AUDLEY HISTORIAN

The Journal of the Audley & District

Family History Society

Number 2, 1996

Published by the Audley & District Family History Society,

20 Hillside Ave, Endon, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs. ST9 9HH

© Copyright Audley & District Family History Society, 1996

ISBN 0 9529494 0 7

Journal of the Audley & District Family History Society,

The journal is intended for people interested in the history of the area to the west of Newcastle and the pottery towns. This area includes a variety of villages and stretches from Butt Lane and Talke through Audley and Barthomley (just over the Cheshire border) to Chesterton and Silverdale, Scot Hay, Leycett and Betley.

Again we have included articles which cover a long time scale, from the founding of Audley church to mining in the 1960s. We are also especially pleased to include an article discussing Barthomley and Betley as well as Audley.

The society has several aims. We are a family history society and half of our meetings are research evenings, where members and visitors spend their time finding out about their ancestors, using our extensive collection of local records. A list of these records is included in this introduction, and if you want to make a start on your family tree, you are welcome to come and do so. Basic advice on what to do is freely available.

We are also a local history society, and usually the other half of our meetings consist of talks on a variety of subjects, as you can see from the journal. Again, visitors are welcome.

Naturally, family and local history are closely intertwined and we are heavily involved in improving our store of records. This means that there are many activities, ranging from writing out and indexing census material, through entering data on computer, to interviewing people about their childhood or working lives. If you want to do something, join us and do it.

Having produced the records, we also try to publish them. An up-to-date list is hard to produce because they tend to sell out quickly. At the moment we have copies of:

Monumental Inscriptions at Audley Church (price £4 inc postage)

MIs at Alsagers Bank Church/Central Methodist Cemetery, Bignall End/ The Independent Chapel, Halmer End (one volume, £2.50 inc postage)

We also hope to publish the Barthomley Parish Registers during 1997. The registers have been kept at the church until recently, so this transcription will give access to many researchers for the first time.

Meetings are held at the Parish Rooms, Audley (almost opposite the parish church), on the first Friday of the month, starting at 7.30 prompt. Visitors are asked to pay £1 at the door, and a year’s membership costs £5.

For further information about the society, contact:

Ian Bailey (Chair), 20 Hillside Ave, Endon, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs. ST9 9HH. Tel: 01782-504519 or...

Stan Brassington (Secretary), 4 Boyles Hall Rd, Bignall End, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs. Tel: 01782-720036

Brian Stokes M.A.,J.P, formerly Purchasing Manager at Doultons and then lecturer in history at Stoke-on-Trent College, became interested in the Staffordshire Advertiser while studying for his Master’s Degree at Keele University. His interests include cricket and football and he has been a commentator on hospital radio since 1970.

Wilf Chadwick worked as a miner in local collieries - Leycett, Madeley and Holditch - for nearly all his working life. Now retired, he has lived in Chesterton for 54 years.

Roy Chadwick was born at Miles Green and has lived nearly all his life in the Audley area, where he "knows every blade of grass."

David Dyble Originally from Norfolk, he became fascinated by the area around Apedale over the last 30 years and continues to delve deeper into its history.

Wendy Morgan graduated in History of Art at University College, London, where she specialised in medieval archtecture. Formerly an estate surveyor, she now combines careers as a mother of three sons and teacher in ecclesiastical architecture for Keele University. She is currently undertaking a post-graduate course in building conservation at De Montfort University, Leicester.

Dr Janet Speake lectures in Human Georgraphy at Liverpool Hope University College

Robert Speake was a tutor at Madeley College of Education and a part-time tutor in the Department of Adult Education at Keele University. He produced several books, with the local groups, among which were those on Audley, Betley and Barthomley.

John Taylor has been a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters since infancy. On retiring from teaching in 1989 he became Secretary of the Audley Courts. The reading of the old minute books created a keen interest in the history of the society.

Rose Wheat is a part-time lecturer at Stafford College and a tutor for Keele University’s Department of Part-time and Continuing Education. She is married with two grown-up sons and in her spare time, she is currently researching and writing a thesis on a local Victorian land agent.

Ian Bailey teaches sociology at a local college of further education and currently chairs the Audley & District Family History Society. He wants to see that all those in the area who have an interest in family history and/or local history find their way to the meetings.

Editorial Committee: Ian Bailey, Stan Brassington, Joan Dobson, David Dyble, Bernard Tate.

Word Processing: Ian Bailey

Thanks to the following post offices for their help in selling the first volume of the journal last year: Audley, Bignall End, Halmer End & Silverdale, and also to William Riley & Sons, Halmer End.

Thanks to Jeanette Shaw for word processing John Taylor’s article on the Foresters.