MEMORIES FROM ANTHONY ROBERT BIBB
 
1941- Easter 1956
 
I was born at “Ashleigh”, latterly 19, Wolverhampton Road, Wedges Mills, Cannock at 2.30 pm on Saturday 15th February 1941 - just in time to make the 3 pm kick off at Molineux, Wolverhampton!
 
I am the eldest son of William James Bibb born 12th October 1912 at Coles Lane, Sutton Coldfield, and Elsie May Bibb née Belcher born 29th June 1916 at Hillside Cottages, Wolverhampton Road, Wedges Mills, Cannock.
 
I attended The Croft School, High Green, Cannock between 1946-1948, then Walhouse Junior School between 1949-1953 and finally Bridgtown Secondary School between 1953-1956.
 
Our neighbours at Wedges Mills were Bill and Nellie Matthews who had daughters Vivien and Denise.  The latter was 12 months my senior and we grew up together as neighbours spending many childhood hours and days in the rear gardens of our homes or walking and cycling the local lanes around Saredon and Calf Heath, with picnics on Oscar’s Hill behind our homes, accessible via stiles through three fields to the rear of our homes or via the Public Footpath alongside the Star and Garter Public House.  The latter was the main pedestrian walkway from Wedges Mills to Cheslyn Hay via Lodge Lane and the old disused railway track alongside the Rosemary Tile Works which terminated near the War Memorial on Station Street, Cheslyn Hay.  Denise married William Moreton, a farmer, and moved after marriage to live at his family farm in Codsall, Wolverhampton.
 
Our other immediate neighbour was my mother’s cousin Ronald Belcher and his wife Aldith.  Ron was a flautist with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra who played frequently on BBC Radio (and practiced many evenings at home - a daunting experience for a neighbour with thin walls!).  They had no children.  Eventually they separated and Ron later remarried and moved to a flat opposite the Cannock Park main entrance in Stafford Road, Cannock and later retired to Tiverton, Devon.  His brother Leonard (both were born at The Croft in Wedges Mills) resided until shortly before his death with wife Connie in Dartmouth Road, Cannock.  Len was a magician and at times gave us kids Magic Shows in the small room on the top floor of the Star and Garter Public House.
 
Other neighbours were the Eardley’s - my mother’s Aunt Addie and cousin at number 15, Sundown, and Joe and Mrs Starkey at 23, Roseville together with youngest daughter Violet and her son Derek.  My maternal Grandmother Lois Belcher lived at 25, Brynwood.  There was also Derek and Dorothy Partington - and daughter Sylvia.  Derek hailed from the Bungalows on Watling Street, Bridgtown and had a painting and decorating business and later a decorating shop at High Green, Cannock in premises previously the home of The Croft School which was my first school attended in 1945.
 
There was also John Sishton at 11, Mr and Mrs Mole at 13, Sunset, and Jim and Florrie Adams with son Lonsdale at 9. The land between number 9 and the Wyrley/Saredon Brook was waste land during my childhood, but in the 1970’s bungalows and a detached house were built there.
 
Across the road at the General Stores and Post Office was my mother’s Aunt Hannah Belcher née Allen and her daughter Bessie with husband Bill and children Alan and Arthur.  Next door in the semi Hillview Cottages were Jack and Vi Pearson, firm friends of my mother and who often baby sat my brother Mervyn as did Vi Starkey.  In the other half of the semi were Horace and Lizzie Rowe with children Kathleen, Alan and Colin – long-time mates of mine.  In The Croft were Cliff and Marjorie Belcher - living in his parent’s home after their death - and daughter Gillian.  They later emigrated to Australia but after several years there returned to the UK in the Margate and later Portsmouth area where Marjorie and Gillian were last seen by coincidence in a café by my Aunt Gwen McIntosh in the late 1970s.
 
Nearby were Bill (a Councillor) and Molly Craddock and next to them were Mr and Mrs Pee with daughters Marion and Barbara and son Sam.
 
