This week's pictures from the past

Mrs Freda Elkes, of Ketley, loaned us this photo and says it is thought to be at the back of 33 Church Street, Broseley, the home of Freda's grandparents in later life, or at Benthall where they had friends. It is undated, but the unidentified lady coming down the path looks as if she is dressed in the fashions of the 1920s. Freda's maiden name is Oliver and her parents kept the More Arms, at Shelve, from 1934 until just after the war.

This view of Broseley High Street is from a postcard which was franked on August 21, 1939. The most obvious difference with the same view today is the presence of the Pritchard Memorial, the elaborate monument just left of centre. It was demolished about 50 years ago. Does anybody know exactly when?

This photo is from the postcard collection of Ray Farlow of Bridgnorth.

You know how it is with buses – you wait for one for ages, and then lots come at once. And so it has proven with Pictures From The Past, for we only have to print one picture of an old bus for lots of others to turn up.

Our thanks to Terry Humphries of Leegomery for this picture taken in Park Street, Madeley. "It was taken in the 1950s.

"I lived in Coalport Road, Madeley, and used to go to school on this bus. It was from A.L. Jones & Co which had their bus station in Victoria Road, Madeley, where Elcock's is now. They used to do a service from Coalport to Hodge Bower.

"On the extreme left you can see the old West End cinema." The pictured bus is, he says, a Bedford O.B.

Mr Humphries, who was born in 1941, is himself a retired bus driver.

This view from Ironbridge towards Jackfield was e-mailed in by our regular contributor Paul France who, as usual, has been able to supply a lot of extra information about an area he knows well.

"This is a postcard from the 1950s/60s taken from the road which started on Waterloo Street just past The Bird in Hand pub (the white gable end on the left) and went up to the old gas works," he says.

"The wooden building in the foreground was the Royal Mail Sorting Office which was right in front of the Bedlam Furnaces. It was also used for training purposes by the St John Ambulance.

"On the skyline you can see the Great Hay, now a hotel and golf complex. Just below this you can see the Lloyds Buildings.

Just to the left, on the small strip of land between the Coalport Road and Wesley Road (with a magnifying glass) you can make out two horse-drawn gipsy caravans.This was a regular stopping site for gipsy Locke and her family when I was a child."

This view of Welshpool bowling green must be 100 years old, or perhaps slightly older.

On the extreme left of the picture somebody is sitting on a roller. Strangely, the photo seems to have been taken in winter, which doesn't seem the best time of year to show a bowling green to its best advantage.

This postcard was loaned by Mrs Diana Humphreys of Maesbrook and it has printed on it: By A. Turner, Welshpool, who must, one assumes, have been the photographer or printer.

Work is proceeding apace on a 12-storey block of flats at Hadley as seen in this picture which was taken on January 25, 1967. It was to become Manor Heights, the second high-rise development in Hadley. The other, Reynolds House, was completed in 1966. The fashion for such developments turned out to be fleeting.

Saturday, January 30 sees the funeral in Jackfield of Ken Evans, the president of Jackfield Elcock Reisen Band, who joined in 1930 at the age of 14 as a euphonium player.

As a final farewell to him, we are publishing this photo of the band dating from 1938. Ken is third from right on the first standing row.