Hagley Historical and Field Society

Please note, our next meeting at St Saviour’s Church Hall is on FRIDAY 1^st March 2019 at 8.00pm when we will have a presentation by Colin Knipe entitled “The History of Teddy Grays of Dudley”. Colin will tell us about the chequered history of the business of the Gray family and show the charming Martin Parr film “Teddy Gray’s Sweet Factory”.

  If you have visited Bewdley, you will need no introduction to Teddy Gray. If you look to your left as you come over the bridge into Load Street you will see his famous sweet shop with its bright red and white canopy. Sadly, Teddy Gray himself died in 2017 at the age of 81 after 60 years in the family owned business which was founded in 1826.

  The business first became famous for producing Gray’s herbal tablets but over the years they have expanded to produce a vast selection of different sweets. They also made lettered rock for Dudley Zoo and still supply the Zoo today. If you have a sweet tooth, I would almost defy you to visit the shop and walk out empty handed. I think a sweet tooth is important as they currently use six tonnes of sugar a week in their manufacturing processes. In keeping with the theme, there will be some Teddy Gray sweets to sample on the night along with the usual refreshments.

  Visitors are most welcome at all our events – see hhfs.org.uk for details and contacts.

The idea for this new publication was originally developed by the late Dr Peter Bloore, who lived in Middlefield Lane. He was a member of Hagley Historical and Field Society and also Hagley Parish Archivist. His widow offered the file to the Archive Group and they decided that they would continue his research and aim at publishing a summary of his work plus contributions from people, who lived or had lived in the Lane or had first hand knowledge of the residents. The results are now available as an illustrated book of fifty-two pages.

Middlefield Lane front

Middlefield Lane back

The book is priced at £4 and can be purchased from Happy Families or can be ordered online from Hagley History and Field Society.

The book “Hagley Miscellanea” by John-Homery Folkes, the architect of St.Saviour’s Hall, was first published in 1974. It was for private circulation and only 25 copies were printed. Forty years later it is considered sufficiently interesting to merit this reprint. The author (born 1906) has gathered a wide range of reminiscences that together give a picture of Hagley’s inhabitants, houses, industries, celebrations and entertainments in the century and more before the explosion of house-building in the 1960s.

The book includes: the early days of the railway station; the building of St. Saviour’s church and planning the cemetery; houses large and small; an attempt at encroachment in Church Street; the Rifle Corps and the Range; the nursemaid question!; Hagley celebrities; the Sunday postal delivery and church attendance and an eyewitness account of the fire at Hagley Hall on Christmas Eve 1925. The “Illustrations” section includes the programme for the Coronation Celebration of June 1911.

The book is priced at £5 and can be purchased from Happy Families or can be ordered online from Hagley History and Field Society.

The Society has now launched a new book entitled ‘Hagley: A Village at War 1914 – 1918’, researched and written by local author and member, Pat Dunn. It is based on the ‘Hagley Parish Magazines’ of the period and describes how the people of Hagley dealt with the problems presented by the Great War on the Home Front. The people and places featured on the front cover of June’s issue of the Hagley Village News feature in the book along with many others.

The book is priced at £4 and can be ordered online. Click on the book cover below to view the first few pages.