feature
All aboard for coal train day at Chasewater Railway 
Lichfield Live 18 Jun 15
Some of Chasewater Railway’s coal trucks.
Event
Coal Chamber + SOIL + The Defiled + DOPE @ Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, 29th May 2015
Birmingham Live 29 May 15
It’s not often you get value for money these days but tonight for a mere £20 we have four, yes four bands, almost a mini-festival.
Blog comment
The Rise and Fall of the Whitehouses of Turls Hill
Sedgleyscene 11 May 15
Sedgley residents can uncover the fascinating story behind the rise and fall of one of Woodsetton’s most influential families at the Sedgley Local History Society meeting this Thursday, 14th May.
Blog feature
Walsall Geology
Black Country Bugle 30 Apr 15
Walsall bathed under a tropical sea,The marine life in fossilisation;Landscape carved by glacialisation,Walsall rich in geodiversity.
Blog feature
Memories of hopscotch and catching tram to Lickey Hills
Black Country Bugle 8 Apr 15
IT was with much interest that I read The Bugle articles on childhood in the 1940s and 1950s.
Blog feature
April 5th – At Chasewater, a sinkhole has opened up in the car…
365 days of biking 6 Apr 15
April 5th – At Chasewater, a sinkhole has opened up in the car park, yards from the M6 Toll.
Blog feature
My Willenhall Dad dredged canal in winter of 1947 for coal
Black Country Bugle 5 Apr 15
I READ the letters in The Bugle about the harsh winter of 1947 and, while I don’t actually recollect anything about it as I would have been only two or three at the time, I do recall my mother telling us the following story.
Blog feature
Tragedy of the Pelsall Hall Colliery disaster
Black Country Bugle 26 Mar 15
FOR centuries coal was the cornerstone of the Black Country, with hundreds of collieries, large and small, dotted across our region.
Blog feature
We collected coal on sledge in West Bromwich in 1947
Black Country Bugle 22 Mar 15
DURING the winter of 1946/7 I was stationed at the Old Panzer Barracks in Herford, Germany.
Blog feature
From coal crisis to Beeching axe at Bescot shed
Black Country Bugle 13 Mar 15
BY THE 1880s the growing crisis of coal transport was such that it could take 8 to 20 days for coal to get from Cannock to Birmingham! These delays also led to coal wagon shortages and the London North Western Railway’s customers began turning their …
Blog feature
Hurrah for Dusty.
Narrowboat Oakfield 11 Mar 15
Just as we were running very low on Diesel along came Dusty to fill us up and while he was breasted up with us another boater stopped by for coal.
Blog feature
Coal became like gold in the winter of 1947
Black Country Bugle 26 Feb 15
THE article and letters in The Bugle recently about the winter of 1947 brought back many memories.
Blog feature
Kinver Canal
Two Black Country Birders 19 Feb 15
The weather was pretty good Tuesday so we headed out to do one of our favourite walks to Kinver along the canal adjacent to the River Stour.
Blog
February 1st – Just on the rough side of Brownhills Common, a…
365 days of biking 2 Feb 15
February 1st – Just on the rough side of Brownhills Common, a handful of yards from Coppice Lane, there’s a deep void in the land through the trees It may be the remnant of early surface mining, or the later evidence of hamfisted mineral …
Blog feature
Walsall player 196. John Benjamin “Jack” Barnes
Stickymackhouse 30 Jan 15
John Benjamin “Jack” Barnes (28 April 1908 – 1 April 2008) was an English footballer who played as an outside left for several Football League clubs, as well as for non-League side Atherstone Town.
Blog feature
Calisto.
Narrowboat Oakfield 30 Jan 15
I popped to the shop for a few essentials before it began to snow luckily.
