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Perry Barr Trefoil Guild Rallies The Troops

Perry Barr Local Magazine — Member Beryl Bailey with some of the baby hats for City Hospital

Like other organisations and clubs, Perry Barr Trefoil Guild has been in lockdown since the middle of March. Although they have not been able to meet, they have certainly been very busy. Not many days in, they were asked to ‘rally the troops’ as an urgent call came for laundry bags for nurses. Over 300 have been sewn, washed and delivered to Queen Elizabeth, Sandwell, City Coronary Care, Russells Hall, Good Hope, George Elliott, New Cross and the Women’s Hospitals – some even went as far as Scotland. Mask extenders were also made and sent to hospitals with some of these reaching as far as Canada.

The ladies have also been busy knitting and displaying NHS Rainbows, snowmen for a charity, twiddle muffs for Alzheimer patients, hundreds of baby hats for City Hospital Premature Baby Unit and finally, jumpers and jackets for a children’s charity.

Shopping Bags, lunch bags, bead bags have also been sewn, along with reflection for many, sewing ‘Fleeting Moments’ birds to celebrate John Taylor Hospice 110 years.

And the ladies’ skills don’t stop there. Seeds, plants and vegetables are being grown in many gardens whilst others are just enjoying the lovely sunshine and being out-of-doors.

“This is just a small contribution Perry Barr Trefoil Guild has made during these past few weeks and has been linked into our STARS Trefoil Challenge, with many near completion of their 25 clauses,” said Chairperson Wendy Brown. “But, most of all, the Guiding spirit has shone through all of our 31 members, albeit helping others, or themselves, and always supporting each other.”

Heritage Project: The Americans Are Here

If the residents of Pheasey in Walsall could step back seven decades in time to take a stroll around their estate, they wouldn’t believe their eyes.

What would they see? Smart young soldiers peering from the windows of the estate’s newly-built houses. Armed sentry posts and gate houses guarding access to the streets. The sound of marching boots might fill the air. And outside the Collingwood Centre, which served as a military HQ, stood a flagpole – flying the stars and stripes of the US flag.

Few people who live in this quiet suburb know that during World War Two it was requisitioned by the Government and handed to the American army.

Now a 12-month project, called The Americans Are Here, and backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund, aims to help local people find out how their homes were once occupied by GIs, and their streets were filled with jeeps and army trucks.

“We want the project to raise awareness of Pheasey’s past during the second World War,” said organiser Lee Mitchell, “because it’s something that people simply don’t know about.

“Many of the people who lived here at the time are sadly no longer with us, so we can’t rely on their memories to keep the story alive. Newer residents are gobsmacked to find out what went on here, sometimes in their own homes, when war was raging.”

The project aims to get local people to engage with local history and find out for themselves about how the American Army made Pheasey its home.

“We really want to use Pheasey’s wartime history to create community spirit, by getting local people involved,” said Lee, who is organising the project with colleague Dave Crathorne.

“It’s also about reaching out to socially-isolated people and getting local schoolchildren involved. It’s a great story that’s right here on our doorstep.”

At the outbreak of World War Two in 1939, the new Pheasey Estate was still being built. When America entered the conflict in 1942, US troops started to flood into Britain. In Walsall, the War Office requisitioned unfinished properties on the estate, creating a Replacement Depot there, as a staging post for soldiers arriving to replace those killed or wounded in the fighting. American soldiers would sail into the UK via ports like Liverpool, before trains brought them to what was then Great Barr railway station in Hampstead. The GIs would then march up the Queslett Road to Pheasey.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused some disruption for The Americans Are Here, which originally hoped to hold regularly meetings and talks, as well as practical face-to-face sessions to help people discover their area’s history. Lockdown meant that all that had to be cancelled.

But by drawing on true wartime spirit, the project has carried on.

“We launched our The Americans Are Here Facebook page to allow people to still get involved throughout the lockdown,” Lee explained. “In fact, what everyone has been going through with coronavirus has a lot of parallels with what British people experienced during the war.

