Hi again. Lets start off by looking at the competition where you had to put a date to the forced landing of a glider on the Beacon School sports field. Well I only had 1 response and that was from my old neighbour at the time, Ann Wrighton, who said it was June, 1961. At 90+ years of age Ann can be forgiven for not knowing the actual day, but in the absence of any other entry and the fact that as I type this entry we are about to go to press Ann wins the mug.

The exact date was Friday 9th June,1961 and the incident was featured in the Express and Star that evening. It seems that the pilot, 24year old Flying Officer Peter Kevan of R.A.F. Marham, Norfolk, was making a 168 mile 'proving flight' from the Long Mynd in Shropshire to Great Yarmouth. On reaching the 'Black Country' he was losing lift and was forced to find a landing spot. He saw the empty school field and avoiding pylons and telephone poles landed safely, unhurt but a little shaken and no glider damage. He strolled in to meet the headmaster Mr Pearson and was treated to a school dinner (served him right) after which he showed pupils and press around the glider before it was dismantled and trailered back to it's base with a rousing cheer from the children. Apologies for poor picture but was derived from poor negative in W'pton archives as E.&Star had destroyed their original photo. The houses shown in the background are in Jones Rd.

As yet, despite a picture in Black Country Bugle we have not been able to identify the factory photo or people in it. Also I have to admit to a minor error. I stated that Sidney and Annie Titley where the grandparents of Irene Harris when in fact they were Kens grandparents. Sorry Ken, but nothing came of this appeal for information on Waterglade Lane.

This months appeal is from Mark Kempson who is hoping to find a photograph of the terraced houses in St. Annes Rd that were demolished to make way for Anslows new weigh bridge. Anslows itself has been demolished and the area redeveloped in recent years, but perhaps someone did take a snap before the old family home was knocked down.

Now for a bit of local history from between the wars. Do you have a personal trainer or visit the gym? Many of you probably do but there is nothing new about this trend. This weekend I was looking at an extract from the 1931 edition of the Willenhall Red Book, a directory of businesses and activities of all kinds within the town and saw an entry about the Willenhall Physical Culturists.

It seems that Willenhall possessed the World Champion club swinger and for a space also the Ladies club swinger and before your mind races on it was nothing to do with wife swapping. It seems that in 1927 the record for club swinging was held by a Londoner with a duration of 72 hours, but in August,1927 after 4 attempts Frank Wilde of Bilston he took the record by doing 72 1/2 hours. Sadly for Frank the very next day our man from Willenhall one W. Burley took the record from him with a time of 74 hours. I bet he was miffed. Despite further attempts by aspirants from Wolverhampton and Bilston no new champion appeared until November 1930 when George Ratcliffe, Ex middleweight boxing champion of the Fleet took the record with on his first attempt with 79 hours. The fact that he took the record matters not as he was from Willenhall also.

During Easter 1930 Miss L. Copeland established a ladies record of 36 hours which she immediately lost to Miss Wilkinson of Bilston but retook the title with 46 hours only to loose it again to Miss Wilkinson's 60 hours in August.

It would seem that the Willenhall Imperial Health and Strength Club had a large gymnasium with over £40 worth of apparatus, the mens section instructor being Mr.Burley and the ladies section instructress being Miss Copeland. Classes were held every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday over the Angel Hotel, Market Place. Other gyms were situated over the Shakespeare Inn, Lichfield St, members meeting every Tuesday and Friday and at the Navigation Inn every night except Saturday.

So there you have it. Club swinging, probably the least exciting spectator sport next to chess. Wonder why we don't see a lot more of it?