THE BLOXIDGE TALLYGRAPH

Dateline:  24 January 2010

At one time, back in the 60s, Bloxwich had one of the earliest TESCO stores in the area, on the corner of High Street and Victoria Avenue (the building remains as Total DIY). 

Later, perhaps due to competition from ASDA when they bought Pat Collins’ Wakes Ground about 1972, they departed Bloxwich, never to be seen again. 

Until now, it seems, with the announcement of their likely return to Bloxwich with a proposed TESCO Express store to be built on the corner of Lichfield Road and Selmans Hill.

Their battle with ASDA goes on today of course, and according to some TESCO has become well-known for its alleged aggressive policy of store placement nationwide.  Perhaps they have an eye on the old enemy, not far away.  What they may not be so concerned about, unsurprisingly, is the effect that a new TESCO, albeit a small one by their standards, will inevitably have on local business.  They are, of course, in it to win it - and “every little helps”…

Small local storekeepers are not so happy, including Mr. Ranbhir Singh of Selmans Parade.  All the hard work he and his predecessors in that store have put in over the decades is likely to go down the drain once TESCO gain a foothold literally next door.  The personal, friendly service he and other local storekeepers pride themselves on may be washed away in a tide of cost-cut corporate convenience once the competition settles in.  And it seems that at least 300 local petitioners would rather support genuine local businesses and local people than multi-national money machines.

Then there is the pressure on the local infrastructure which must be created by such a development, with the inevitable increase in traffic congestion and delays which will surely be caused by placing a store of this nature on the corner of a busy traffic-lighted main road crossroads next to a pub, bus-stops and one of the largest schools in the area.  For the school, there must be potential road safety concerns.

Of course, there are always the reasonable voices out there calling for “regeneration”, and they have a point.  But regeneration at what cost?

There, dear reader, is the bottom line.

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FREQUENCY OF PUBLICATION

Late last year (2009) it was announced that The Bloxidge Tallygraph would be in future be published (updated) on a weekly basis.  For various reasons, that has proven to be impractical, and due also to my many other commitments I have had to reluctantly return to the old shedule of updating when time permits.

However, in the case of important breaking news, I will continue to do all I can to publish a timely story on the front page.

All significant updates and changes will continue to be announced on Twitter and RSS via @TheTallygraph - please see our Twitter/RSS Updates page.

EDDITORIAL REORGANISATION 

The Edditorial page is shortly going to be reorganised.  Old edditorials will be moved to an Edditorial Archive.  New Edditorials will continue to receive their own pages as they are published.

The Edditer

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Dateline: 25 December 2009

January, which is not far away, is named for Janus, the two-faced Roman god who looks both forward and backward, and appropriately enough, as this is seen each year as a time to reflect on the past and to look forward to the future.

As far as I am concerned, the past year has been a time of both sadness and of success.  My father passed away late in 2008, and more than one friend has followed him in the time since then.  Sometimes life has been a struggle or stressful, one way or the other.  Many have faced difficult and worse times in 2009, however, what with the economy and war, rising unemployment and the incompetence of government and the banks.

On the other hand, some obstacles have been overcome, and The Bloxidge Tallygraph, amongst other activities, has gone from strength to strength.  I have made new friends, renewed old friendships and made positive changes in my life.  I have also had the pleasure of putting something back into the local community in some small way.  There is still much more to do, of course.

The end of the year has been a strange one, for me.  The anniversary of my father’s death in November was a difficult time.  But I have tried to enter into the Christmas spirit a little more this year, through these pages and with family and friends, whether virtual or in the world beyond cyberspace, with a few surprises along the way, and I feel happier than I have for some time.

However, now is also a time to look forward, and the future is something we have to build for ourselves; it does not make itself.  There is much to be done, and hopefully fun to be had, in the New Year.  The Tallygraph is small fry in the grand scheme of publishing, but I feel it has a useful place in serving Bloxwich and district, and I hope our readers feel the same.  If nothing else, it may help cover a few matters of local import that would otherwise fall through the cracks.  I will do my best to build on the past year’s success. I know I will be busy, that’s for sure.

I am involved in many other things apart from the Tallygraph and my ‘day job’ as a local historian and photographer.  You may not be aware that in 2002 I co-founded the Society for the History of Astronomy, now established as the UK’s national society in that field.  I write a local heritage column for the Walsall Chronicle on a monthly basis.  I am also on Bloxwich Carnival Committee, and attend the Bloxwich, Leamore & Blakenall Retailers Traders Partnership, offering the support of The Tallygraph.  No doubt I will get roped into other things in the new year; I really must learn how to juggle my time better if I am to do more writing, which is another ambition!  In any event I will try to be, and do, better in future.

On a political note, I hope we see some positive change in the New Year.  It has been a terrible year both for voters and their so-called representatives.  Sadly, our negative opinions of politicians have been confirmed on many occasions in the last twelve months, whether it be a matter of expenses or of ignoring the needs and opinions of the people. 

Who we will be stuck with in government at the next general and local elections remains to be seen; hopefully the voters will have a long memory and place their ballot accordingly.  We are not, after all, as stupid as they think we are.  We could not possibly be so…

A wise man once said, “Expect the unexpected”.  I am sure there will be surprises for us all in 2010.  I hope they will be pleasant ones, for we have all had enough of the other variety in 2009.