“There’s an argument that in some ways it has been worse because at least during World War Two you were allowed out of your house. And the pubs were open!”

Some of today’s local pubs were regular haunts of the American soldiers who lived on the Pheasey estate, and have formed part of the project’s photographic work, which aims to bring local history alive.

“We have pictures of what the area looked like at the time, so one of the things we have been doing is tracking down the locations in those images and taking a new picture from the same perspective. It provides a ‘now and then’ version of these fascinating old pictures and really helps to bring home the fact that this happened here,” Lee said.

“We’re also trying to build links with American families whose relatives served here, and track down the families of local women who went back to the US, as ‘GI brides’, when the Americans left in 1945. There is so much to uncover.”

Beneath the surface of today’s Pheasey Estate, evidence can still be found of the area’s wartime past.

“There are lots of stories of local people decorating their homes and finding graffiti on the walls beneath their wallpaper, left by American troops,” Lee said. “One person found the tread marks from a jeep.

All of this history is just under the surface, waiting to be found”. The idea of The Americans Are Here is to make local people aware of their heritage, and help them discover it for themselves.

“It’s so important that this kind of history isn’t forgotten. It helps people better understand the area they live in, and how it played a part in world events.”

We need you!

Are you a Pheasey resident, school or business?

Would you like to find out more about the area in which you live, work or play?

We are looking for people of all ages to join us in discovering Pheasey’s fascinating past during World War Two, when it was home to American soldiers.

To get involved in The Americans Are Here:

E: office@pheaseyestateww2.co.uk

T: Dave 07702 082331 or Lee 07583 076495

Facebook: WW2 Pheasey Estate – The Americans are Here group

The Dads In Charge Of Lockdown Lessons

Walsall Community — Rob, Isabel & Toby Pearson Get To Grips With A Construction Project

Philosopher George Santayana once remarked that ‘a child only educated in school is an uneducated child.’

With lockdown removing most children from the classrooms, home schooling has been the ‘new normal’ for many.

“Opportunities to learn surround us in everything we do – it doesn’t just happen in school,” explained Head Teacher Helen Wright.

“Give a child your time and attention and they will learn and remember more than they will ever in the classroom.”

Parents across the country have risen to the challenge and we catch up with a couple of local dads in charge of lockdown lessons.

Rob Pearson swapped his day-to-day job as a building maintenance systems engineer for teacher when schools closed down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
His daughter Isabel, who attends Park Hall Infants Academy, enjoyed daily lessons from dad, while his school teacher wife Cassie continued her day job.

As well as the 3 Rs, Rob and Isabel enjoyed regular nature lessons – signing up for a five-week bird-watching survey with the British Ornithological Trust (BTO) and planting flowers and tracking them as they grew.

There was also plenty of play-style learning to help keep Isabel’s three-year-old brother Toby occupied, too.

The pièce de resistance for Rob was the science lessons – making different paper aeroplanes and measuring how far they fly, and building a wind turbine out of tin cans.

“I’ve been wanting to make one for a couple of years and as we had the chance to do it, we made it one of our projects,” said Rob, who was placed on furlough in April.

“Isabel helped where she could, with the gluing, looking at the instructions, and holding the pole in place, but I did the cutting and twisting the blades because the edges were sharp. It’s still in the garden now and looks great. I’ve enjoyed doing it for the past few weeks.”

It was DIY and science that Stuart Webb’s children enjoyed when he supervised their lockdown lessons.

The Aldridge dad of two, who works as a service manager for Walsall Council’s leisure services department, worked throughout the lockdown period, but was able to do the lessons when he took annual leave.

Martha, aged eight and in year four at Cooper & Jordan School, and her brother Henry, who is 11 and in year six at the school, have spent most of their time being supervised by their mother Kelly, who works at Bloxwich Leisure Centre as swimming instructor and receptionist.

But Stuart, who admitted he felt guilty about not being able to dedicate the same time to doing lessons with his children because of working, he ensured he did his bit on his days off.

His favourite project? A challenge from the school to create something from marbles – with his children, they collected old timber from the garage and other bits and bobs to make a pinball machine, which worked brilliantly, he said.