There was of course in this period Gilpin’s Cottages situated on the Cannock side of the Wyrley Brook and the site of the original Bladesmill and the first home of the original Belcher who arrived there from West Bromwich in the late 18th Century.  Families living in these cottages in my childhood were Lucy Dawson and son George, and Jim and daughters Gladys and Julie, Willis and wife Maggie with daughter Elaine and son Michael.  There was also the Hodgkiss family, recalling daughter Doreen and son; the Mullen’s Lena, David, Isabel, Chris, Ronnie, Roger and Jayne; the Meeson’s - particularly daughter Audrey who in my teens worked in Praill’s Newspaper and stationery shop in Wolverhampton Road, Cannock and in later years lived with husband Ray in Dartmouth Road, Cannock, whom I saw frequently at St Saviours Churchyard, Hatherton where my father and mother are alongside Audrey’s parents in the top churchyard grounds.  Also in Gilpin’s Cottages were Luther Brindley and wife Ada with son Edgar; Charlie Pearce with children Eric, Bernard, Norman, Owen, Vera and Eileen; Albert Taylor and wife Gwen with offspring Roy; Vic and Joyce Sanders with children Sandra and Pat; and in the last cottage before the canal the Harris family.  Between the canal and Longford Island was Forge House - the original home of William Gilpin and his works situated next door.  Forge House was occupied by the Parker family – Alec, Kitty, Roy, Keith and Shirley.
 
I recall that for quite a period of years summer picnics were the rule of day for Denise and I when we were bored.  This was the scourge of my mother as by the age of 11 years I had a much younger brother Mervyn who at that time spent most daylight hours sleeping in his pram.  Our sudden decision to “picnic” entailed our mothers making “jam sandwiches” and a packed drink and we would happily take-off up the hill at the rear of our homes to what we in the village called Oscar’s Hill after the owner / farmer at Lodge Farm, Oscar Lewis.  Many happy hours were spent there on summer days and it still today affords a great elevated view over Cannock, Churchbridge, Bridgtown and Cheslyn Hay and towards Shoal Hill.  The TV mast at Whitehouse Common, Sutton Coldfield was also visible from there on a fine day and also Hednesford Hills and its Stock Car Stadium which I visited with Bill Matthews and Denise on a couple of occasions - Bill had a Vauxhall motor car.  He was the manager and later owner of the Billiard Hall above Burton’s Tailors in Market Place, Cannock.  I recall him spending the day at the Hall before arriving home around 5pm when relieved by his wife and always out of the house at 6.40 pm to catch the number 21 bus to Cannock and the Billiard Hall until 10 pm - catching the 10.15 pm bus home.  I always enjoyed visiting the Hall with Denise because we would get Corona pop from bottles with the “swish” sealing spring mechanism which always intrigued me.
 
There were times when Mervyn refused to sleep particularly when my mother was doing the weekly wash and so I or Denise and I were enrolled to “take him for a walk”.  On a decent weather day when we were at a loose end this was fine and we walked for miles down Wood Lane and through Little Saredon and Calf Heath before returning home worn out and hungry.  On days when we had made other plans this chore when requested was a real bore of course but we rarely managed to find an acceptable excuse not to set off with the pram.  The lanes we walked were amazingly quiet and almost devoid of traffic and as a child was an idyllic vision.  I recall that an old-fashioned gypsy caravan was permanently parked on a grass verge in the lane from Saredon Hall Farm to Windy Arbor - and because we were told a witch lived there, we always crept quietly past although we found out later that the occupant was a perfectly normal human being.  On a wide grass verge at the junction of Wood Lane and Catsbridge Lane we also annually had gypsy caravans and the occupants would make clothes pegs and supposedly “lucky” charms with which they would tour the village with attempting to persuade villagers to buy their goods.  They were extremely forceful in manner and usually managed to sell one something - usually pegs!!
 
At other times with my village mates the bluebell wood across the fields to the rear of our house was an inviting location.  The Staffs and Worcester canal bounded the northern edge with its locks and bridges, and the Wyrley Brook ran through it; there were fox dens and it stretched from a point across the field from the Leather Mill, Wedges Mills and continued down to Walkmill and the clay pit at the rear of Hawkins Tileries.  It was bounded on the south by the fields of Lodge Farm which housed a footpath which would take you from Wedges Mills to Cheslyn Hay via Oscar’s Hill over Lodge Lane to Cheslyn Hay.
 
I recall often watching the barges carrying coal and other goods pass through the locks at Wedges Mills.  They were mainly horse drawn with the boatman aboard and the harnessed horse walking steadily along the tow path with the rope dangling back to the barge - a shout from the boatman would halt the horse which of course had to be disconnected when the barge encountered a lock to pass through.  Some of the village youth of the time used to swim in the locks every Sunday afternoon in the endless summer days.  I recall some as Roy Taylor, Alan Saunders, Gladys and Julie Dawson and a lad from the Hutments at Middle Hill - named Harris son of “Trudge“ Harris, so called because he was always “trudging“ to Cannock and back.
 
