From factory floors and football matches to community celebrations and everyday moments, 1979 was a year of change, ambition and memories across Wolverhampton.
Our archive takes a look back at a town shaped by its proud industrial roots, with workers at firms including Guy Motors, Brockhouse Castings and Chubb keeping long-standing traditions alive, while new factories and developments pointed towards the future.
It was also a year when communities came together - from fundraising for new facilities and supporting local churches to campaigning for better spaces and celebrating milestones. There were weddings, Christmas parties, carnival processions and familiar faces from streets and workplaces across the city.
These photographs capture Wolverhampton at a crossroads: a place where old industries were changing, new ideas were taking shape, and everyday life continued to create lasting memories.
How many places, faces or moments from 1979 do you remember? Share your memories with us as you look through this nostalgic gallery.
Revisit Wolverhampton in 1983 here.
- You can enjoy this and more with our weekly FREE Nostalgia Newsletter - with scores of archive pictures and exclusive features on the history of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire and the Black Country - all sent to your inbox every week. Sign up here.

33. Leading the carnival celebrations
The Pelsall Paraders Jazz Band struck up the music as they led the carnival procession out of Wolverhampton's West Park in June 1979. With colourful floats, marching groups and crowds lining the route, carnival day was one of the highlights of the local calendar. Were you there to watch the procession, or can you spot a familiar face in the crowd? | Express & Star archive

34. Keeping Wolverhampton's factories moving
Alan Bate keeps the production line running at Fafnir Bearings Ltd in Wolverhampton during 1979. Behind thousands of bearings produced each year were skilled workers like Alan, whose expertise helped keep British industry turning. Did you, or someone you know, work at Fafnir Bearings or one of Wolverhampton's many engineering factories during this era? | Express & Star archive

35. Thinking big at Wolverhampton Fabrications
This February 1979 photograph shows Geoffrey Lunn dwarfed by a huge horizontal storage silo at Wolverhampton Fabrications Ltd. Just six months after the firm was established, it had already secured its first export order for a contract in the Middle East, highlighting the ambition and engineering expertise that helped Wolverhampton manufacturers compete around the world. Do you remember this company, or working on the city's export success stories? | Express & Star archive

36. A link to Wolverhampton's wartime past
At Brockhouse Castings in Hall Street, Wednesfield, "Big" Dick Townsend and Dick Dyal stand alongside a giant chain link made by the company during the Second World War. This April 1979 photograph captures a piece of industrial history, showcasing the scale of work carried out by local firms during wartime and beyond. Do you remember Brockhouse Castings, or the stories of wartime production passed down through generations? | Express & Star archive