Business
Andrew Whitehead: It’s beginning to look a lot like biomass
Birmingham Post 5 Jan 15
Drax Power is the operator of the second largest coal power station in Europe, and has an ambitious corporate strategy, based on gradually converting a number of its generating units to become predominantly a biomass-fuelled power generator…
Blog feature
End-Of-Year-Count 2014: Popular music gigs
Russ L 4 Jan 15
Gig-going frequency has actually picked up a bit, for the first time in a fair old while.
Blog feature
My favourite present was pink and yellow Eddy Merckz bike
Black Country Bugle 25 Dec 14
I WAS born in 1961, like many of my friends, at St.
Business
Birmingham’s Hidden Spaces: Roundhouse serves reminder of canal network’s heritage
Birmingham Post 23 Dec 14
Building constructed by Corporation of Birmingham was a mineral and coal wharf for the railway…
Blog feature
Monopoly!
Narrowboat Oakfield 10 Dec 14
Mark came by on Calisto so we got our coal and fuel from him.
Blog comment
Human-scale, decentralised technologies
Localise WM 8 Dec 14
In 1995, the Times Literary Supplement placed a book by E.
News
Author on quest to identify mine victim
Express & Star 30 Nov 14
The story of the 22 miners who went to work in a Black Country coal mine 140 years ago and never made it home, is the subject of a new book by a local historian.
Blog comment
Stacked
BrownhillsBob 22 Nov 14
A few weeks ago, I shared here a mining plan of how workings in the Robbins coal seam under Walsall Wood, Clayhanger and Brownhills affected the railway line above it, showing the coal mine excavations in great detail under the village.
Blog
An Interesting Day
Wheats Wildlife 16 Nov 14
As the rain and the wind continues we have to jump at any chance to conduct a bird ringing session.
Blog feature
Was Ewart a friend or a foe to Smethwick gang?
Black Country Bugle 12 Nov 14
RE the letter in The Bugle (September 11 edition) about growing up in West Bromwich by Ewart J.
Blog feature
Onto the Oxford Canal.
Narrowboat Oakfield 10 Nov 14
Mark came by bringing much needed coal and diesel for us, so we topped up with water too, all essentials on board now.
Blog feature
Hawksbury Junction.
Narrowboat Oakfield 7 Nov 14
Just past Bridge 14 leading up to Bedworth, the old Navigation Inn which had suffered a fire, is now a very impressive residence.
News
Jobs promise for former coal mine
BBC News 4 Nov 14
Up to 1,000 jobs could be created on the site of the former Daw Mill colliery, according to developers.
Blog feature
Dudley attraction celebrates 25 years
Black Country Bugle 4 Nov 14
THE Black Country Living Museum’s mine is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, having taken more than 4 million visitors back in time and ‘into the thick’.
Blog feature
Tuesday 21st October
Birds of Shustoke Reservoir Warkwidkshire 21 Oct 14
At a bit of a loose end today! I spent a pleasant morning around the reservoir.
News
Herald History: When ‘King Coal’ sent strong men burrowing…
Tamworth Herald 12 Oct 14
WHAT do these names have in common?Tamworth, Baddesley, Tame Valley, Peel, Alvecote, Glascote, Amington, Beauchamp, Pooley Hall, North Warwickshire, Dexter, Hall End, Daw Mill, Birch Coppice, Kingsbury and Measham?The answer is, of course, they were …
Blog feature
Photography: Moorcroft Wood
Mike Maynard 30 Sep 14
I went to Moorcroft Wood on Sunday.
Blog comment
FILM: The Truth Behind the Dash For Gas – Saturday 11th October
Transition Stourbridge 28 Sep 14
FILM: The Truth Behind the Dash For Gas 2014 A documentary about fracking in the UK Date: Saturday 11th October, 7pm for 7.30pm start Where: Friends Meeting House, 37 Scotts Road, Stourbridge, DY8 1UR Cost: Donations Can UK communities protect their …
Blog comment
Men of the underground
BrownhillsBob 28 Sep 14
Over on Facebook this weekend, there’s been lots of interest in Walsall Wood Colliery, following the posting of these two cracking images of a press article recording the closure of our last truly local coal mine.