There were always swans in this vicinity and they would parade their cygnets every year.  I recall one year that someone shot and killed the swans with a pellet rifle.  The culprit was never traced.
 
I recall that when around 11 years of age I was taken to Cannock on Saturday morning and a new pair of shoes were purchased for me.  On return home I decided to wear the shoes to break them in - I was told not to leave the garden though.  Who should be passing but several of my friends en route to the bluebell wood and of course I was encouraged to join them.  Against my better thoughts on the matter I took off with them and all went well until they decided to walk across a fallen tree in the wood over the Wyrley Brook - a frequent happening for us whenever in the wood.   All went well until I was about to reach the far side when I slipped and landed knee deep in the mud alongside the brook.  I was aided out by my friends but shock horror - I realised that one of my new shoes was no longer encasing a foot.  Efforts were made to retrieve the shoe but no one could locate it deep in the mud and it was hardly a spot to gain easy access.  So I was forced with trepidation to return home with muddy legs and knees minus a shoe.  Needless to say my parents were not happy - “Money doesn’t grow on trees.“ I was told and I spent the rest of that Saturday in isolation in my bedroom which deterred me from similar escapades in the future.
 
I had several male colleagues and friends around Wedges Mills village including Alan Rowe (later Upper Longdon, Rugeley), brother Colin Rowe, Alan Osbourne, Colin Radcliffe (later Bournemouth) and Philip Brindley (later Walsall), Sylvia Partington (later Brisbane, Australia) and Pamela and Peter Cross to name a few.
 
I used to look forward to the hay harvest in the field behind my home when Arthur Norwood and his wife Alice would harness up their horse kept there and cut the grass.  They lived in a semi-detached house with a smallholding on the right just above the Star and Garter on the main road.  After the grass had dried out and they arrived to turn it and later load it onto a trailer to be taken to their smallholding, I was allowed to join them and work along the rows turning the grass for further sun drying, something I greatly enjoyed and awaited each summer.  They also kept a couple of cows in the field during summer months as well as the horse.
 
The field behind Wedges Mills Post Office (number 16) was owned by Noden’s at Middle Hill Farm and my cousin Alan Osbourne, who lived at the Post Office, had a grandfather Osbourne who lived in old cottages on the site of what is now the bungalows 72-78, Wolverhampton Road, and he used to come along and cut the grass every year.  My cousin and I and other lads used to follow the cutter and spot shrew’s nests which had been uncovered by the cutter and cover up the new born baby shrews with grass to protect them from predators.  If we were lucky we were allowed to follow the laden cart pulled by a shire horse back to the farm and once unloaded ride the cart back down to the field and start all over again.  Happy red-hot summer days.
 
Other lads in the village I recall are Lonsdale Adams, Arthur Osbourne, Derek Starkey, Norman Pearce and brothers Owen, Bernard, Chris, Ron, Roger Mullen, Billy Hodgkiss and Michael Willis from the lower village, George Cliff, Chris and David Amphlett (David later lived in Devon) from the top of the Village, and from Wood Lane Preston Butland, Graham Brassington, Robert Barnett, Eddie Timmins, Carol Goodwin and brother Reggie, Barry Hill and Tom and David Jones.
 
During the early 1950s there was no designated playing area for kids in Wedges Mills.  Our games of football took place in the wood from which Wood Lane took its name.  I must admit that it was difficult playing around the trees and it didn’t really resemble a football match - more a case of bumps and rebounds.  My mother used to tell me of the times with friends that they climbed trees in this same wood and dropped acorn cones on the farmer passing below with his cattle herd.
 
At other times if we had a “home” football game against Longford Road or Bridgtown lads we would walk down Watling Street where a field almost opposite Royals Farm contained a set of two goalposts, one at each end, and no line markings.  Jackets and sweaters were laid down as corner flags before the match commenced. 
 
It was frequently that the score line ended in the twenties range but boy did we have fun returning home worn out and bedraggled along Watling Street.  We always expected a farmer to arrive and turn us away from the field but we were lucky and it never happened.
 
