Alec Brew – författare

This collection of over 200 old photographs illustrates scenes from the communities of Willenhall and Horseley Fields. These pictures show how relatively unchanged the streets and buildings of Willenhall are. A walk around the town today shows that it is still possible to see many of the features which appear in the oldest photographs in this book. By contrast, the old area of Horseley Fields has all but disappeared.The history of Willenhall or ‘Humpshire’ as it is affectionately known, as a world-renowned centre for lockmaking is illustrated and we see people at work, leisure and sport. The book also looks back to the more industrial days of Horseley Fields. Through the medium of photography the book captures the essence of life as it used to be in Willenhall and Horseley Fields and will appeal to both young and old.This is the third book written by the author, in a series which, by the millennium, will cover all the environs of Wolverhampton. Codsall and Claregate and Tettenhall and Pattingham are already available and four more are in preparation.

Collection of over 200 archive pictures highlighting the developments that have taken place in the Shropshire market town of Bridgnorth during the last century. Every aspect of life in Bridgnorth is explored, from schools, churches and shops to sporting achievements, ceremonies and events.

Wolverhampton was a Staffordshire market town in the Middle Ages but became a major industrial town during the Industrial Revolution, renowned for coal mining, metalworking and steel making. The prosperity brought to the town from this era is in evidence in many buildings in the city, and the growing population required a large programme of public housing in the early twentieth century. The development of Wolverhampton continued post-war, with much of the centre being rebuilt in the 1960s and 1970s. Granted city status in 2000, Wolverhampton continues to be redeveloped but despite the many changes, it has retained its strong identity in the West Midlands.Wolverhampton Reflections features an exciting collection of historic and modern pictures that are individually merged to reveal how the area has changed over the decades. Each of the 180 pictures in this book combines a recent colour view of Wolverhampton with the matching sepia archive scene. Through the split-image effect, readers can see how streets, buildings and everyday life have transformed with the passing of time. Local author Alec Brew presents this fascinating visual chronicle that ingeniously reflects past and present glimpses of Wolverhampton.This book will be of interest to residents, visitors, local historians and all those with links to the area.

Wolverhampton was granted city status in 2000, but its origins lie in Anglo-Saxon England. During the Middle Ages Wolverhampton was a prosperous Staffordshire market town and a centre for the wool trade. Its coal and iron deposits enabled it to grow rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, when it became one of the most heavily industrialised areas of the country, specialising in coal mining, iron and steel production, engineering and manufacturing. The wealth brought into the town is seen today by the many civic buildings in Wolverhampton from that era, and large areas of social housing were built in the twentieth century to accommodate the population.Much has changed in Wolverhampton following the large-scale urban planning schemes of the 1960s and 1970s and later regeneration schemes for the city centre, reflecting a change in working practices from industry and manufacturing to more service-based employment, but Wolverhampton has still retained its distinctive identity.Lost Wolverhampton presents a portrait of this corner of the West Midlands over the last century to recent decades that has radically changed or disappeared today, showing not only the industries and buildings that have gone but also the people and street scenes, many popular places of entertainment and much more. This fascinating photographic history of lost Wolverhampton will appeal to all those who live in the area or know it well, as well as those who remember it from previous decades.

Fighting over the beaches of Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain, guarding the night skies during the perilous months of the Blitz, pioneering electronic countermeasures, and serving air-sea rescue roles all around our coasts, the Boulton Paul Defiant played a vital part through most of the Second World War, finishing it in the important target-tug role.The Defiant is rightly considered Wolverhampton’s highest profile contribution to the war, and the most important product of Boulton Paul Aircraft. This book celebrates the contribution of the Defiant to the war in over 200 illustrations, most from Boulton Paul’s own archives, and many never published before. It exposes some of the false myths attached to an aircraft held in great affection by many of its crews.

Though there were airfields in Shropshire during the First World War, at Shawbury, Tern Hill and Monkmoor, it was in the late 1930s that a massive building programme began to dot the county with new RAF airfields, mostly for training purposes, until there were over sixteen – in some cases they were so close together that their circuits overlapped.Since the Second World War the number has fallen away, but Shawbury, Tern Hill, Cosford and little Chetwynd are still used by the RAF, and Sleap has been revived for general aviation. In most cases the others have returned to agriculture and a few to industry, with derelict control towers and other iconic buildings remaining as lost sentinels of the days when young men trained to carry the fight into the dark skies of Germany.

A history of Ettingshall & Monmore Green

Boulton Paul aircraft