John's treasure trove of Bridgnorth history
There are photos of Bridgnorth. Hundreds and hundreds of them, ranging from Victorian lantern slides, doubled images to be viewed with a stereoscopic viewer, and postcards. Posters, cuttings, old adverts...
The collection of the late John Dixon could be the basis of a small town museum of itself. But what is perhaps surprising is that Mr Dixon, who died on June 29 last year at the age of 72, was not himself Bridgnorth born and bred.
"He moved to Bridgnorth from the West Midlands in 1978," said son Michael, who has been looking through the huge amount of material and putting it into order.
"He was Wednesbury born and bred. My mum Kate opened an antique shop in St Johns Street, Bridgnorth. My dad did the import and export for a shipping line and was all over the country.
"He started collecting items on Bridgnorth, initially postcards, and then went into a whole range of other things, anything really connected with Bridgnorth.
"He had visited the town when he was younger. He loved the town. I think that's why they gravitated there many years later. They had lived at Claverley for about seven years, and then back to the West Midlands, and then to Bridgnorth. I was christened in Claverley.
"He just loved the town. I think he was fascinated with the history of it. He used to go to postcard fairs and later he looked online. He would go to auctions, local antique shops and things like that.
"When he got known people would bring things to my mum.
"He had a room upstairs packed to the rafters with Bridgnorth items, some in boxes, some on display. They included old prints of Bridgnorth, and posters from old theatres of Bridgnorth.
"It was only after he died and I was sorting through that I discovered just how much there was. I'm interested too. I'm going to keep the collection for the time being. I have sorted a lot and tried to organise it. When you collect yourself sometimes you get a bit overwhelmed, I think.
"I think the enamel signs are fascinating.They were on lampposts around Bridgnorth, for all the old shops in Bridgnorth. This would probably be in the 1950s to 1960s. They came from a Nock Deighton auction. Somebody must have collected them when they took them down from the lampposts or the lampposts were changed. Somebody seems to have gone round and got them back."
Another item which particularly catches his eye is a weight which was put into the saddles at the long defunct Bridgnorth races. It is stamped "Bridgenorth (sic) Race Club."
