What an amazing day we had at the Great Wyrley Carnival, located at the back of The Star Inn on the Walsall Road. We spoke to lots of local people that was interested in the history of the village and there lots of new faces that had travelled into the area to see the procession, visit the stalls and have a ride on the fair. There was something for everyone. We had lots of interest in our stall with locals and people that live in surrounding areas wanting to learn about what we did has a society. We sold many of our books on the day at a special offer price & we also did a raffle with a great selection of hampers has prices. A band lead the Carnival Prosession followed by our King (Mikey Joyce-Leach age 9), Queen (Jessica Ward age 8), Prince (Jason Widdowson age 8) and Princess (Chloe Banks age 7) chosen for their personality and community involvement. There were five beautifully decorated lorries, 1st place Foundations & Peek a Boo Childminders with The Lion King. 2nd place Landywood Primary School with Shrek. 3rd place Walsall College with Frozen. Followed by the Rydell High School with Grease and then 1st Great Wyrley Scouts with Mary Poppins. A local motorcycle group followed the lorries, which we really appreciated their involvement.

Adult Fancy Dress Group Winners
Freddie, Lockie and Family from Little Mermaid
Adult Runner Up
Dawn Boulton as Sea Witch from Little Mermaid
Child Group Winners
1st Great Wyrley Scout Group from Mary Poppins
Child Runner Up Mia Forrester as Elsa from Frozen
Best Dressed Stall
Great Wyrley Townswomen Guild as Pirates of Penzance

There was so many amazing stalls, from tombolas, gifts stalls to local groups. The centre area had displays of gymnastics, dog show, fancy dress competition and much more. And our fabulous fair which we love to see and have a ride on. Thank you to everyone who took part and for those who attended I’m sure you will agree it was a fab day here’s to next year!

This morning’s speaker was Mike Hayes who gave a talk on Getting rid of the stink.
Starting back in the 18th century we were told how they coped with the smells of not having a sewage system, through to the Victorians and modern day.

The “great stink” in London in 1858 was when the very hot weather
exacerbated the smell from the sewerage that was flowing in the Thames. All in all a very interesting talk on a subject that we take for granted today.

It is with sadness that we report the death of Ray Framks. He was a member of the society for many years and gave us a great many photographs. He will be sadly missed

This magazine is the 60th to be printed and published, thanks to all that have contributed to the success of the Society, the photos and stories in the past 15 years that you have given to us to use in our magazines.

Back when the society first started up, someone said to Gary ‘it wouldn’t last 6 months’ and here we are, on our 60th Edition of the magazine, we have produced four history books, soon to be five and we will be having our first plate up in the village.

Most of you have been with us from inception, sadly not all, we have lost, as I always say friends not members, along the way, our Committee is mainly as we started, some have dropped off others have passed away, but we’re still going strong, possibly stronger now than ever.
Our magazine and web designer Soeli Thomas we thank very much, our printers, Printmonster from Cannock, have always been most proficient in their dealings with us and nothings too difficult or minor in our dealings.
Getting that of my chest, I hope you’re having a good summer and things are good with you, the sun’s shining and we are at the longest days of the year. We held
an Open Evening in March, we were very pleased with the outcome and with the amount that came, people we’d never seen before but had picked it up on Facebook, we shall do it again throughout the year.

We held our trip to Apedale Heritage Centre on 6th June 2024, it was a great day out with loads to do for all ages. It was amazing having a tour down the mine and hearing about Apedale Valley history and industries.

St. Georges day was a success and met many of you there, also looking forward to the Carnival. We shall be having book launch for Paul Ford’s book on the names on the gates of the fallen soldiers at the Memorial Gardens, this will be at the Community Centre, we’ll keep you informed.

This morning’s Guest Speaker was Judy Hubble who gave us a talk and insight into the life and times of Patrick Lichfield, who’s real name was Thomas Patrick John Anson. The talk was very informative and well received by all the member’s present.

Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (25 April 1939 – 11 November 2005), was an English photographer from the Anson family. He inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960 from his paternal grandfather. In his professional practice he was known as Patrick Lichfield.

Thomas Patrick John Anson was born on 25 April 1939. He was the only son of Thomas William Arnold Anson, 4th Earl of Lichfield (1883–1960). His mother was born Ann Bowes-Lyon(1917–1980), a niece of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

He was educated at two different schools, Wellesley House School in the coastal town of Broadstairs in Kent, and Harrow School in north-west London, them went on to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. His father died in 1958, leaving Patrick to succeed as 5th Earl of Lichfield when his grandfather died in 1960.

Lichfield joined the Grenadier Guards in 1959. On leaving the Army in 1962, he began to work as a photographer’s assistant, and built up his own reputation, partly as a result of having access to the Royal Family. He was selected to take the official photographs of the wedding of the Prince Charles (now King Charles III) and Princess of Wales in 1981, and subsequently became one of the UK’s best-known photographers. From 1999 onwards he was a pioneer of digital photography as a professional standard. He was chosen by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh to take official pictures of her Golden Jubilee in 2002. Click here to read more…