THE BLOXIDGE TALLYGRAPH
The online Community News and Local History Magazine for Bloxwich & District - Edditid by a Bloxidge mon!
It's Pat Collins Day Today!
Bloxwich Wake, The Wakes Ground, Bloxwich. 13 August 1949 (Courtesy Kevin Scrivens)
Dateline: 7 August 2009
The Bloxidge Tallygraph is declaring today PAT COLLINS DAY, to coincide with the Walsall Town Show this Saturday and Sunday in Walsall Arboretum. Both the show and the Tallygraph are celebrating the 150th birthday of late 19th/early 20th century funfair mogul Pat Collins 'The King of Showmen'. Born in Chester in 1859, Mr. Collins later made his home in Walsall and in 1915 settled in Bloxwich, which became the headquarters of his legendary amusement empire.
The Tallygraph is marking Pat Collins Day by launching a new section of the 'paper', dedicated to Pat Collins and in particular his associations with Bloxwich, Walsall and the Black Country.
The new section - which will go live at 7pm this evening - includes the unpublished concise biography of Pat Collins by noted Bloxwich historian Mr. E.J Homeshaw (now illustrated for the online version), an article on Pat Collins and Bloxwich Wakes by fairground and local historian Ned Williams, a Pat Collins Bloxwich Trail by Stuart Williams and the story of Pat Collins' Lion Tamer, Capt. Herbert Clarke, also by Stuart Williams. In addition there is a list of further reading and relevant web links.
When the section is launched tonight, a new menu item 'Pat Collins' will appear on the left of the page.
