Tag Archives: History

Making Memories on the Rowley Hills

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As part of the Living Memory project, Friends of Rowley Hills recently contributed to Making Memories, a new creative project exploring the local area and its rich history. Led by artist Hannah Boyd and Blue and White Creative, pupils from Grace Mary Primary School and St James’s CofE School participated in a series of workshops exploring Jim Rippin’s photography of the area, with knowledge contributed by FORH’s Mike Poulton and Bob Duncan about the hills’ flora, fauna and geology. You can read a full account of the project and see photos at https://livingmemory.live/making-memories/; below are comments from some of the pupils and their teachers.

Mrs Wood:

Watching the children explore the Rowley Hills area and engage with the activities was amazing! They were really engrossed and were fascinated by the talks they were given. It was a very enjoyable day and a wonderful experience for children and teachers alike.

Mrs Freeman:

The day was filled with fabulous opportunities to learn new art techniques whilst experiencing the natural habitat in our local environment.

The input from Hannah, Richard, Bob and Mike was excellent and we all learned a great deal about what the Rowley Hills have to offer!

Amy:

I enjoyed:

Learning new techniques

Painting with sticks and ink- it was fun!

Exploring blue rock and the onion rocks

Looking at different flowers

Seeing a bee on Mike’s top!

Logan:

I enjoyed everything but especially painting with sticks because I never knew you could do it! I loved learning about blue rock and I had a very great time doing it.

Kai:

I enjoyed all of the techniques and the information about butterflies. I loved the water colour pencils and most of all how my art turned out!

Muhammed:

I loved drawing with sticks and using the water colour pencils.

Annie:

I loved drawing with sticks as it was unusual and fun!

Mariel:

I enjoyed drawing with the black pens.

Barin:

I particularly enjoyed the journey up to blue rock where the landscape of Oldbury looked beautiful. I loved the activity where we drew a picture of choice. I enjoyed every single bit of the day!

Ammar:

I loved drawing with sticks as it was really beautiful!

Macie:

I enjoyed painting with sticks and the special water colour pencils. It was fun learning about the types of flowers.

Ben:

I enjoyed the painting with sticks and blue rock was an amazing part of nature.

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‘Looking Back’ walk

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Not to be put off by the cold easterly wind, those who attended the ‘Looking Back’ walk with Jim Rippin across the Portway Hill site on Saturday 13th April had a great time. To mark the occasion Jim brought along a special edition booklet containing some of his and others’ old photographs. Two of the photographs taken from his booklet (see below) show the entrance to Bury Hill Park as it was, prior to, and just after the A4123 Wolverhampton Road was cut through in 1927. It’s interesting to note that the terrace houses of Bury Hill Road in the middle of the first photograph and to the left in the second photograph are still there today.

Don’t forget that we have our Dawn Chorus walk this Monday 6th May, starting at 7:00am. Join local bird expert Nick Horton for a walk around the Portway Hill site; in December Nick spotted a Red Kite on two separate occasions over Turners/Portway Hill and watched crows mobbing a Raven. We will also be on the lookout for Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Peregrine, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel, all birds regularly seen on the hillside. Wear sturdy footwear and dress appropriately for the early morning weather conditions. Meet on St Brades Close at the junction with Tower Road.

Looking Back: Walk 2. A guided walk over Rowley Hills with archive photographs

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Led by Jim Rippin and Mike Poulton and in partnership with the Friends of Rowley Hills10.00am – 13.00pm, April 13 2019 

Join us for the second guided walk based on archive photos and stories from around the Rowley Hills. Jim and Mike’s carefully designed walk invites us to see the area in new and fascinating ways and reflect on the many changes that have taken place over the last 60 years. Come along and share your own views, photographs, and experiences of this iconic area.

Cost: £6 (all proceeds go to the Friends of Rowley Hills).

A special edition booklet will be available for an additional fee.

No need to book – assemble at the entrance to Bury Hill Park (adjacent to the Wolverhampton New Road and opposite Bury Hill Road) at 9.45 am.

Please wear sturdy footwear and bring appropriate clothing for changeable spring weather. We are sorry but the route is not suitable for wheelchair users. The terrain is at times undulating and possibly muddy in places.

For more information call 0121 559 4886 or visit https://livingmemory.live.

Historic images of the Rowley Hills

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At one of our recent events, Jim Rippin, a local resident, showed us some photos he’d taken as a young boy in the 1950s of the Rowley Hills. The site has changed so much that it is hard to imagine it was the same area that we see today. He has kindly given his permission for us to reproduce a couple of them here, alongside another image from a book cover, taken in the 1980s. Our Vice Chair Mike Poulton took photos of the same areas from approximately the same vantage point to illustrate how much has changed.

We’ve also added these photos to our History page to build upon our record of the history of the Rowley Hills. If you have any old photos of the area, from any time, we would love to hear from you! We can easily scan or photograph images so don’t need to keep original photos, just loan them temporarily; we can also touch up scratches etc. if required so don’t worry if your photos are a bit battered! Potentially, we would like to put on an exhibition in the future of historic photos like these, depending on how many we are able to source, so please get in touch with us today if you have any old photos you’d be happy to show us. Thank you!