THE BLACK COUNTRY MEMORIES CLUB

Our Meeting 26th September 2004 REMEMBERING OXFORD STREET St. Mary's Church, Oxford Street

Our meeting was all about Oxford Street, a street which used to contain a lot of residential areas and a lot of industry.  It is now greatly changed.  We wanted to remember the street as it used to be. At the invitation of the church, we held the meeting at St. Mary's, a church which has seen both the old and the new Oxford Street.  The meeting was also to help raise funds for the repair of the church roof.  The congregation is working hard on the fabric of the church.

Only a year ago this graveyard was an overgrown mess.  After a lot of hard work it is now not just neat and tidy but already looking mature.  The work has revealed many interesting memorials, all of which have now been recorded.

Here is Bill Pope, reporting for duty at the start of the day.  The weather was not too cold but overcast, with occasional showers and occasional glimpses of sun.		At the church gates are John Elwell, our Vice-President, who had again travelled down all the way from Yorkshire; Sandra Aston, who had travelled all the way from Wombourne; and Megan Fitzgerald-Plummer who, on behalf of the church, had helped organise the day with Reg Aston.  It was also Megan and her husband who have turned the churchyard into a garden and recorded all the memorials.
	Here are our President, Trevor Genge, 'Arry 'Arrison and our Chairman, Alan Bickley.  Reg had invited 'Arry to come along on behalf of the Black Country Bugle and we were very glad to see this distinguished journalist.		Reg duly takes a photograph to record the visit.  It was much easier to do it outside as, within a short time of the opening, the inside of the church was so full of people that there was not much room for photographic manouevres.
		By then Bill Pope was inside and ready to start collecting money at the door.  We always knew Bill had a lot of bottle.

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