Finally,  I should like to thank a few of my online friends for their help and support.  Mark Blackstock of www.theyamyam.com for helping to raise of the profile of the Tallygraph and his sage counsel.  Brownhills Bob, the enigmatic champion of his town and those who suffer incompetence in the area. He has also sent more than a few readers our way!  Dan Slee, who has opened doors and introduced me to some aspects of social media I had never thought of.  The Forrener, whose voice has needed to be heard on more than one occasion.  The chaps and chapesses on the Walsall group of Flickr, and those who have followed my accounts on Twitter, many of whom have become daily correspondents in that mode.  You have enriched my days in many ways.  I look forward to conversing with you all in the coming year.

May I take this opportunity to wish all our readers a happier, healthier, safer and more prosperous year in 2010.

I hope you will continue to read The Bloxidge Tallygraph, and enjoy its little eccentricities as much as the information you glean from its pages.

The Edditer

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Dateline:  19 December 2009

At this time of year, it’s often tempting to make a trip to the nearest pound shop and invest in a black Santa hat and a king size bag of humbugs.  After all, these days Christmas is just another commercial con, surely?  

What do we normally see around us during the modern ‘festive season’? Parents in a blind panic because little Shane wants the latest X-Station games console and their credit cards are over the limit (again)…  Middle class hubbies struggling back to their Range Rovers beneath a hundredweight of M&S mince pies and port while wifey chooses her latest unnecessary handbag…  Chavs slouching around Brownhills Market doing their Christmas shoplifting for fake dvds, X-Factor singles and counterfeit Chinese Burberry… 

And that perennial winter sport of charity-mugger and Big Issue-seller dodging up and down the broad avenues of Park Street, surely the envy of slalom skiers the world over…  Of course the sport is a bit trickier this year as there’s a fair chance of banging into a market stall if you’ve overdone it a bit on the Tesco’s lager or the Poundland liqueur chocs…

But, hairy old cynic that I am, as I sit here in the garret at Tallygraph Towers scratching away with my quill pen like Bob Cratchit, shivering and wondering whether I can afford to toss another coal on the fire, I’ve begun to feel my heart warming a little, and I’m surprised to say that I have seen evidence of the good old Christmas spirit in Bloxwich and beyond this year, maybe because I’ve been more involved than usual myself through the Bloxidge Tallygraph.

For example, the return of the Bloxwich Christmas tree to the Promenade Gardens - who would have expected that at a time when some uncharitable folk might suggest that Scrooge is alive and well and living in Lichfield Street? Provided by a partnership of Bloxwich retailers and traders supported by Walsall Council staff, this surely is one ‘green shoot’ that has more implications than merely festive ones.  After all, support for our village, or anywhere else in the borough, has to mean more than just filling pot holes and ticking government boxes - the raising of morale in bleak and difficult times is as at least as important as the physical infrastructure, and anything that can cheer us up through the darkest part of the year is surely very welcome.  Our new tree offers us a beacon of light in more ways than one.

Other trees popping up here and there have shone a light on their own communities, notably in Lower Farm, Little Bloxwich, which usually gets ignored when it comes to the doling out of gruel by the Beadle.  This month, hundreds turned out on a freezing cold night to greet little Demi Cullum and the deputy Mayor and Mayoress at the Lower Farm lights switch-on before repairing to a jolly fair for all the family at Lower Farm School.   And the enormous tree was actually paid for personally by two local Councillors.  Now that’s care in the community and by the community.  Can we have some more, please?

This year there’s also been the harmonious and plucky tweeting of community-minded folk out there in the Walsall blogosphere and Twitterverse, which is even now increasingly festive (albeit occasionally cynical) in tone.  It seems that communication, community concern and scrutiny are not dead, despite the sad demise of the town’s most historic local newspaper and whatever you may think of the effectiveness of local democracy.  There are still people out there who want to make a difference, you just have to listen for them in the right way, although some are as yet undecided whether to hand out ferrero rocher or humbugs this Christmas…

And apart from cyberspace, what about the work of all those community and tenants groups and clubs in the real world who selflessly put themselves out to offer a jolly Christmas to young and old alike each year?  Bloxwich Community Partnership, New Horizons, Leamore TMO, the Lions and Bloxwich Rotary to mention just a few of dozens?  Not to mention the vicars and church groups everywhere running their carol services and fairs and offering help and support in the community? This is, after all, their time of year, inspired by the first Christmas, and a season when both Christmas spirit and community spirit are more important than ever. 

We are a long way down the timeline from Bethlehem, which has its own problems today, but whether you are religious or not, you have to admit that whatever or whoever inspires good in the world has to be good for the world.

The Christmas spirit is still out there, alive and kicking, you just have to dig your way past the dross and the trivia of the crudely commercial to find inspiration beneath. It’s remarkable how many good things go unnoticed in our community simply because we don’t take the time to look for them or because our busy lives so often give us tunnel vision.  This festive season is the ideal opportunity to look a little deeper and think a little harder about what we do with those lives.

May I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a much happier New Year than 2009, however you choose to spend it.

The Edditer

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Dateline: 12 December 2009

You know, I always used to think I was a fossilised teenager, and acted accordingly (care to see my Xbox 360 Elite?), but since I passed the milestone of my 50th birthday back in September, I find myself becoming less and less tolerant of idiots, especially those who seem to take pride in messing up our streets, and polluting our lives.  And just don’t get me started on politicians, who have messed up our lives in all sorts of other ways…  

I think I’ve turned into a grumpy old man, but at least I’m in good company (hope you’re reading this, Rick Wakeman)!