Blog comment
What lies beneath
BrownhillsBob 28 Sep 14
Way back at the beginning of August, I shared a partial scan of a document I’d acquired – a mining plan of how workings in the Robbins coal seam under Walsall Wood, Clayhanger and Brownhills affected the railway line above.
Local news
Doctor Who, series 8, episode 6 review: The Caretaker
Sutton Coldfield Observer 28 Sep 14
It’s that time in the series for the episode where The Doctor has to pass himself off as a normal human being and despite threatening to be too ‘soapy’ there was a lot of ground to cover in this heavily character driven installment.
News
Tamworth golf course left to drift away
Tamworth Herald 25 Sep 14
THE council say that the reason they are closing the course early is because of the reduction in members.
News
Pages from the Past – September 15 1939
Lichfield Mercury 21 Sep 14
THESEextracts include an article about the safeguarding of cathedral treasures following the outbreak of World War II and adverts for Waite’s coal merchants and Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps.
Business
St Modwen gets nod on Notts residential scheme
TheBusinessDesk 16 Sep 14
DEVELOPER St Modwen has revealed that Gedling Borough Council has resolved to grant planning permission for a residential development on a former British Coal site in Bestwood Village, Nottinghamshire…
Blog feature
I remember going to West Bromwich yard to get pram full of coal
Black Country Bugle 15 Sep 14
FOLLOWING on from my letter about shops in Spon Lane, West Bromwich, in The Bugle (September 4 edition) I also have many memories of growing up there after reading Mike Fenton’s article in The Bugle (August 7 edition).
Local news
Dr Who debut for Perry Barr actor
Sutton Coldfield Observer 30 Aug 14
Peter Capaldi’s first Doctor Who episode aired last weekend, but today (Saturday, August 30) it is the turn of Perry Barr-raised Samuel Anderson, who makes his debut as Danny Pink.
Blog feature
Syndey Slater Guy
Stickymackhouse 25 Aug 14
The Early Years Sydney was born on 31st October, 1884 in Wolverhampton.
Blog feature
Charity Shop Tourism – Chazzing in the Black Country
Vintage Vixen 22 Aug 14
Fire up the camper! We haven’t been charity shopping (aka chazzing) since Tuesday.
Blog feature
I waved to the passing trains when I lived near Wednesbury wharf
Black Country Bugle 19 Aug 14
WITH reference to your letter about the Wednesbury Bridge New Coal Wharf in The Bugle (July 31 edition).
Blog feature
Some Early Lines – Old Railway Companies – Mitcheldean Road & Forest of Dean Junction Railway
Chasewater Stuff's Blog 16 Aug 14
Some Early Lines Old Railway Companies Mitcheldean Road Forest of Dean Junction Railway A substantial stone overbridge near Drybrook (Mitcheldean Road Forest of Dean Junction Railway).
Blog feature
My Dudley Grandfather was miner – and clog dancer
Black Country Bugle 15 Aug 14
I AM trying to find out some information relating to my Grandfather, Samuel Houlston, who was born in Dudley in 1865 at 91 St James Terrace.
Blog feature
Thanks for Bugle readers’ help with Wednesbury wharf questions
Black Country Bugle 14 Aug 14
WITH reference to my original letter published in The Bugle (June 26 edition) about Wednesbury Bridge New Coal Wharf.
Blog feature
Narrow Gauge Railways – Eaton Hall Railway
Chasewater Stuff's Blog 6 Aug 14
Narrow Gauge Railways Eaton Hall Railway ‘New’ Katie The 1st Duke of Westminster (1825-1899) commissioned Sir Arthur Percival Heywood to construct the narrow gauge, 15 inch railway at Eaton in 1895.
News
Campaigners’ delight after Coal Authority confirms Warwickshire drilling plan has been ditched
Coventry Telegraph 6 Aug 14
Licence application for underground coal burning formally withdrawn, as campaign group looks to protect site in future…