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| Season:
Spring 2003 |
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| Vol:
36 |
| No.
2 |
| Year:
2003 |
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| Editorial: |
Welcome to the first edition of The Blackcountryman in 2003. I hope that you all had a good Christmas and New Year. Spring is now (hopefully) upon us, and I hope that as many members as possible will take advantage of the numerous walks, talks and trips organised for their benefit and interest. The society continues to go from strength to strength, with an ever-increasing membership, and this is reflected in the variety of activities organised by the Society and participated in by many of its 2,500+ members.
This quarter's magazine again reflects the wide range of interests and activities of the inhabitants of the Black Country; from rambling in (peaceful?) countryside, to running marathons all over the world, from the creation of new villages to the closing of picture-houses. Many thanks to all the contributors to this issue, old and new. I am greatly encouraged by the quality and variety of submitted contributions, and am especially pleased to have recently received an increased number of articles by female contributors. There are also reviews of several recent publications, including Stan Hill's wonderful collection of 57 Black Country People, Peter Rhodes' sobering book of wartime memories For a Shilling a Day, and Paul McDonald's groundbreaking study of Black Country literature, Fiction From The Furnace.
It's nice to know that Black Country talent extends its reach as far as the capital; Christopher Firmstone, the Wordsley-based artist whose work featured on the cover and centre pages of the last issue of The Blackcountryman, has recently had a couple of his works featured in an exhibition entitled British Contemporary Artists at the Millinery Works Gallery in Islington, London.
I hope that each and every member finds something of interest in this edition of The Blackcountryman, if not why not submit an article yourself? I welcome articles on any subject with a Black Country connection, no matter how tenuous! There are several new entries in the 'Surfing in the Black Country' website feature, including one on the people and history of Bilston, and an eclectic but informative site based around the history and heritage of Sedgley. Don't forget our very own website, ably adminisistered and maintained by Mick Pearson, where you can find a mine of information about the Black Country Society, together with some articles published exclusively on the Internet. More contributors to The Blackcountryman have recently had their articles reproduced in the Express and Star, thus indicating that the standard of contributions is, as I was already aware, extremely high.
Finally, on a sad note, as many of you are undoubtedly aware by now, the Society has recently lost a valued member with the untimely death of our Hon. Secretary Freda Allen. She had been suffering with illness for a considerable length of time, and will be sorely missed by both the Society and other organisations with which she was connected. Our sincere sympathy goes to Fred, her husband. An obituary and appreciation of Freda by Society President, Stan Hill, can be found on page 23. |
| 10
things you can read about in this month's issue: |
| The Tipton Slasher + The American Giant - David Cox |
| Living on the Clent Hills - Irene Edge |
| "Dozy" of Dartmouth Park - Arthur Truby |
| Was This Dudley's First Bad Press - Dianne Manneri |
| A Cup of Tay - Pearl Taylor |
| David Bagnall of Wednesbury (1832-1925) - Colin Bagnall |
| Black Country Personalities 59 - Tommy Mundon - Stan Hill |
| Jesse Pennington Meets Stanley, Earl Baldwin - Margaret Dallow |
| James Foster - 150 Years On - Roy Peacock |
| Running The Distance - Mark Dabbs |
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