I’ve spent a lot of time walking around Bloxwich and Walsall, thinking (always a dangerous thing), and I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s something rotten in the state of Walsall, not mention Britain as a whole.  Nothing new there, you may say, and I expect you’d be right, but I’m generally a glass half full sort of a chap, and recently it seems to me that the glass is becoming increasingly half empty.

What do I see around me on my peregrinations?  Dirty streets, with both dim-witted ‘young people’ (heaven preserve us from PC-speak!) and supposedly ‘mature’ adults  strewing rubbish and food waste behind them in their wake. It’s a wonder they aren’t followed by a flock of seagulls, but most of the time it’s just the one-legged Walsall ‘pijjins’, the urban-camo-clad rats of the sky, who benefit from their detritus.  How often have you seen some oik stand right next to a waste bin and toss chip papers or a burger box on the ground next to it?  The spitters and smokers are the worst, mind you.  They can’t expel the nauseating contents of their clogged respiratory systems into a hanky or a drain or gutter, oh no - it has to go on the pavement, in the apparent hope that someone will step in it.  Oh, how they must larf.  And why oh why is it that they see a bus stop as a giant ash tray?  Many’s the smoker I’ve seen dump a lit cigarette just before stepping on a bus, without any thought for others.  Do they do this at home, I ask myself? Probably they do, chances are they don’t care about themselves, let alone anyone else.

Some of these doyens of dirt probably also have a sideline in amateur fly-tipping (as opposed to professional fly-tipping, which is ever on the increase, as Brownhills Bob has recently recounted).  They may even see it as a hobby or sport.  These are the people who are too bone idle to take their excess rubbish or furniture down the Council tip, and instead chuck it over their back fence into a railway cutting or alleyway to fester or potentially cause accidents.  I know of such a cutting which has been used as a dump for decades. It becomes more obvious from time to time when someone steals the planks of the fence keeping people out of the cutting.   Whether this is for firewood, to repair their own fences or for the sheer ‘fun’ of it, no-one knows.  

Then there are those dodgy dog owners (I hesitate to call them dog lovers) whose cross-bred rottweilers or pit bulls leave a random trail of doggy doo down the street, with no thought - or perhaps deliberate thought - for those who might put their foot in it later.  Not to mention the toddlers wandering by who may think it’s something to play with, God knows what they might catch…  I’m a dog owner myself, and I can tell you, I leave no poo behind me when out for walkies (none of the dog’s either)!  The thoughtless dropping of doggy doings is a classless sport, it seems.  There’s a posh street (the house owners think so, anyway) on my usual dog walking route, and it’s always something of a minefield, strewn as it is with numerous nuggets of doggy goodness by ‘posh’ folks walking those ratty little dogs, Yorkies and suchlike, and who cannot be bothered to ‘scoop the poop’.  Still, as long it’s not in front of their doorsteps, it’s ok, isn’t it?

Clearly, these people who are slowly burying our streets and parks under a layer of crap (literal and metaphorical) have been taught nothing of courtesy and mindfulness by their parents, probably for several generations.  I don’t suppose even the schools can do much about it now, having lost their grip on discipline and the instillment of good manners back in the 80s.

Of course, the poor understaffed and overworked Council street cleaners (an endangered species, it seems) of whom we see less than we do of police on the beat these days just can’t keep up with all this.  Certainly the single ‘barrow man’ who has to run the gauntlet (and I do mean run) of Bloxwich High Street can have no chance of coping with what the rest of us have to step gingerly around, assuming we are lucky enough to spot it in time.  Must be like painting the Forth Bridge with a q-tip while dodging seagulls with diarrhoea.

Mind you, there are plenty of traffic wardens around, so that’s all right, isn’t it?

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Dateline: 5 December 2009

Recently, a serious matter which has been bubbling under for the past few years has come to the boil and has broken into mainstream consciousness, receiving coverage on the BBC and in national newspapers most recently because a BBC employee going about his lawful business was directly affected by it.

It is particularly disturbing because it not only signifies an unjustified warping and distortion of the values of our so-called society but also an alarming breakdown in the relationship between some police officers and a significant element of the population.  

No, I’m not speaking of race or sexual relations.  I’m talking about what amounts to an assumption of guilt and dubious intent by police, parents and busybodies against an innocent band of hobbyists and professionals: photographers.  All too often these days, it seems, some idiot, official or unofficial, will come up to a photographer taking pictures in the street or in some other public place and effectively accuse them of being a paedophile, a pervert, or a terrorist.  The very act of using a camera has, it would appear, become an offence in some warped, untrained or uneducated minds.

This kind of paranoia has been fed by the rise of political correctness which has seen, for example, the banning of photography during some school plays because it is assumed that all photographers are potential perverts.  It is also seen in the slow but slippery slide towards a police state which seems to have been caused by the control-freakery of a government at war on ‘terror’ and amongst some elements within the police forces of this nation who appear to be either untrained, unaware or uncaring when it comes to the relationship between photographers and the law of the land.  

Certainly it seems that some of the minions of authority, whether they be police, PCSO or glorified traffic warden seem to have forgotten that they are employed by the public, and are indeed public servants.  The elected representatives of the public forgot this for many years, and just look where that has led Parliament and some local councils.

The authorities are ever-eager, it seems, to control the populace in the guise of protecting them from criminals or terrorists, who apparently lurk around every corner.  Of course a reasonable case can be made for some aspects of the security laws, but it is when such powers are misused and technology abused by ‘jobsworths’ for relatively petty purposes that one begins to wonder just what is going on.  

