Work needed on old treasures
I was on my way to Bilston Library recently when I came across the sorry looking state of the old Technical School opposite the library. I felt it was a real tragedy that this beautifully designed building had been allowed to disintegrate in such a manner over the last 20 years.
I was also rather saddened at the sorry state of Bilston itself these days, where major shops are closing, leaving tackier ones to take their place and I even heard that the main post office has now been moved to a small shop in an outlying area. All this to save money I wonder? Because if it is then it just adds to the demise of what was once a great small town.
I note that the Tech School in Bilston was opened by the great Mr Sankey who I think died in WWI, his great steel making company was making helmets for soldiers at the time, and his company became a great iconic factory within the Bilston area, now the area of the retail area of the town I think. I am willing to be corrected. Anybody with more info on the old Tech School can contact me if they wish.
I note the Town Hall and the Regency church in central Bilston are getting some renovation, and that is good to see, the library is a gem to behold and the Conservative Club is also quite iconic, but I wonder if there are plans for the whole town? Is it a matter of Wolverhampton City Council becoming too big to represent the needs of the outlying city area, and only concentrating on the main area?
But I had a shock recently in central Wolverhampton, when my wife and I, on our way out of the city, observed the old Royal Hospital and the old eye infirmary with its once lovely gardens, boarded up doing nothing and looking in an awful state. I used to work at both these establishments, they kick started my nursing career in the 1980s.
We had gone for a lovely meal at a restaurant near West Park and that area is still lovely and I am glad to see that the Banks’s Brewery is still around doing well, even though now owned by Marston’s. My wife is from Stoke and I am from W’ton originally, so we had an interesting chat about breweries, as Marston’s is her way and Banks’s was my way.
As I have just said, I come from Wolverhampton originally, and what I saw recently in my home city/town was a place that had seen better days, a place where the pride of all that went before was forgotten and I just wonder what is happening at the heart of the ruling classes in the city to allow such a once great area to disintegrate so badly? I include MPs and councillors in that question.
Come on Wolverhampton, you can do better than this!
Ian Payne, Walsall