“We came up with the idea and they both did the sawing, drilling and hammering to make it – the kids absolutely loved it,” he said.
In fact, Martha enjoyed woodwork so much she enlisted Stuart to help her make a birdhouse from offcuts of wood.

Stuart also enjoyed a wind power science experiment that the children were asked to do at home, with cardboard, string and a hairdryer.

“We’ve also been on plenty of walks and bike rides, while Henry has been able to practise some cricket as the nets opened at Aldridge Cricket Club,” he added.

Hollie & Chris – Entrepreneurs But At ‘No Charge’ To The NHS …

Pheasey, Advertising, Magazine — Hollie Bonfield & Chris Beddard

A young Pheasey couple have used phenomenal initiative to ‘3D’ create hundreds of face visors for the local NHS and front line workers – completely free of charge.

Hollie Bonfield and Chris Beddard –both aged 24 – so wanted to help around the Covid-19 crisis, they sourced the design for the visors on ‘Thingiverse’ then liaised with the original designer for authorisation to ‘run with it.’

Says Hollie, who works in the finance sector: “We are printing the face visors completely free of charge – funding it ourselves. My partner Chris created the ‘pathways’ to allow it to print via his printer – set up in a spare bedroom. He loves his printer – so much so he jokes that my birthday and Christmas presents will be 3D printed!”

Chris is ‘self taught’ in using the 3D printer, and works in the day as an engineer. He adds: “We are delivering chiefly to Midland hospitals, including Russells Hall, New Cross neonatal, WMP custody nurses, John Taylor Hospice and Heartlands hospital to name a few, with more orders locally and from around the country still to be processed. Every day, throughout the day, we are continuously printing. Each visor takes half an hour each to print, and in the evenings we set to attaching the visors to the plastic printed head bands. Then we label up to send out. The visor itself is made from binding plastic as used in documents.”

Chris and Hollie say they are ‘going as fast as they can’ and are receiving praise for their work in helping to keep NHS workers as safe as possible. The WMP custody suite they are supplying is in Perry Barr, and they have taken orders for the A and E department at Walsall Manor hospital. Oaks Medical Centre on Shady Lane is using their visors in their ‘amber zone’ to allow face-to-face meetings with patients, which they say is ‘vital to them’.

The couple would like to thank ‘everyone for their support, especially Hollie’s Mum Julie and step-Dad Chris for footing the electricity bill! And add: “It’s really nothing special what we are doing, we’re just trying to help. We are the ones who should be grateful to the front line workers and are hoping this makes a difference.”

Restaurant’s Tasty Gift To Manor Hospital Heroes

Indian restaurant Walsall — Staff At Dera Restaurant Putting Together Their Gift To Manor Hospital Staff

Staff at a Walsall restaurant cooked up a tasty way to thank NHS heroes working on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic – by delivering fresh, tasty curry!

Dera Restaurant, in Caldmore Road, has been serving up Pakistani cuisine for nine years.

Like all restaurants, the impact of the COVID-19 has seen Dera shut its doors to diners, instead switching to a delivery service to provide food for those in lockdown.

But this month it made its most ambitious delivery ever, when it provided 100 meals for staff at the Manor Hospital.

“We have always tried to get involved in charity,” said owner Ahmed Nawaz, “and in the past we have provided food to the homeless, for instance.

“Everyone has seen the work being carried out by the staff in hospitals, and the risks they are taking to treat people with coronavirus, and I felt compelled to do something to say thank you.

“Everyone is taking part in the weekly applause to show support but I wanted to do something different, and I thought: ‘what better way than to provide them with a tasty, fresh dinner to help them recharge after all their hard work.”

So, on April 19, Ahmed and his team set about cooking 100 delicious Chicken biryani dishes, each one lovingly presented in their own box.

“I wanted to make sure that it was not too spicy, so that it was to everybody’s tastes,” he said, “and when I tasted it before we served it up it was perfect.”

The meals were then packaged up and delivered straight to staff at the hospital.

