History book to be unveiled

A new book tracing the history of a Staffordshire village will be unveiled next month by a group in the village which has hundreds of members.

It will feature around 130 photographs of Cheslyn Hay from bygone days and a total of 1,000 copies have been printed to ensure there is enough to go around.

Copies of the book, which is called Cheslyn Hay The Golden Years, will cost £5 and money raised will go towards Cheslyn Hay and District Local History Society which has produced the book.

It has not yet been printed and will be unveiled at the society's annual exhibition on September 29.

Trevor McFarlane, society chairman, said: "We are expecting it to be extremely popular as all of the books we have published have done really well. We think this one is the best yet and we are very proud of it."

He added: "We are hoping a lot of people will come to our annual exhibition as we do get a lot of support from people in the village. It is similar to the last book we did with lots of photographs of the village."

The annual exhibition is at Cheslyn Hay Village Hall, Pinfold Lane (10am-6pm).

The group has more than 180 members and has already produced a couple of successful books, a DVD and devised guided walks around sites of interest. Books have been sent to former villagers who moved overseas.

The history society hosts evening events in the school room at Salem Methodist Church, in High Street, on the last Thursday of each month.

Tomorrow's society event is entitled Music Through The Ages and will feature songs from the 1940s and 1950s performed by The Plank Singers.

Coffee mornings are also held in the lecture room at Salem Methodist Church on the second Thursday of each month at 10am.

The next will be on September 13 and will feature a talk on Gilpin's, a former family-owned factory on the outskirts of the village, by David Battersby. Details of the society can be found at www.cheslynhay.info or from Mr McFarlane on 01922 414772.