In the mid 1950’s the Wedges Mills Village Hall and Playing Fields Association was formed with the intention of gaining a Village Hall for activities and also a Playing Field for local children as the amount of road traffic was increasing drastically.   Wedges Mills lay both sides of the main road so wherever the site would be would entail crossing through a heavy volume of traffic.  A Committee was formed with such members as Bill Craddock (later to become a Councillor), Hubert Bill, Reg Stephens, E Ballance who lived in Chapel Square, Cheslyn Hay, Derek Partington and others.  Derek Partington was born in the bungalows on Watling Street, Bridgtown.  He was a fitness fanatic and amateur footballer and spent hours skipping in his yard next to the Village Hall and running around the Playing Fields and lanes.  I recall on one occasion he broke a leg whilst playing for the men’s team in a Carnival’s Men versus Women fun game.  He built Dormer Cottage in Wolverhampton Road, Wedges Mills where he lived after moving across the road in the early sixties until emigrating with his wife Dorothy and daughters to Brisbane, Australia in the mid-sixties.
 
An Annual Carnival was started in the village which eventually took place every August on a Saturday and this was held on the Star and Garter field adjoining the pub itself.  The event was well attended numerically from all over the area and became well known for a number of years.  There were sports for the kids and adults including two legged-egg and spoon races - Ladies versus Gents football match, raffles and a fancy dress competition where a Carnival King and Queen were chosen.  There were local floats in a parade around the village and resident Jim Adams who worked at the Coop Dairy in Market Hall Street, Cannock had permission to use one of the vehicles for the King and Queen to travel on.  There was great activity before and on the day of the event with the field boundaries being sealed to prevent non-paying customers and the field marked out for the races.  I recall that Albert Jnr and Colin Dando were great sports on these days and dressed up extravagantly as females (for example as Carmen Miranda) and had masses of make-up.  They were always in with a great chance of winning fancy dress every year.  (Colin went to live in Australia a few years later and was sadly drowned in a swimming accident there.  Photographs exist in the Bridgtown Local History Society archives of Arthur and Colin as young lads snow clearing in the winter of 1947 at Middle Hill.  I recall the A460 road being blocked between Wedges Mills and Middle Hill in the hard winter of 1947 and for a week or two a Wolverhampton Corporation green and yellow double-decker bus was trapped in the snow and one could walk on the deep snow and look through the upstairs window - so severe were the weather conditions of that winter.)  My mother and I used to travel by bus to Cosford, Albrighton to where my Mom’s expert cake maker had moved from Hednesford.  Every year this lady produced a highly decorated cake in the shape of a Village Hall and this was raffled off bringing in lots of cash.  Mom and I used to have to convey this cake back to Wedges Mills on public transport via a bus change in Wolverhampton - no mean feat I can assure you.  Each year this cake of varying topics was a major feature of the Carnival Draw.
 
As regards the Star and Garter, this was occupied by well-known boxer Albert Dando and his wife Annie with sons Albert and Colin.  They were resident for several years and even after a family upset saw Albert Senior move away leaving his wife and sons to run the pub.  Some years afterwards when a serving Police Officer in Stafford I recall seeing Albert Senior on a Midland Red Bus from Stafford Market Place to St Leonard’s Avenue, Stafford where I saw him enter a boarding house.  I did not speak to him at that time and after 12 months or so he no longer was to be seen locally.  Annie Dando eventually moved from the Star and Garter to the Off Licence in Longford Road.  She took an interest in my singing at the time I was in Hatherton St Saviour’s Church Choir and performing at Wedges Mills Village Hall as a soloist before my voice broke.  I used to practice as she played piano at her home behind the shop in Longford Road.  I remember that the almost life-long organist at the Church - Morris Farmer- used to call for me on Sundays and convey me to and from church on a seat fitted to his cycle cross bar.
 
I attended The Croft School in High Green, Cannock and then Walhouse Junior School from the age of seven and spent many lunch breaks with schoolmates on Shoal Hill Common - mainly cowboys and Indians.  It was safe in those days to be there - there were not the problems of the 21st Century.  We would be due back in school at 1.30 pm and would listen out for the 1 pm hooter from the Mid Cannock Colliery which told us it was time to make our way back to school.
 
During my time at Walhouse I used to pop to my nearby Aunt Mary’s in Gorsey Lane where she would supply me with my lunch, walking there with my friend John Lord whose father worked for many years in Linford’s hardware shop on High Green, Cannock.  Another friend was Chris Mills who joined me when I later moved school to Bridgtown Secondary School in 1953. His father owned a confectionery shop in the alley opposite the Picture House in Walsall Road, Cannock.  Also Francis Beasley whose father kept the Grocery Store in High Green, Cannock – it had a pulley system for conveying customers cash and change into and from a rear room.
 