As a photographer, both professional and amateur, for more than thirty years, I have had little experience with this kind of thing personally, but I have heard some horror stories from local photographers who have been left nervous and demoralised by their encounters with over-zealous officials and paranoid public.  Nationally, moreover, it is clear this kind of lunacy is not uncommon, and is on the rise.

Increasingly it seems that we find ourselves as photographers in British society having to look over our shoulders when taking an innocent snap of a scenic building, or a beautiful park, or people in a public place.  The assumption being that we are ‘casing the joint’ for a gang of suicide bombers or taking pictures for a ring of internet perverts.  Possibly there are some of these people out there – but you will not notice them.  They will be unobtrusively snapping away with their mobile phones, not standing out like a sore thumb with a big camera and perhaps a tripod or a bag of equipment.  Of course there could be a rocket launcher in that camera bag, disguised as a zoom lens…

Lately, photographers have increasingly had their collars felt by police officers, especially in London, whose training or competence may be open to question, as is their common sense.  To put it bluntly, there is no law that prevents the taking of photographs in public places, and neither police, security guards nor traffic wardens have powers to stop you using your camera lawfully in such places.  Likewise, no member of the public has the right to harass or harangue you in the street because you have taken a photograph of an historic school building or children playing innocently with their parents, though it would probably be wise to make yourself known to parents in the latter circumstances.

The Metropolitan Police's own website makes interesting reading:

http://www.met.police.uk/about/photography.htm 

It’s time to take a stand on this.  A stand for common sense, fair play and natural justice, not to mention the presumption of innocence in law.  If we do not, we will lose another one of our precious freedoms to paranoia and power-mania.  We have, after all, lost too many already.
 

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Dateline: 28 November 2009

You know, despite the fact that Noddy Holder was a Beechdale lad and went to my alma mater T.P. Riley, I do understand those who get really, really irritated when the shops put the Christmas decorations up and start playing old Slade CDs at the beginning of November.

Every year it seems that the “festive season” starts earlier and becomes more and more commercialised, and more and more rubbishy, to the point that it almost seems to have lost its original message and you don’t dare ask the kids about the meaning of Christmas because you just KNOW they’ll say it’s the time when Santa drops by with the latest PlayStation.

Now as someone who respects the beliefs of good people but doesn’t rank high in the annals of churchgoing (at the last Census I put my religion down as ‘Jedi’, and I actually DO own a light sabre), I take quite a lot of this with more than a pinch of salt, especially as, historically speaking, it’s quite clear that Christmas is actually a pagan festival (Yule) which was hijacked by the early medieval church.

But at this time of year I still remember fondly the days when, for me and my family Christmas was that wonderful festival which only came but once a year and then only for a couple of weeks instead of three months.   And we never had any real money (just as well since there were no computer games!) so hiding under the sheets till the early hours of the morning and then falling asleep without ever spotting Santa meant that it was still a magical time, and whatever turned up in our Christmas stockings was a joy, no matter how simple.  When I look back on that, apart from all the good family things that happened at home, there are three things which really jump out at me in a fuzzy, golden glow of 3D nostalgia.

1.  The corny old Christmas songs that were all new back then (Merry Christmas Everybody!) before the marketing idiots turned them into Muzak.

2.  The annual Christmas play at the Sunshine School in Blakenall Lane (I played various parts, including Abanazar and Old King Cole - it seems I was a bit of a thesp back then, what ever happened to that?).

3.  The Bloxwich Christmas tree in Promenade Gardens by the bogs and all the lights left over from Walsall Illuminations that were hung at random in the trees along High Street by the park, creating a tunnel of wonderment that was an annual joy to little kids like me.

And now all that’s gone, apart from the songs which have long since worn out their welcome, at least when played ad nauseam in shops that REALLY ought to know better by now.

But has it?  

Actually I don’t know much about what goes on in Primary Schools today, but I understand the old Christmas play tradition still survives, although all you hear about it these days is when some paranoid head teacher bans cameras from the performance under the assumption that all men are perverts.  Now that’s really sad, and I’d love to hear stories about how that doesn’t happen any more, but I’m not holding my breath.

One thing that really has wound back the years for me this week, though, is the return of the Christmas Tree to the Bloxwich Promenade Gardens. I really can’t remember when they moved the tree to the new Market Place (1980s? Early 2000s?) but for some years before that there was no tree at all due to constant vandalism, or at least that was the excuse (I bet it saved some money, somewhere) and although St. Peter’s Church had one on their frontage for a couple of years for some reason that eventually stopped.

But it really was a waste of time having a tree in the Market Place. After all, although it might have cheered up the traders a bit during the wet and freezing days of winter in Bloxwich, it really did nothing for the festive atmosphere during the hours of darkness, when no-one went to the Market Place.   It was after all the time when the Christmas lights were lit (even the threadbare lights on the High Street lamp standards) which for me at least (and I suspect many others) was the whole point of having the tree in the ‘good old days’ when you could pass by it lit up in all its glory and follow the avenue of second-hand luminary wonder all the way to the end of High Street.   And then you knew it really WAS Christmas.

So the Bloxwich Christmas tree is now back where it should be, albeit not quite in the same place.  This is a good sign, for sure.  But does it mean it’s Christmas?  Well not quite yet, perhaps.  I’ll let you know when I ride past it on the bus next time I’m on the way home from work, and if the lights are on, well, maybe it really will be time to dust off the Slade records, stock up on mince pies and brave the crowds in Poundland buying this year’s disposable decorations.

