Sandyford and Goldenhill

Magistrates’ Court ban brothers from their home

Two teenage brothers have been banned from the street where they were living after making neighbours’ lives a misery.

Casey and Liam O’Brien, of Ridge Road, Sandyford, have been handed interim Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbos) until July 19 after appearing in court yesterday.

North Staffordshire Magistrates’ Court heard how the brothers had been involved in a catalogue of anti-social behaviour in Sandyford for 18 months.

Casey, aged 19, and Liam, aged 18, are now living with friends in Brocksford Street, Fenton, after moving out of Ridge Road about a fortnight ago. It is understood their mother still lives in Ridge Road.

For more information on this story follow the link http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Asbo-pair-banned-home-street-creating-havoc/story-12849256-detail/story.html

Temporary ASBOs Issued to Local Teenagers

It has been reported that temporary asbo’s have been issued to teenagers who have been involved in a number of antisocial activities with local residents in the Sandyford area.

The youths who live in Ridge Road, Sandyford, appeared at Fenton Magistrates court today where the temporary asbo’s were issued.

Local police and the City Council’s Safer Cities Partnership Officers have been addressing the issues brought up by local residents by taking statements from them in regards to the increased amounts of antisocial activities during recent months.

Residents have been encouraged with the support given by the police and council and with a previous curfew now in place keeping the youths out of the area between 8.00 p.m. at night & 6.00 a.m. in the morning, it is said by local people that the area is now a much nicer place to live in.

Plans to landscape neighbouring Keele Golf Centre

Neighbours fear plans to improve a golf course will leave them with a rubbish tip on their doorsteps.

Plans have been submitted to landscape the nine-hole course at Keele Golf Centre which is described as ‘featureless’ by current owner Jack Barker’s Golf Company.

But the application submitted to Newcastle Borough Council says that there would not be enough soil taken from the dips created on the site to make the associated peaks and it will use imported materials.

Residents fear that building rubble would be tipped on to the site and are uneasy about the number of lorries which will need to travel along Keele Road to make the deliveries.

They are now hoping that the council will refuse the application.

Titanic Year “Goldenhill 1912”

This is the latest instalment in the series of articles on the people, traders and businesses in Goldenhill. The population in 1911 was 4896, an increase of about 500 since 1904.

If you look at the progress which was made between 1834 and 1912 and then compare it with what has occurred since 1912, I think you may consider that in some areas we have made great strides and hopefully, in the right direction.

In 1834 there were no cars, no trains, no postal service, few newspapers, high illiteracy, few schools, few shops, meagre wages, extreme poverty, child labour and primitive healthcare.

In 1912, there were, steam trains, electric trams, basic cars, postal service, more newspapers, more schools, greater literacy, more shops, wider choice, wage earning, still some poverty, factory & employment laws and basic health care.

In 2011 we have, 125 mph trains, performance cars, jet engines, space travel, a diminished postal service, e-mail, internet, education for everyone, plenty of shops, internet shopping, some unemployment, poverty, wars, wonder drugs and sophisticated surgery techniques.

There hasn’t been a world war yet but the British and the Germans have been spoiling for a fight for years now.

April 14t^h 1912, two days after setting sail on her maiden voyage, the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Did you know that the Titanic captain, Edward John Smith was born in Hanley in 1850 to an ordinary working class family?

Let’s have a look at who’s who in Goldenhill in 1912. The Reverend Granville Rowe Bailey is still the vicar at St. John’s church and the Reverend Thomas Bedwin is the priest at St. Joseph’s. The other prominent people are, Thomas Birchall, Joseph Wayne, Reverend Frederick Masters and Hugh Henshall Williamson.

James Lewis is still the Postmaster and stationer, he is now able to send and receive telegrams from his post office. William Aspinall at 44 High Street and David Lindop of 72 High Street were also stationers.

The 2 collections and deliveries apply 6 days a week but with just 1 on Sundays and as I write this the Government has just announced that it is considering selling off the Post Office to the private sector. Is that progress?

The school teachers are William C. Jones, Miss Sherwin, Samuel Brander, Miss Martha Wooliscroft and Miss Kate Ganton.

There is a County Police Station in the High Street commanded by Sergeant James Egan supported by his 4 constables.

The volunteer military unit no longer resides in the village, it has moved to the Barracks and Drill Hall in Bath Street Tunstall. The office commanding is Captain Laurence Clive, if you recall he was assistant to the CO back in 1904 when they were stationed in Goldenhill.