My grandmother Lois Belcher worked at the British Restaurant which was located alongside the Cannock Advertiser office in High Green.  I enjoyed going there from school at lunchtime when around 10 years of age as I got good helpings on my plate.  My grandmother previously worked in catering at what was in the late 40s the Police Training Centre on land Bridgtown-side of Jellyman’s Bridge; the plot later became the Coal Board Computer Centre.
 
Wedges Mills village then was much smaller than that of present day and consisted of Gilpin’s Cottages between the Staffs and Worcester canal and Saredon Brook bridge, a small factory on the site of Gilpin’s Old Wedges Mills Works and then from the latter bridge a spare plot of land which in winter was flooded by the brook overflowing and melting snow.  From that plot there was a row of semi-detached houses built around 1938 by local Wedges Mills builder Frank Stephens who resided in the first completed house whilst completing the rest of the houses.  Stephens later moved to a small-holding on the fierce bend in Saredon Lane, Calf Heath.  Further up near the junction with Wood Lane was the Star and Garter Public House and next to it a red brick cottage, the last building on that (the east) side of Wolverhampton Road at that time and the home of my grandfather Harold Belcher’s brother Sidney and his wife Kate.
 
At the side of this cottage there was the commencement of a public footpath which allowed a pleasant walk across Oscar’s Hill (Cheslyn Hay people call it Middle Hill) down to Lodge Lane.  It was then possible to access Cheslyn Hay by means of the pathway once carrying the Rosemary Tileries single track railway emerging near the Cenotaph or via a diversion coming out in Lower Road, Cheslyn Hay.  My family and I travelled this route on foot whenever we had the need to visit our Family Doctor - who resided in Park House off Cross Street.  He was Doctor Duncan McAinsh, a quietly spoken Harris Tweed-suited Scotsman.  It was far quicker to walk in those days as the journey by road required the use of two buses (the Wolverhampton number 21 and Walsall Corporation number 1) and could take up to 3 hours to complete.
 
Returning to the village - on its western side of the road there was the Village Stores and Post Office within the home of my Aunt Bessie Osborne (née Belcher) and a red brick semi-detached, the residents being the Rowe and Pearson families adjacent to The Croft - built my one of my Grandfather’s other brothers - Albert.  This had extensive land including an orchard to the rear extending parallel with Wood Lane and my Grandfather and Father Bill kept family pigs there in the late 1930s and 1940s.  I recall sides of bacon wrapped in muslin hanging from a hook on our stairway landing on many occasions.  Pigs were also kept at the Post Office and every year in Autumn the squeal of the pigs could be heard when the slaughter man carried out his annual visit.  Blood ran red in the yard and a large metal bath of blood would be visible afterwards when the carcass was hung from a hook and scalding water used to facilitate scraping the hair from carcass.
 
There were further houses up to Wood Lane - the oldest house being that situated on the west side of the road opposite to the Village Hall.  In my childhood days this cottage was split into two residences - one being the Pee Family with son Sam and daughters Marion and Barbara.  Barbara later married another villager Roy Taylor who lived in Gilpin’s Cottages.  The rear section housed the Craddock family - Bill and Molly.
 
When I was 12 years of age the school system changed and from 11 years of age pupils moved to a Grammar or one of the new Secondary Modern Schools where the choice was Huntington, Chadsmoor, Great Wyrley or Bridgtown.  My parents opted for Bridgtown so at 12 I followed the well-trodden path of my mother, uncle and aunt along the Watling Street to North Street.
 
Teachers I recall at that school were - Mr G Davis, Headmaster, Deputy Head Harry Cardew, Laurie Wooliscroft (a family friend), Bill Oldbury (an ex school mate of my mother and one of my teachers at Walhouse), Miss Jukes who taught my mother at school, Ken Powell, Mr Askey, Mr P Secombe, Mrs Goode and Mrs Hall (previously Walhouse) and Miss Hughes (Girls PE).  Some school pupils I recall of the time - Tony Bullock, Billy Winfer, Tony Coates, Fred Moss, Brian Whitehouse (later to meet up with in 1960 at Stafford), Leon Bucknall, Rita Hargreaves, Celia Webb, Denise Belcher, Alan Tart, Colin Radcliffe, Norman, Bernard, and Owen Pearce, Terry Cook, Chris Mills, Doug McKenna, Derek Morris, Roy Meredith, Brian Edge and John Slater.
 