Who knows, I might even drop by the church for a carol service…

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Dateline: 21 November 2009

If you don't know anything about the history and heritage of Bloxwich, you are missing out on the remarkable story of one of the most, if not the most, significant areas of what is now the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.

"Bloxwich" does not just encompass Bloxwich - it includes what used to be called Great Bloxwich, Little Bloxwich, Leamore and Blakenall Heath. Some definitions even include Coalpool, Harden and Forest, up as far as Birchills and North Walsall.

Why is this so? Because historically Bloxwich was the most important part of what used to be known as the Foreign of Walsall, while what is now the town centre of Walsall was the old Borough of Walsall. Basically whatever was in the Parish of Walsall but not in the Borough was in the Foreign (or Forren in the early days, hence Forrener). Being ecclesiastical in origin, it also, oddly enough, included Walsall Wood, though that tends to get mixed up with Brownhills these days.

Over time, the inhabitants of the Borough and of the Foreign were often at loggerheads over taxation and politics, especially during the English Civil War and after.  Sound familiar?  You can find out more via this link.

This is one of the reasons why Bloxwich and district is so distinct from the rest of Walsall.  And while the area has for centuries been governed by Walsall Council and its predecessors, and its boundaries have blurred due to the spread of huge pre and post-war housing estates, you can be absolutely sure that the people who live there know that their home is distinct from and, like the people, is different from the rest of Walsall.

It's easy to forget this in the busy modern world where we all rush around with our heads down, often not looking at what is around us.  It's easy to lose that pride of place and even civic pride if no-one goes out of their way to remind us.  We are after all rarely taught about it in schools.  That which we see every day can blur and fade into insignificance if we don't take the time to slow down and just think for a minute about the good things that we have just on our doorsteps.

It's also easy to believe that Bloxwich, Leamore and (perhaps to a lesser extent) Blakenall Heath have been forgotten by the powers that be at the centre of things, not just recently but over decades.  It's the little things that stand out, like inadequate maintenance of public toilets, insufficient street cleaners, and lack of enforcement of planning rules - or the enforcement of petty rules that make no common sense.  So often, it seems, the money or the staff or the police or any of the things that matter are spread too thinly for the Bloxwich area to benefit significantly, but there is always funding to be found to make a big noise at the centre. 

Now that's not always true, sometimes these things are just perception, but there are reasons for that perception and it's true enough to lower expectations and morale, and if you ask the traders and local people they'll soon give you their opinion!

Things can change, however, if we want them to enough, and if we're willing to push hard and work at it.  Just see for example what Pelsall is doing with its Victorian Christmas and Aldridge with its Christmas Festivities, New Deal with their Christmas events in Blakenall Heath and even, dare I say, it, Walsall with its X-Factor Christmas Lights Switch-On (yes, they can afford the switch, even if Bloxwich can't!).

What can we do about it? 

Well, first of all, if you're not happy about things in your bit of Bloxwich, or Leamore, or Blakenall or wherever, be sure to knock on the door of your local Councillor and ask them to help.  After all, if you don't ask, you don't get, and that's what local democracy is all about. And don't forget we have a big shiny police station in Bloxwich full of people who are supposed to be working for us.  Support them, and they'll support you - but DO get them out of their offices and onto the streets, that's where they're needed, not peering at computer screens all day.

Secondly, if you're a local business, join the Bloxwich, Leamore & Blakenall Retailers Traders Partnership.  This is a genuine effort by Walsall Council to try and improve things in our area, and the opportunity needs to be grasped with both hands - don't just sit on them!

Thirdly, don't snooze in front of the telly with a bottle of lager.  If you can, get off the sofa and support the local groups, charities, events and organisations that are trying to make life better in our area.  You CAN make a difference, and you might even have some fun!

And fourth, but not least, find out about your home villages and just take an interest in what's going on around you.  Have some pride of place, and pride in your community, and remember - Bloxwich and district is as good as anywhere else in the Borough, and better than most!  But in today's sofa society, we really do need to work at it to bring back some of that community spirit which so many bemoan the loss of, but too few are doing anything to bring back.

What can the Tallygraph do for Bloxwich and district?

Well, small and beautifully marked as it is, The Bloxidge Tallygraph is nonetheless absolutely determined to support the local community and local business, and stand up for Bloxwich, Leamore and Blakenall Heath.

You can certainly expect us to kick up some dust and encourage local people to fly the flag for the area, and support others who are willing to make the effort to do so. People like Bloxwich Carnival Committee, Friends of Bloxwich Parks, Bloxwich Rotary Phoenix, Leamore TMO, the Bloxwich, Leamore & Blakenal Retailers Traders Partnership just to mention a very few who are doing things all the time in our very distinctive community.  There are many more, you know who you are - so please get in touch!

With your support and interest in return, we can do more to raise the profile of Bloxwich and district and do our bit to improve the area and keep it the great place to live that it has always been, and will continue be in the future.

The past is an important signpost of the way to the future - but the future is in your hands. Pick it up and run with it!

The Edditer

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Dateline: 15 November 2009

The past few weeks have really brought home to me firstly how essential it is that there be a local online news and information facility for Bloxwich - The Bloxidge Tallygraph is the first such to really try to address local needs - and secondly, how much of a commitment providing such a facility can be at busy news times!  

On several occasions, I’ve even found myself filling a gap left by the local paper press, specifically covering the Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day events in Bloxwich, and the launch and subsequent formal opening, by the Mayor, of Holland's Bakery shop.  I’ve no doubt that there will be more such gaps to fill at times, and I will continue to do what I can, subject to my many other commitments. 