The village has a registrar E. J. Oliver, for the registration of births, marriages and deaths. He attends the Club Room in Church Street for 1 hour each Friday between 11-30 & 12-30.

Church Street is now called Garbett Street and I assume that the Club Room was the Miners Welfare Institute which we called the Uffers back in the sixties, not sure if it was the same building though.

The village Surgeon and Medical officer is still William Partington but I believe he died in the latter part of 1912. The undertaker is Thomas Buckley in Heath Street.

Life is getting very sophisticated now, there are 4 insurance agents living here, Alfred Cotton, John Ginnis, Edward Green and William Parker will ensure that all your insurance needs are met. The unofficial job title was, the “club man”, I know I was one for a few years between 1990 and 2002 and part of that time was actually in Goldenhill.

The Burslem Co-operative Society had their branch in the High Street opposite where the Co-op is now. Altogether there were around 35 shops, most of them were in the High Street but quite a few in the back streets.

Henry Mainwaring was a Hardware dealer at 11 Heath Street and Mr Painter traded as the same at 166 High Street. There are now 3 chip shops situated in the High Street at numbers, 24, 31 and 84. A good indication of the new prosperity is 7 butcher’s shops operating in 1 village.

On the down side there are still 3 pawnbrokers, I’m not sure if this was good or not but it probably helped people quite a lot as pay day approached. Uriah Ebrill was still the only boilermaker, surprisingly. Beer retailers are 8 in number and one of them was Samuel Whittaker who went on to keep the Wheatsheaf in my childhood. Another was George Buckley at Acres Nook, think of the Rifleman and go back to the 50s and 60s.

Emily Lockett has taken over as the toy retailer and Harold Lockett has a shop at Latebrook, the Locketts were well known to my family. Charles Lovatt is the only baker. One hairdresser looks after all of the village and 2 tailors supply all their sartorial needs. You’ll like this, Luke Bailey is the cow keeper, I just thought he should have a mention.

Two boot and shoemakers earn their living here, one in Heath Street and one in High Street. Minnie Birchenough is a dressmaker at 23 Heath Street and Thomas Birchenough was one of the boot makers at the same address.

Frank Cumberbatch is a tobacconist in High Street, that’s a new trade, he more than likely supplied the chewing tobacco for the coal miners. Thomas Cumberbatch was one of the shopkeepers in Heath Street. William Pigott is the village plumber at 92 High Street, just think of all those frozen pipes in the outside toilets in winter. William Jeffreys has a shop at 2a Albert Street which is on the corner to where his bus garage is going to be and William Stonier has a butcher shop at 98 High Street opposite to where his bus garage will be, that is when they get around to it.

Let’s have a look at the names which passed the test of time at least until the 60s. Bentham, Buckley, Caton, Cumberbatch, Dale, Davies, Deakin, Dudley, Eptlett, Farr, Faulkner, Fernihough, Frith, Green, Hancock, Lear, Leese, Lovatt, Mainwaring, Neate, Nixon, Parker, Reeves, Sillito, Stubbs, Caton, Colclough, Cooper, Jeffreys, Weetman and Wood.

The Potteries Electric Tram Company still has a depot at the top of the village, Oldcott Green to be precise, there’s posh for you. Anne Corbishley, Sarah Buckley, Charles Fernihough, Albert Fradley, Ambrose Lawton and Charles Wilson were all farmers.

For the first time we have Thursday as the early closing day. I suppose there has to be a substantial number of shops to warrant an early closing day.

The colour works previously owned by the Williamson family is now a public limited company, the Goldenhill Cobalt Co Ltd. Edward Green is still the Station Master.

Let’s take a look at who has the public houses. Henry Arding Dale, The Wheatsheaf. Joseph Redfern, The Working Men’s Institute. Charles Sale, The Lord Nelson. John Colclough, The Red Lion. Cornelius Cooper, The Duke of Wellington. I have two photographs taken in the High street in 1911 which show a pub called the New Inn and also the Horse and Jockey, these are not listed anywhere that I can find. The New Inn was next to the Nelson and the Horse and Jockey was opposite the Wesleyan chapel. One of the photos shows a shop opposite the Nelson selling Humber cycles and a sign on the Nelson says “You may telephone from here”

Lots of names and properties had survived up to the mid sixties when the city council decided in their wisdom to obliterate over 150 years of history and tradition. Even without the benefit of rose coloured glasses, life seemed a lot simpler then. Less choice didn’t necessarily mean poor quality, it just meant that what you got was all that was available and there was no point in wanting more. People worked for what they wanted, if you didn’t work for it, you couldn’t have it.