We used to travel to Walsall or Bloxwich Swimming Baths (alternate terms) with Laurie Wooliscroft by coach and I recall that I used to travel to away games (Huntington, Chadsmoor etc) with the football team and Laurie would give me everyone’s bus fares and sent us all on our way on the number 1 Blue bus or Midland Red 865.  Happy days.  We played our home games on the wreck in Longford Road.  Laurie was a firm Rugby man and served with my Uncle in the RAF in World War Two and they were firm life-long friends and were also de-mobbed at the same time through Hednesford Camp.
 
I recall Mrs Dudley’s shop opposite the school where sweets could be bought and our family butcher Percy Mills and his wife Cissie in their shop.  They lived at Great Saredon - Cissie would deliver our meat from a small van on Fridays.
 
My mother was a friend of Ann Thomas, mother of Ken Thomas, the printers at 55, Longford Road and I remember that when we visited her Ken had his printing works in sheds located in the rear garden and I used to enjoy going out there and watching posters etc come fresh off the noisy and to me massive printing machines.  In later years Ken moved his business to modern premises in Walsall Road.
 
My mother was Head Cook at Lee and James factory in Green Lane, Bridgtown during the 1950s and I would spend some school holiday days there watching the trains passing by towards Mid Cannock Colliery.  The boss at the factory, a Mr Lee, lived in one of the houses near to what is now the Stumble Inn on the elevated section of Walsall Road and his wife’s mother Mrs Annie Young worked with my mother.
 
My mother used to tell me that when she was 13 years of age at Bridgtown Girls School once a week they had to go outdoors as elder girls with buckets and brushes to scrub down and clean the War Memorial located outside the school.
 
At Easter 1956 it was time to leave Bridgtown School and enter the big wide world of work.
 
 
1956 -1960
 
It was always in my mind before leaving school to enter the Police Force though my Dad said I should choose a trade - electricians would never be out of work, he announced.  At the time my Dad was working at the Midland Tar Distilleries at Four Ashes, a fairly new factory at that time.  He got me a job as a Laboratory Assistant at the company and I started there a week after ending my school days.  I was in the Central Laboratory there for two years, attending one day a week day release at Wolverhampton College and taking four evening courses too which left just one night of the five day week free.  After two years I had reached the qualifying age to join the Police Cadets and I applied to join the Staffordshire Police Force.
 
After attending an entry exam under the eye of Sergeant Jack Whitby at the old Cannock Police Station in Wolverhampton Road, Cannock (corner of Queen Street) I was called for a medical at Police Headquarters, at that time located in Eastgate Street, Stafford.  All went well and some weeks later I received a letter from the then Chief Constable, Col G W R Hearn, telling me that I had been accepted into the Force Cadet service and would be posted to Wednesbury Division.  As lodgings were at a premium in that area in 1958, I was asked if I was willing to travel daily from my home at Wedges Mills.  This being agreed on my first day I set of in civilian clothing for Wednesbury - I had never been there previously.
 
It entailed catching a 21 Bus from Wedges Mills to Wolverhampton at 7.40 am then walking across to the area of the Royal Hospital in Cleveland Road where the West Bromwich Corporation bus left at 8.30 am via Bilston and Moxley arriving at 8.50 am.  It was a minute’s walk to the Police Station in Holyhead Road and I was met by a PC who handed me over to a Sergeant - I was put into the enquiry front office with a Constable to learn the ropes.  Having led a somewhat sheltered life to that time it was a real eye opener receiving calls by telephone from the public, working the station switchboard, and desperately attempting to unravel the Black Country accent especially when delivered at me at speed!
 
During a 10-month period at Wednesbury I passed through several offices and started to pick up police jargon and organisational aspects.  One of my important jobs of that time was to address and enter wage figures on the station’s pay packets before the cash was put in the packets.  Mundane but extremely important as one of the packets was mine!!  Transportation of urgent documents to local solicitors was part of the duties which was good as it got me away from the office and out in the fresh air for a walk around town.  It was several months before my Police Cadet uniform arrived at Wednesbury on the weekly delivery from Headquarters at Stafford and meanwhile I was in civilian clothing.  In fact it was good for travelling purposes as I passed through another Police Force area each day (Wolverhampton was at that time a Borough Police Force) independent of Staffordshire Police so even as a mere Cadet I had no operational authority in that area.
 
