13 amazing pictures of Wolverhampton as it was 60 years ago - how many scenes can you recognise?
The Rev J H M Bower led a service like few others when he addressed the congregation of St Andrew's Church in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, on October 26, 1965.
The turnout was good, despite the somewhat draughty conditions. And looking at the picture, more inquisitive readers may ask why the need for the bright floodlights.
A closer examination might give a clue why: the church has no roof, the masonry is shattered, and the rendering peeling away. The church has been gutted by a massive fire in May the previous year, thought to have begun in the organ chamber.
This was to be the final service before demolition, just five years after it had celebrated its centenary. The next picture, taken two months later, shows a man taking a pick-axe to the mighty stone pillars which had held up the roof for more than a century.
This week our picture focus looks at Wolverhampton in 1965, a time when the town (city status was still 35 years away) was embarking on a period of postwar reconstruction. At Rydal Green, off Willenhall Road, a ground-floor flat became the borough's 10,000th council home when pictured in July.