The year 1912 at first appeared to be quite ancient and then I considered the fact that I was born in 1946, which was only 34 years on from then. My earliest memories are probably around 1950 when I started school. As I have said before I can recall the death of King George VI in 1952, so for me this is not ancient history.

I have really enjoyed researching these articles and I hope that anyone who reads them will get an equal amount of pleasure from them.

All comments and criticisms are welcome.

David Wood.

To read more on the Captain of the Titanic, Edward J Smith follow the link

http://www.the-titanic.com/Passengers/Crew/Captain-Edward-Smith.aspx?gclid=COvDhuXyyakCFUMMfAodj2aKNQ

Goldenhill Community Fun Day “Saturday 6th August”

What was it like in 1904 Goldenhill

Goldenhill has finally arrived in the 20^th century.

Queen Victoria is no longer with us, instead of being Victorians we are now Edwardians with Edward VII as king and the prime minister is Arthur Balfour, Conservative.

The population is 4378, that is an increase of 1200 in the 8 years since 1896.

The main sources of employment are still coal mines, ironstone mines, potteries and the extensive chemical and colour works which is still owned by the Williamson family.

The Reverend Granville Rowe Bailey is still the vicar of St. John’s church. The other prominent villagers are, Mrs Clare, George Duckworth, George Hartshorne, Herbert Pointon, Thomas H. Seddon, Hugh Henshall Williamson and Edward Green is the Station Master.

There are now 4 schools in the village and Henry Gilbert, Miss Jane Derbyshire and Miss Sherwin are still teaching and they are joined by William C. Jones and Miss Martha Wooliscroft.

Moving ahead to 1905 for a moment, Henry Gilbert was also the organist and choirmaster at St John’s church, he apparently drowned in the sea at Blackpool, a stained glass window is in the church dedicated to his memory, I will have to look for that next time I am in there.

James Gargreaves is the sergeant instructor to the Volunteer Battalion. The Volunteer Battalion (1^st) The Prince of Wales, North Staffordshire Regiment is commanded by Captain G. W. Laybourn assisted by Lieutenants Harry and Laurence Clive, brothers do you think?

The Chaplain is still Reverend T. Nunn, James Lewis is still the Post Master and stationer, there are still 2 collections and 2 deliveries per day. Whereas Mr Lewis used to be the only stationer in the village, Mrs Jane Jones and David Lindop also sell stationery, perhaps with the increase in literacy it has created a market for these items.

Let’s see what difference there is in beer retailers, there were 11 and now there are only 9. We don’t know who keeps the Nelson Arms at this time, but Cornelius Cooper has the Duke of Wellington, John Colclough the Red Lion and Henry Arding Dale the Wheatsheaf.

William Collinson still owns the colliery. Mrs Hannah Loveland is a smallware dealer, I don’t know what smallware is, if you know, tell us. William Jeffreys is still selling toys and William Stonier is a butcher, I wonder, when buses are invented, will these two will strike out in that direction, but form separate companies.

Three pawn brokers trade in the village, they are, Harry Parr, Frederick Frith and the partnership of Cope & Frith. I wonder if Frederick was related to the other Frith, a family dispute and split perhaps.

The steam trams have been running for about 20 years and now the electric trams have taken over. The end of the line was the depot at the top of the village at the fork in the road at Kidsgrove Road and Rodgers Street. To my young eyes that place seemed cavernous, the thought of going in there chilled my blood.

I think some of the old tram lines may still be buried under the road surface, I remember seeing them during road works in the sixties.

A rundown of the various businesses is as follows, 18 shops, 3 pubs, 4 butchers, 3 drapers, 7 farms, 3 pawnbrokers, 1 builder, 1 boiler maker, 3 shoe or clog makers, 3 stationers, 1 fishmonger, 1 furniture dealer, 1 doctor, 1 hairdresser, 1 fried fish shop, 1 crate maker, 1 earthenware dealer, 1 plumber, the blacksmith is no more and the wheelwright has disappeared too.

My great, great aunt and uncle still have their little shop in Temperance Place. My great, great grandfather, William Nixon, born 1836, was a beer retailer at 14 High Street, he died in 1905.

A few of the old names survived until at least my childhood, Clare, Birchenough, Buckley, Colclough, Dale, Davies, Dudley, Ebrill, Ford, Frith, Hall, Hancock, Jeffreys, Jones, Lewis, Longshaw, Nixon, Plant, Reeves, Rhead, Silltto, Stonier, Whittaker and Wolliscroft.