Of course I make no pretence to be competing with the ‘big boys’ - clearly I don’t have the resources of the Express & Star, Walsall Advertiser or Walsall Chronicle, nor the time to offer the general coverage of the the wider Walsall area which they provide so ably.  What I can do is try to complement their work on a small scale in a more interactive and (to use some emerging jargon) “hyperlocal” fashion, by closely focusing on local events and issues in Bloxwich and district, in some cases in ways which are simply not practical for newspapers which are no longer published in Walsall.  And of course on occasion I can feed back into their work more directly, for example as a columnist and occasional contributor to the Walsall Chronicle.

The Bloxidge Tallygraph is of course primarily a one-man-band operation, albeit I have some support from a handful of local contributors who have kindly allowed me to publish their work, which I regard highly (not to mention that mysterious fellow The Forrener…).  This means that at times when things pile up it can be difficult to keep up. I take my work on the Tallygraph seriously, but I do have my ‘day job’ and increasing family commitments, and also work with a number of groups, local and national.  I also write independently of the Tallygraph, something which I plan to expand considerably in the new year.

This means that, after considerable reflection, I feel that it’s time to put The Bloxidge Tallygraph on a more organised, formalised, predictable production schedule. Partly this is to make it easier for me to manage my commitments, and partly because I think it will help our readers to know when to expect something new.  

So, what does this all mean for the future of The Bloxidge Tallygraph?  

Well, the most significant development is that we are moving to a weekly publication schedule for news, and the Pic of the Day will become Pic of the Week.  Edditorials will also be weekly, time permitting.    Publication day will be Saturday, as was the case for the great local papers of the past.  That doesn’t mean that if a major local story suddenly breaks that the Tallygraph will not cover it in a timely fashion if need be - we will!  That is after all one of the best things about being an independent, online publication.  If a story needs reporting now, it can be done now.  Articles and features do not need to be so topical on the whole, and so they will move to a monthly schedule, and we will do our best to present our readers with at least one new feature or article every month, if possible in the first week of the month.

Some sections of the Tallygraph will also change to reflect that fact that better, more timely or different information is already available elsewhere. We already link to www.theyamyam.com as the topical local news hub for the Walsall area, and support that site by freely allowing items from the Tallygraph and my personal site to be linked from there.  The Sports Page will evolve into a combination of links to other online news sites plus local sporting clubs and organisations.  Occasionally a significant sports story will also feature on the front page, of course.  I will be looking at other sections in a similar light.  Additionally, I want to do more to reflect the cultural side of Bloxwich and district, and to support local business, in 2010.

One thing that will not change, however, is that The Bloxidge Tallygraph will remain fiercely and proudly supportive of the people and places of Bloxwich and district, and will continue to stand up for their distinctiveness and for their independent spirit.  I hope we will continue to receive their, and your, support in return.

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Dateline: 11 October 2009

When we speak of nostalgia, we often get a vision of the world war and brown bread generation sitting around a piano having a sing-song, but there’s more to it than that.  After all, those of us who were born in the Space Age are not getting any younger, and occasionally something a little more recent will strike a chord from the days of our youth.

Last night I was flicking through the Freeview channels when I came across an unexpected delight – a dramatised documentary entitled ‘Micro Men’, starring Alexander Armstrong and Martin Freeman.

Broadly, the play was about those first few years in the 1980s when Britain was the world’s greatest innovator in the home computer revolution, which began almost as a cottage industry. 

More specifically it was about the rivalry between Sinclair Research and Acorn Computers, the brainchildren of Clive Sinclair and his one-time employee Chris Curry, together with Curry’s partner Herman Hauser.  They were the inventors and innovators who, together with their remarkable colleagues and co-conspirators, did for the British computer industry what Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs did for the USA with Apple. 

People often forget that it was Sinclair (later Sir Clive) and his team who invented the digital watch, the pocket calculator, the miniature TV and the affordable home computer, decades before the digital age.  He also came up with the C5, but we’ll pass over that…  Curry and his compatriots were looking to take the next step, in competition with Sinclair, and devised a new microcomputer (the Proton!) which would stand up to the rigours of educational use, control robots and interface with scientific instruments.  Winning the BBC Micro contract and renamed the BBC Micro, it would come to dominate educational computing and computer literacy initiatives, inspiring hobbyists to do their own thing in ways which before had been impossible.  Sinclair’s ultra-cheap ZX81 and Spectrum on the other hand ruled the home market for years and pretty much single-handedly facilitated the computer games revolution. 

Those were the great days when home computing was fun, when it was a challenge, and at first you often had to build your own kit and write your own programmes, which was all part of the excitement!  Remember the BBC’s Computer Programme and the effort to get a computer into every school, and later into every home?  That was Acorn leading the field with the British-made BBC Model B and its descendants.  When was the last time you saw a British-made computer, watch or calculator?

Later, computer life was often about the challenge of getting programmes to load off worn tape cassettes, or listening to the coffee-grinder sound of a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk failing to load,  or the surreptitious whisper of the tape chewing up in a Microdrive.  Not to mention dot-matrix printers which jammed at the drop of a hat and tore holes in cheap paper with a sound like a machine-gun in overdrive.

