Our Open Day at the Senior Citizens Centre on Broadlane Lane, was a great success. We had loads of visitors coming though the doors to see our exhibition. There was over hundred photos on display with hundreds more in our books for visitors to look through. As well as maps and a plan of Great Wyrley cemetery. We had one visitor that came looking for a passed relative who was supposedly been buried in the cemetery, but had been having problems finding them. Our graveyard map gave a full listing of all the people buried there and he was able to locate his relative’s location on the map. The display of photos and artefacts was well received by everyone, it showed calculation instruments that was used to calculate planning of the mines.

Our guest speaker- Valerie Campbell, who gave a interesting talk about Churchill’s Secret Circle. Valerie talked about a woman, J Baker, that claimed to be part of this circle. Valerie started to dig deeper into J Baker’s claim and then found another book that was written by a man, unrelated to J Baker. It was like seeing a carbon copy of J Baker’s book, word for word. It turned out that J Baker was nowhere near Germany at the time she claimed to be part of Churchill’s Secret Circle, in fact, at that time J Baker was in Holloway prison.

(Awaiting on photo and more information)

Don’t forget our OPEN DAY on the 18th October held at the Senior Citizens Centre, Broadmeadow Lane, Great Wyrley, 11am-3pm.

There will be photos of Then and Now, and a Coal mining display, also our archives will be open for anyone to view. There will be someone on hand to help you get started with your finding your relatives in the 1921 census. Bring your old black & white photographs and get them changed into a colour print for only £1 to members (Theses colour prints will need to be ordered and will be delivered to your home or can be collected at the next coffee morning).

Old photos from previous open days

The History of Great Wyrley Wesley Methodist Church and Metthodism – 100 Years and Beyond. Guest Speaker – John Devey

This year we celebrate 100 years of the current Wesley Methodist Church building, which opened in 1925 at the corner of Shaws Lane and Walsall Road. It is the first church building on this site but it is the third Wesleyan Methodist church built in the village. But the story of Methodism in Great Wyrley goes back much further, nearly 240 years. So really, we’re standing on the shoulders of generations who kept the flame burning long before these walls were even built.

Let’s start right back at the beginning, with the man whose name we all know: John Wesley.
He was born in 1703, became a priest in the Church of England, and through his very methodical approach to Bible study and devotion, gave rise to what we now call Methodism. That’s actually where the name came from: his “methodical” way of living out his faith.

Wesley travelled thousands of miles across Britain and Ireland, mostly on horseback, preaching in fields and market squares, anywhere people would listen. He gathered ordinary folk into small groups to pray, study, and look after one another. Under his guidance, Methodists became leaders in many causes of the day; from education to the abolition of slavery, and he even encouraged women to preach, which was quite something in the 1700s!

Continue reading “Coffee Morning – 18th September 2025” →

Being in the Right Place, at the Right Time

On Friday 15th August it was all about being in the right place at the right time, too catch a glimpse of the Red Arrows as they soared through the sky overhead of a nearby village. It was an amazing sight, remembering 80 years since VJ Day. There are not many of the old soldiers left now. The one’s that were there are still battling on and doing us proud. It’s been an interesting three months since the last magazine. We’ve had a great variety of guest speakers and want to continue bringing you the best quality speakers as it is proving very popular, we are gaining new members each month. Carnival Day we had lots of interest on the stall, the only down part of the day was finding out that our notice board out site the Health Centre on the Quinton Shopping Centre had been vandalised. The money the members put into the society helped to pay for the building of it. Fred Pritchard put £250 and we put up the rest, £750. It was repaired, hopefully the cretins won’t come back again. On 24th July at our open evening we had members and non-members join us, some even went onto The Star Inn after, well, it was very hot that night. We’ve had some wonderful weather, with four heat waves between June and mid August. The last time we had the hottest July, was 22nd July, 2022 with a record temperature of 40.3oC in one part of the UK. Previous to that, it was in 1976 and 1957 that it reached 35.6oC and also August 2003 it reached 38.5oC. On a sad note members, Bill Meredith, Ann Gaytten and Ken Bridge have passed away. Ken was brother to Pam Ball, he had been a member of our Society from the beginning.

If you would like to read our society magazine, it is available to members as part of their membership. For non-members, you can purchase a copy by contacting one of the committee.