Historical society ready to welcome people to first ever fair

Willenhall History Society will be running the fair at St Stephen's Church Hall on Wolverhampton Street in the town centre on Saturday, bringing groups from across the local area to showcase the history of the region.

Groups including Moseley Old Hall, Wolverhampton Archives, history groups from Bilbrook, Codsall and Wednesfield, the Wolverhampton Blue Plaque Society and the museum of Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire will be setting up stalls, as will Willenhall History society.

Society chairman Brian Read said it had been a long time coming to set up the event and spoke about what he hoped people would take out of the event.

He said: "We tried to set this up a few years ago, but Covid got in the way and it's been an effort since January to get things set up, but we're ready to go now.

"We've got other history groups coming and a range of demonstrations of old works and we've got a guy who used to make locks and a video of him actually making a lock and our stand will show that and the history of lock making in Willenhall.

"It's good to be able to put this on in Willenhall as it was the biggest lock making town in the world at one time and I hope that it will help raise interest for people in local history and expand their knowledge as I think we've got some very good archives."

Mr Read also said he hoped the fair would help to bring in some new members to the society, with 24 currently paying members and around 30 people attending meetings.

He said: "We obviously want people to join us who are interested in history and the more people we have, the more activities we can do.

"It would be great as well for younger people to join, so we hope they'll come along and enjoy the fair at the weekend."

The fair starts at 10am on Saturday, running until 3pm at St Stephen's Church Hall on Wolverhampton Street in Willenhall.

To find out more, go to willenhallhistory.co.uk/society/