2009 has been a busy year and book production has continued apace. As soon as “Dudley Rediscovered” came out at the end of 2008 I knew I had to return to the Mount Pleasant Local History Group in Quarry Bank to help them complete a long-standing project which included writing about The Delph.
The History Group has been meeting every Friday for over ten years and the current book project is our fifth. Normally we have been very focussed on Quarry Bank but this time we felt like taking up a challenge, and crossed the frontier into a neighbouring known as The Delph. Really the area is part of Brierley Hill, but it has many links with Mount Pleasant and we felt it had been a rather neglected area when it comes to local history – so off we went.
Our book, “Quarry Bank & The Delph” was launched on 6th November 2009. It was a very successful book launch and we hope we have contributed to the process of putting The Delph “on the map”. (The book is a History Press production, retailing at £12.99. – if anyone has difficulty obtaining a copy they should contact me via this website.)
The story doesn’t quite end there. Having ventured across the frontier into Brierley Hill, we are now embarking on a Brierley Hill project which will stretch ahead into 2011!
We are currently working on “Brierley Hill, Volume 1″ which takes in Brockmoor, Bromley and Pensnett, and later move on to Volume 2 which will take in Round Oak, Harts Hill, Merry Hill, Quarry Bank, The Delph (again!), Silver End and Hawbush. Help appreciated!
While this project goes on through 2010, I will also produce a sequel to the Dudley book and am particularly want to produce a round up of Dudley’s schools. Can anyone help on this?
Ned Williams