From an old map of 1879, the colour works was quite large, it went from the Red Lion along Rodgers street to Shannon Drive and then all the way down Heathside Lane to the football pitch. It was still owned by John Henshall Williamson and produced cobalt nickel, borax and potters colour. All of these chemicals were used in the pottery industry and were hazardous to health.

The village physician is still William Partington, M.A. One of the drapers was named Arthur Bickley, I am sure that there was a Bickley still in business in the village when I was a boy.

There are quite a few cars on the road now, but Henry Ford didn’t make his Model T until 1908, all cars have to be registered and have a number plate, their speed is limited to 20mph.

Electricity was starting to be installed in homes around this time, alas it was only for the very well off, I remember from my childhood that people were very wary of electricity and treated anything electrical with great respect.

That’s all for 1904 the next instalment of this “thrilling” series will be focused upon 1912.

David Wood

Happy Memories of 1960’s & 70’s Goldenhill & Sandyford

Paul Wilshaw shares some of his memories of growing up in 1960’s & 70’s Goldenhill & Sandyford and would like anyone who remembers him or his family to get in touch.

Paul goes onto say that he lived and grew up in Goldenhill in the 60′s and 70′s and reading some of the comments brought back some happy memories. I lived in Breakspeare Street with my parents Dennis and Sylvia Wilshaw. My brother David was actually born in the house in 1965. I attended the C of E Junior School and remember teachers Mr Hancock and the formidable Mr Beech. My father worked as a bus driver for Stoniers and Jeffreys, which was 50 yards from our house. I always remember the large bonfire that we used to have on the banks as we called it on Guy Fawkes night. My great Uncle Dan and Aunt Nellie lived opposite Eva Bourne’s shop. I remember my mum sending me there with the items she wanted written on a note. We moved into No 4 Ancaster Street in 1971. I remember the street party we had in 1977 for the Queens Silver Jubilee. We arranged a game of football (jumpers for goal posts) between the lads and fathers on the car park area at the bottom of Breakspeare Street with yours truly scoring the winning goal, and the party held at the Methodist Chapel where we attended Sunday School. These are just a few of my memories and I’m sure I have many more…If anyone remembers me or my family please drop me an e.mail at paul.wilshaw@ntlworld.com

Enough is Enough “Local Woman Threatened in Street”

On Monday evening, a local woman was threatened outside her own home in Sandy Road, Sandyford by youths who live in nearby Ridge Road.

It was reported the aggressive teenage youths said they were going to beat the woman and her family up as well as going to put her windows through.

Local residents who are fed up with the ongoing antisocial behaviour started to turn against the youths with visual solidarity of strength after seeing one of the youths showing off a golf club.

Residents witnessed seven police vehicles in the street as well as an ambulance having to visit the scene after one resident collapsed and had to be treated by a paramedic.

One resident who lives in the area said this antisocial behaviour must end soon before people take matters into their own hands.

It was reported that on Wednesday, youths appeared in court on public order offences, which occured in the Sandyford area.

Police officers are continuing to visit local residents to make further statements and to show visual support to a community who has been suffering from antisocial activities for the past two years.

To read more about the attempted hammer attack on a local man in the area two days prior to this, then follow the link http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Police-investigate-report-attempted-hammer-attack/story-12723528-detail/story.html

Attempted Hammer Attack on Local Man

A local resident reported that she received a telephone call from someone in Ridge Road, Sandyford last night to say that a gang of youths had been seen chasing a man down Ridge Road trying to attack him with a hammer, bat and length of innertube etc.

The Police were called on 999 and it took 23 minutes for them to arrive as they were waiting for a unit with a taser.

When will this end has someone got to be seriously injured, also I thought the Police have a duty of care to protect.

They need to be stopped before someone gets hurt, or takes things into there own hands. What a waste of police resource on a Saturday night.

To report crime to Staffordshire Police then follow the link for more details http://www.staffordshire.police.uk/about_us/contact_us/report_crime

Land Secured as Gypsies Move On

As gypsies moved off land near to Sandyford Cricket Club on Saturday 21st May, Councillor Martin Garner reported to S.A.G.E. that the fencing is now repaired.

Councillor Garner said that his concerns along with S.A.G.E. was that if the area is left open to access then the situation could be made even easier for the gypsies to get onto the land should they try again.

The councillor added that to get the fencing repaired, he has had to put plenty of pressure on the City Council to get the job done.