Remembering Penkridge People

home	Remembering Penkridge People

Below are several individuals that family members have placed here.   There are, of course, many other Penkridge People that people will remember. People they went to school with, worked with, played cricket, bowls or football with; met at the WI meetings, at Church or Chapel, in the Pub, on the bus.   A new Penkridge Local History book, "Our Noble Selves", was published in December 2010 which included many other people of Penkridge who many of us will remember - and it includes lots of photographs to aid your memory. Also, many old people of Penkridge are mentioned in the recent "History of St. Michael's School" written by Phil Gollings, published in 2010.   And our latest book, "Always on My Mind" also has many more photographs of Penkridge people.

Douglas Roy Batson     Doreen and Keith Haycock     Win Laffan    Peter Mitchard         Jenny Clarke       Mrs. Mowforth and her husband Roy
Connie and Geoffrey Narraway      Ronald Ball        Syd Williams        John Westwood       Ken Weetman
David Wynn           Phil Gollings            Fred Perks

If you want someone remembering on this page, let the webmaster have some details, including a photograph if you wish

Ken Weetman

Ken Weetman lived in Penkridge for many years until he took early retirement from being a Bank Manager for the Midland Bank. Ken and wife Dorothy then went to live in Spain for quite some years before returning to England and residing in Ashburton, Devon. Dorothy sadly died in 2010.

Ken was an active member of both the Round Table and 41 club whilst in Penkridge.

He died peacefully on Wednesday 15th February 2012.

John Charles Westwood
1942 - 2012

Ron Ball passed away on 4 August 2011 at 80 years old. Ron was the right winger for the great Penkridge Football Team which won the Penkridge Charity Cup in 1953. Ron and his wife Joan have been keen members of the Local History Group in recent years. See Page 125 of "Our Noble Selves" for photos of the famous Team which includes Ron.

(Fred Perks wrote the following)
Ron was a very well known and liked man. Ron and Joan were married in March 1954. They lived first in a flat in Market Street, Penkridge, owned by the Ives family - "The Whitehouse". They moved across to No. 1. The Palasadings in Market Street. They have one son Jeff, born in 1958.

Ron was a keen motor cyclist and loved car driving. He was also a keen gardener and not only looked after his own but helped many others with theirs. He had an allotment at Haling Dene. He was a very hard working man.

He was a very good husband to Joan and from what I hear he was most efficient in the house, helping Joan. He enjoyed making jam and baking cakes. He loved socialising with his mates, particularly with Derek and Grace Bradbury, Basil and Elizabeth Haycock, Seraphine and Tony Crooke, often taking holidays together.

He was very kind to Cathy Perks when her husband Fred was taken seriously ill with Meningitis. He helped us move house in 1963.

(These notes were compiled by Fred Perks, shortly before he himself was taken ill - and died in March 2012).

Connie & Geoff Narraway

Win Laffan

A lovely lady, who devoted much of her life to raising money for good causes, charities and voluntary organisations, the majority of which were
Penkridge based ones.

Her, and her supporters, in the 35 years that "The Penkridge Goodies" have been in existence, have raised for these causes over £313,000 - an average of £9,000 per year - what an outstanding achievement.

She died in June 2011 at the age of 87

On the right is a picture of Doreen Haycock (who died aged 72 in April 2008). She was a well known figure in Penkridge, having lived here all her married life. The picture shows her as a young nurse who trained in Wolverhampton where she met and fell in love with her husband Keith whilst caring for him in hospital.
The whole of her working life was spent in caring for others, working at Sister Dora's at Milford and finally as Matron at Longridge Nursing Home until her retirement. Many elderly people in our community have been looked after by Doreen, particularly in their final years.

Her husband Keith Haycock, a local man, was a prominent member of Penkridge Cricket Club and a keen Angler. They lived in Haling Road (previously The Marsh), Penkridge, and had three children - Patricia, Sonia and Craig.

REMEMBERING my Dad, Peter Mitchard, who died quite suddenly in May 2005, aged 71.

Lots of people in the village knew him - he was the village milkman in
his 20s (that's back in the 1950's and 60's). He also worked down the pit at the Littleton and later worked as a bread salesman in Hayward.

Dad was born in Penkridge Parish in November 1933 in Newtown - down the lane opposite Bluebell Wood on the Pottal Pool Road. He married a Penkridge girl, Christine Elsmore from The Marsh and had two daughters, my sister Sarah and myself, Emma, of course! I often talk to people who remember him and most say that they miss him, his whistling as he walked down the street, how kind and generous he was and how he always had a tale to tell and a smile on his face. He was a very special person who is deeply missed!

He lived in Newtown, Penkridge, all his life, working in the family business, milkman and later as bread salesman. In his youth he played cricket for Penkridge Cricket Club.

This photo was put together for his 70th birthday and shows his first milk delivery and a picture he had taken when he was 21.

Emma

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Brigitte Mowforth, wife of Roy Mowforth who was leader of the Church Bellringers for many years. She has on her knee one of the new Bell Ropes presented to the Church by Penkridge Parish Council. Roy was unable to attend the event owing to ill health.
Unfortunately Roy died in March 2003, a big loss to his family and to the people of Penkridge. He was for many years Head of Horticulture at Rodbaston College of Agriculture and played a leading role in the Staffordshire Association of Village Produce Guilds (later to become Gardening Guilds). Roy was always in demand as a gardening judge and his wife joined him annually when they judged the Best Kept Village Competition around Staffordshire for the Community Council of Staffordshire.

Douglas Roy Batson     Doreen and Keith Haycock      Win Laffan       Peter Mitchard      Jenny Clarke
Mrs. Mowforth and her husband Roy           Connie and Geoffrey Narraway
Ronald Ball      Syd Williams       John Westwood        Ken Weetman
David Wynn     Phil Gollings      Fred Perks