Other duties were on Court Days - the Magistrates Court was within and on the first floor of the Police Station in Holyhead Road and a Cadet was always available to stand at the Bench access to facilitate the Stipendiary Magistrate and also to stoke the coal fire lit in the Stipes retiring room.  This was my first encounter with the Courts process - and something I was to become a greater part of in later life at Cannock Magistrates and the Magistrates, Youth, Crown and Appeals Courts at Stafford.
 
Eventually my uniform arrived and I felt very conspicuous as I walked through Wolverhampton Police Area morning and evening - though an incident requiring police attention never occurred during the time I had to pass through the town.
 
I remember my first encounter with death - Sergeant Machin - an ex West Bromwich Albion footballer (there were quite a few ex footballers and ex Armed Forces in the Police in those days) was attending a sudden death at a bungalow in north Wednesbury and took me along as the mortuary attendant who normally removed bodies to the Mortuary was off work ill.  The deceased was a male who had suffered gassing in the war and was of extremely light build and I recall my apprehension when instructed to lift his legs so he could be lifted into the body shell for transportation.  I will always remember he was as light as a feather - almost skeletal from the effects of the war gases.
 
Sergeant Machin was the same man who approached me when I arrived at Wednesbury Police Station one morning and asked me to check a recently vacated cell to remove food utensils left by a bailed prisoner.  I was unaware of his purpose until I unlocked the cell and there was a mass of silver trophies and shields, the property of my favourite team Wolverhampton Wanderers.  They had been on display at the Annual Sports Dinner of the Patent Shaft and Wheel Company nearby along Holyhead Road and were stored awaiting Wolves collection that day.  Included was the Division One Championship Trophy won that year - Division One at that time being the top division in English Football.  It was quite an experience as a 16-year-old to be sitting in a Police Cell nursing the Championship Trophy to myself!
 
After 10 months a vacancy for a Police Cadet arose at Cannock Police Station and I successfully applied for transfer and my journey to work changed from a two-hour bus journey to one five minutes from home.  At Cannock shifts of 6 am- 2 pm - 10 pm were worked along with 9-5 pm.  Cadets weren’t allowed out on foot duty in those days but at one stage the Dog Handler was due to go on holiday and the usual care of his dog at Police Training Centre, Weeping Cross, Stafford was unavailable due to lack of spaces remaining and I volunteered to take care of the German Shepherd for the period.
 
This was great as I was relieved of normal duties and my job was to groom and feed the dog and take it on exercise walks.  I had many enjoyable walks on Shoal Hill and down to my home at Wedges Mills until the handler returned from holiday and retrieved his dog from my care.  I called in one day at my old school playing field with the dog and my old teacher Eddie Bowes and the pupils made a real fuss of the dog - not that the handler would have been happy about that and certainly not the affection shown to the dog by a class of 9-year-olds but he never knew of it.  At times I took the dog walking to Wedges Mills and he laid himself across the hearth at my home with little room for anyone else - a sort of furry hearth rug.
 
Full Police training in those days commenced at 19 years of age but Cadets were permitted to start training 3 months before that birthday so I was expecting to attend my initial training course at No 4 District Police Training Centre at Mill Meece, Eccleshall, Staffs in early December but unfortunately I suffered a quite serious foot injury the previous November just prior to the 5th which resulted in my being on sick leave until March with a badly infected ankle when a rust pipe embedded itself in my ankle; infection set in and resulted in many trips to The Royal Hospital, Wolverhampton.  Crutches were the order of the day for many weeks. 
 
1960-1970
 
It was on complete recovery from my injury in April 1960 - three months behind schedule - that I attended the pre-course week at Staffs Police HQ, where full regular officer uniform issue took place with whistles, staff, helmets and capes.  Quantity was quite daunting as two full kits were issued - one for daily duty wear and one for best wear.  I was also issued with my identifying Collar Number of 622 in the Staffs County Police.  It was the following week that I commenced my 13-week initial training course at Mill Meece where we were taught all the law required and how to drill and physical education.  More than 100 definitions needed to be learned by heart and many hours of evening study were spent on this aspect as each day start the instructor would quick fire progressive questions around the lecture room and a swift stand up and respond was required.  The deathly hush if you couldn’t respond was deafening and not to be experienced too often.
 