Those of you who have only known the gigabyte generation will hardly believe that in the 80s RAM came in tiny chunks like 1k or 16k bytes, and then 32k or 48k was a huge innovation, with the peak, years later, being 128k.  Some computers, like the Acorn BBC Micro, even had a real keyboard instead of rubber buttons!  You programmed your home computer in Assembly Language or various arcane versions of BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code).  Programmes were mostly on cassette or in ROM.  Processors were 8-bit or rarely 16.  Eight, sixteen or 32 colours was the name of the game, high resolution was 160 or 320 pixels, a hard disc was something you threw about on the beach, and windows were something you smashed with a cricket ball :O)

Back then I fancied myself as a bit of a hacker, and I well remember using a 300 baud acoustic coupler (army surplus), with an old ICL dumb terminal and running up £250 a quarter ‘phone bills in the days before public access to the internet.  I even wrote on communications for some of the home computer magazines, and edited pages on Prestel.  Ah, those were the days, when Twitter was for the birds...

Those of you of like mind and similar age (I recently hit 50) will no doubt remember all the computers I owned: Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair Spectrum, Oric Atmos, Atari 800, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, BBC Model B and Master 128k, TI 99/4A, Amstrad CPC 464, 664 and 6128. Not to mention the Sinclair QL…  But I never had a Jupiter Ace, sadly (remember the Forth language with reverse Polish notation?).

In the early 80s I co-founded the West Midlands Amstrad User Group which later morphed into the Serious Micro User Group as our interests widened.  Where are all the computer clubs now?

The Japanese tried to take over the business with their own unifying standard, MSX, but they failed dismally, and it was too late.  The writing was already on the wall for home computing, and 8-bit had lost its bite.  Later I went on to the sixteen-bit power generation including the Atari ST, Acorn Archimedes and the Commodore Amiga, but while fun, they didn’t have the fascination of those DIY days.

The home computer business couldn’t last, sadly, and the bubble began to burst in the late 1980s/early 90s, when the barrow boys and big business took over and stifled the golden age of true home computing, bringing in the era of Boring Business Machines.  The fun went out of the game as the big guns took over with IBM, Apple, Digital Research and Microsoft powering ahead with machines which were tools, not toys, where user input was not required just to get them to work (most of time, anyway!).  Computers became commonplace, and the end of the typewriter was in sight.

Things have changed since then, of course.  Today the operating system is king and computer life is basically a choice of worshipping the dark elder god Microsoft or becoming an acolyte of the shining cult of Apple.  But that’s another story.

By the end of ‘Micro Men’, I had retrieved much which I had thought lost forever in my own non-volatile RAM, and I’m not ashamed to admit I shed a tear or two of real nostalgia.  Those were the days of my youth, when computing was fun and scientists did their best work in a shed at the bottom of a garden in Cambridge.  Not a Vera Lynn LP or Biggles book in sight, either.

It’s true what they say, you know.  Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.  But perhaps some of those great days can be recalled, even now.  Maybe I’m just an aging geek at heart, but I’m sure I can hear the still, small voice of my dear old Beeb beeping softly from up in the loft, “Let me out of the box, let me out…”  And maybe, just maybe, I will.

The Edditer

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Dateline:  26 August 2009

In 1939 Pat Collins, the legendary ‘king of showmen’,

celebrated his eightieth birthday whilst he was Mayor and congratulatory letters and telegrams poured into Bloxwich from all parts of the world.  Of Walsall he said at the time, “There is no better place under the sun. I love the old town and particularly this old village of Bloxwich”.

While taking part in this year’s celebration of dear old Pat’s 150th birthday, his statement of affection set me to thinking.  In Pat’s time, and in the 1950s when E.J. Homeshaw wrote ‘The Story of Bloxwich’, my birthplace and home was simply described as ‘A South Staffordshire village’.  A romantic description indeed, redolent of old England and the heritage that surrounds us here, even in the early years of the 21st century.  Today, Bloxwich is often referred to as a town rather than a village, but is that strictly true?

The shorter OED on historical principles describes the word ‘town’ in many ways, some of them archaic, but one of its definitions is “Now commonly designating an assemblage of buildings, public and private, larger than a village, and having more complete and independent local government; applied not only to a ‘borough’, and a ‘city’, but also to an ‘urban district’ and sometimes to small inhabited places below the rank of an ‘urban district’”.  Of the designation ‘village’ it says in part “A collection of dwelling-houses and other buildings, larger than a hamlet and smaller than a town, or having simpler organization and administration than the latter.”

Bloxwich has no ”complete and independent local government”, and never has; there are some mentions of a Manor of Bloxwich in the 16th century, but there are no records of a court or any other elements of manorial government in Bloxwich.  It seems that Bloxwich was part of the medieval Manor of Walsall for centuries, despite the fact that Bloxwich is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and Walsall is not.  That Manor was taken over by the old Borough of Walsall.  There is no Bloxwich Town Hall or Council House.  Bloxwich Councillors are members of Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, and have been since 1835 when, under the Municipal Reform Act, Walsall became governed by elected councillors rather than selected ‘burgesses’ from the old corporation.  Bloxwich then came under the Foreign Ward, and was represented on Walsall Town Council by two aldermen and six councillors who were elected by the ratepayers.

Over the decades, Bloxwich industry has drastically declined, many large factories have closed and mining has disappeared altogether. Bloxwich has spread somewhat over the years, it is true, but only by the addition of housing estates that have covered the fields with which it was once surrounded.  Blakenall Heath was the first of the new estates, going straight from hamlet to housing in the mid 1920s-30s.  Beechdale and Mossley are both primarily post-war, as is the slightly later Lower Farm Estate which expanded on Little Bloxwich.  But in practice these are just increases in population.  Size is, after all, not everything.