“They went straight there and were piping hot and fresh when we handed them out,” Ahmed said. “The doctors and nurses were incredibly grateful, and I was told later that within half an hour it was all gone – so it must have been popular!”

Now Ahmed is planning to repeat the exercise for the holy month of Ramadan.

“Ramadan is about to start, when Muslims go the whole day without eating, and it dawned on me that if there are staff at the Manor who are fasting then there won’t necessarily be any food available for them when they break their fast.

“After a long and tiring shift, they will need fresh food, so I have been in touch and said that we can arrange to bring in food for people to eat at the time.

“It’s the least we can do given the sacrifices the NHS staff are making. The whole of the Walsall community is pulling together – and this is just our small part of that.”

Frank Chamberlain: A Lifetime of Inspiration

Brierley Hill Frank Chamberlain — Brierley Hill Author, Frank Chamberlain

Brierley Hill author Frank Chamberlain has always wanted to be a writer. As a teenager growing up in Walsall, he would often start crafting a story, but his creative juices would dry up and the writing stop.

It was only when he began to draw upon the places and characters of the Black Country that inspiration struck – resulting in a new locally-based novel that will resonate with locals.

His new book, ‘Misconception’, was inspired by a lifetime of living in the Midlands. The 49-year-old writer first fell in love with the character and history of the area as a nine-year-old schoolboy on a trip to the Black Country Living Museum.

“I remember the school trip really well,” he said, “Back in the 1970s The Black Country Living Museum was only just starting off, but even then it was quite an incredible place.

“Over the years, as it has grown and grown and I have been on lots of visits there, I guess this story had started to grow with it – it inspired a lot of the settings and places.”

The 1941 thriller is set in a fictional town made up from the DNA of the Black Country as a whole, with influences stretching from Aldridge Transport Museum to the Rock Caves and houses of Staffordshire. The action is set around a town similar to Brierley Hill, as it would have been during the war.

But while the story is set during the war years, Frank was determined that it would be more than just a tale about soldiers and conflict.

“I wanted a strong female lead,” he explained, “and I also didn’t want people to pick it up and think ‘oh, this is a blokey war book’. So, this isn’t a book about the war as such, but more about people living during the war in the West Midlands.”

The plot follows Justine Page; a young woman who sets out on a quest, when she wakes up after an air raid to discover that her friends and her lover Harry have vanished. She is helped along the way by a passing company of Australian soldiers and their colourful Aboriginal scout, Jarli.

“The book has something for everyone,” Frank explained. “There is local history, humour and at its heart It’s a good adventure story.

“Everyone who knows the Black Country and surrounding areas will recognise the humour and the places and people that it’s based on. I was determined not to write a boring old history-based war story – it’s intriguing and colourful.”

The story places memorable characters in local locations that Frank researched in great detail, to ensure that the book accurately reflected wartime life in the Black Country.

“I felt that it was vital that I did some serious research to give the book real grounding in local history,” he said. “All the locations are based on real buildings, tunnels and hidden spaces that I have either visited or studied diagrams and archives of.

“If I haven’t been able to visit a place because it is inaccessible, I have looked at old blueprints, or spoken to people that have been there. It’s all based on the real streets of Brierley Hill and Stourbridge.

“All the vehicles featured in the book are vehicles that exist at the Aldridge Transport Museum, too.”

With ‘Misconception’ now published, Frank has plans to expand the wartime world he has created in the Black Country, turning the book into a series with prequels and sequels.

The book forms the middle part of a series of novels following the lives of key characters Justine, Harry and Jarli, along with their families over 11-year cycles, beginning in 1919 and ending in 1963.

When finished, the ambitious series will follow their lives over the years through the changing landscape of the Black Country and beyond.

And Frank hopes that the characters who populate his story will resonate with readers, just as they have inspired him.

“To be honest, this book wrote itself when the characters came to life and made decisions of their own,” he said.

‘Misconception’ is available as a paperback or download from Amazon. You can discover more at www.FrankPages.Net or follow him onwww.facebook.com/FranksPages.