During my stay at Mill Meece my next-door neighbour room-wise was Ray Reardon from Stoke on Trent and we spent many hours studying together.  This of course was before he turned professional snooker player and during the seventies won six World Championships.  The first occasion that he suggested a game of snooker I was unaware of his snooker prowess as he was unheard of at that time and after accepting to cue-off I rarely got to the table such was his snooker superiority.  At that time of course there was no indication that he was to become a major name in professional snooker.
 
For 12 weeks of the 13, students were allowed weekend leave from 11 am Saturday morning until 11 pm Sunday night.  Transport (a coach) was available, dropping off in Stafford south of Eccleshall en route to Birmingham.  Returning on Sunday nights was always a panic as lights out was 11 pm and at times we were delayed on the return journey and no sooner entering our rooms with suitcase a shout of “lights out” was heard and you had to unpack by torchlight!!  
On the remaining one weekend two of the courses remained at the Training Centre to keep the premises occupied.
 
The Dog Doublet Pub was situated just across the road from the Training Centre but out of bounds to students under threat of dismissal - so we never graced its doors.  The Training Centre was an old-style Army type base with plenty of white lines!  It was strangely accessible only via a farmyard entrance.
 
In the May of that year Course 316 - of which I was a member - completed 13 weeks of training and the Passing Out Parade was held before the Chief Constable of Leicester where the three courses passing out paraded before him and relatives and friends were invited to attend.  Having achieved the status of qualified Police Constable, I and six Staffs colleagues bade farewell to our colleagues of 13 weeks from other Police District Number 4 Forces who returned to their respective bases in the Midlands.  We returned to Staffs Police HQ, Baswich House, Cannock Road, Stafford for a week of training in local bye laws and such, and appeared initially before the Assistant Chief Constable of the time - namely Stanley Peck - who greeted and advised which Division in the County from Leek in the North to Brierley Hill in the South one would be posted.  I was pleased and lucky to be stationed at almost rural Stafford Police Station in Bath Street, Stafford rather than returning to my Cadet location in the Black Country with its industry smoke and bustle (e.g.  Smethwick, West Bromwich and Brierley Hill).
 
At the end of the week I was sent to Stafford Borough Police Station in Bath Street where I was seen by the Divisional Superintendent and shown around the Station by a Sergeant before I was conveyed to my “digs” which were to be my home for what turned out to be ten years!
 
At the time of my appointment, Police Officers passing out to the regular force were required to serve a probationary period of two years.  For the first three months of this period I was attached to a regular officer, Alan Lycett.  He was to be my mentor for the next three months and we worked our shifts together on foot patrol around the town of Stafford and its wider beats.  The main town centre beat was generally split into two between 6 am and 10 pm - an officer being responsible for patrolling the North or South of the main street.  Between 10 pm and 6 am only one officer manned the main street with others on the shifts covering the surrounding roads and wider areas out of town.
There were no police radio foot patrol officers in those days - all contact with base was made via the blue Police Pillars situated at various points around the area; every hour on patrol would take you to one of these boxes where you would call in to confirm all was well with you.  Failure to make the appointed “call in” would result in a full search being instigated in the event that harm had befallen you.  The Police Force is, by the nature of the job, one of great comradery.  There were of course radios fitted in the Police Patrol Cars and these were linked directly to the Headquarters at the Chief Constables Office, Weeping Cross, where the Information Control Room for the whole County was located and all divisional patrols through every Staffs Police Division were in radio contact.  There was also radio contact from there to the four Borough Police Forces situated within Staffordshire’s boundaries - namely Stoke, Walsall Wolverhampton and Dudley.  Although each were surrounded by Staffordshire, they had their own independent Police Forces until 1964 when the Metropolitan areas came into being.  Stoke Police amalgamated with Staffs and Walsall, while Wolverhampton and Dudley were swallowed up by the then newly formed West Midlands Force.
 
Returning to my time of probation at Stafford I was instructed by Alan Lycett on all procedures and learned how to walk, talk and deal with the public generally.  There were small “dos” which though not sacrosanct if not observed could carry a summons to the Chief Inspectors Office and a sharp lecture.  Instances included: walking on the edge of the pavement facing the traffic - this forces pedestrians to walk inside of you and not step into the road with their backs to oncoming vehicles; not gossiping to friends or acquaintances whilst on patrol and generally upholding the dignity of the Force whenever possible.  Discipline was foremost in all things.