Bloxwich still has its own distinctive Black Country village character, spirit and people.  While governed from Walsall, many would not see it as being part of Walsall, and the same is true of many other towns and villages now within the present Metropolitan Borough.  Some would even argue that Bloxwich should be part of Staffordshire, not the amorphous non-county that is West Midlands (or Greater Birmingham as the brummies would have it!).

By both definition and tradition, therefore, I would argue that Bloxwich may still be called a village, despite the fact that today it is often referred to as a town.  We still have, in its leafy centre, our village green (Bloxwich Park), our chapel green (Elmore Green) and our village church (All Saints), our Post Office and our village schools.  We have a selection of village pubs, many close to the greens (though for how long is anyone’s guess!) and no shortage of shops along the old High Street.  Indeed apart from the ASDA, the addition of some poor 1960s buildings and changes in the various shops, much is still as it was in the centre of Bloxwich in the 1950s.  A stroll along Bloxwich High Street to the church on a sunny summer’s day, or through autumn leaves on the old green, will soon evoke much of the true character of this ancient place.

Bloxwich - town or village?  I say village.  What say you?

The Edditer 

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Dateline:  4 June 2009

It seemed like a good idea to publish this year’s Summer Edditorial at a time when not only has the weather warmed up, but UK politicians are in hot water! 

The current fevered debate in the media and the country over the alleged claiming of extravagant expenses by a minority of Members of Parliament and the resulting political fallout is set to run for some time to come, especially with the results of today’s European and (in some other parts of the UK) local elections bound to add to the controversy.  The perceived lack of confidence in MPs of all parties may have severe consequences for the standing of those parties, deserved or not.

Inevitably, this will have its effect on local politics as well, albeit not this time around in Walsall Metropolitan Borough.  I have always felt the best way to decide on voting is to consider who has done the best for the town, and to consider the consequences of change.  Sometimes change is necessary to improve things, but be careful what you wish for – you may get it, and be stuck with it!

I do know that we have always been able to count on our Labour MP for Walsall North, David Winnick, who has done a good and conscientious job locally over many years and has conspicuously stood up for what is right in Parliament.  And for the most part our Bloxwich Councillors of whichever party affiliation have worked hard for us under difficult circumstances for many years.  

None of these good people are standing in the Euro elections, which offer a very different selection of parties and candidates, but these elections are still being seen as a referendum on mainstream politics, so who knows who will get in?  However things turn out, European decision-making does have an (often unwanted!) effect on us locally and nationally, and it is likely that there will be dramatic changes in the political landscape for years to come.

I am not going to tell you who to vote for, that is a matter of personal conscience, but if you have the vote, then I would strongly urge you to use it, and decide carefully, for without your efforts our ancient democracy will be made even weaker than some in Westminster have made it already. 

The Edditer

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Spring has finally sprung in Bloxwich (in between the showers of rain!), and as always the many parks and green spaces in and around the town are a delight to the eye and to those of us who like to get out and about.  Walsall may have its grand (if rather dilapidated) Arboretum, but we Bloxidge folk are well-blessed for greenery ourselves, what with Bloxwich Park (the old Village Green or Short Heath), Elmore Green, King George V Playing Fields, Leamore Park and last but not least the Promenade Gardens, scene of so much carnival history.

Speaking of the Promenade Gardens, hopefully it will not be too many weeks before we see the return of the famous Bloxwich Fountain which has been spending time in Birmingham for restoration, repair and repainting.  What colour it will turn out to be next remains to be seen, so keep an eye on the Tallygraph's front page for the first pictures!  More importantly, it is to be hoped it will be properly looked after in future, and not neglected as has been past tradition. 

Of course this leads on to the thorny topic of Bloxwich Carnival and the likely loss of its traditional parade this year due to a lack of sponsorship in the way of trucks and lorries for floats.  One can of course understand hard-pressed companies wishing to save money, but this kind of thing can only reflect badly on those who appear to have lost their community spirit and are also missing an opportunity to advertise themselves to a large audience of appreciative Bloxwich folk. 

Bloxwich Carnival Committee have not lost their community spirit, however - and they will be doing their very best this year as always to make carnival day (Saturday 1st August) the best possible day for us all.  I hope you will continue to give them your every support, as will The Bloxidge Tallygraph - see you there!

The Edditer, 30th April 2009

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To download a copy of the first issue of the original single page 1874 Bloxidge Tallygraph (reduced to A4 from the original broadsheet size, colour jpeg, 2.2mb), click on this link.

To download a copy of the later descendant of the Tallygraph - 'The Bloxwich Telegraph' (21 January 1886, reduced to A4 from the original broadsheet size, colour jpeg, 1.7mb) - click on this link.

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WANTED:  PHOTOS OR POSTCARDS OF OLD BLOXWICH POLICE STATIONS, THE OLD BLOXWICH RAILWAY STATION AND OLD BLOXWICH LIBRARIES   Do you have any photographs of the above buildings?  If so, please get in touch as we need more to add to our forthcoming features, and also, with your permission, to the archives at Walsall Local History Centre - you could help us make history!

Link to some past Edditorials

Past Edditorials

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Stuart Williams is The Edditer of  The Bloxidge Tallygraph.

Email:  the.edditer@thebloxidgetallygraph.com

Published by The Little Bloxwich Press, Little Bloxwich, Staffordshire.  Copyright 2006, 7, 8, 9 - All Rights Reserved.

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