Reading about the Pottingers of Tipton here the other day reminded me of a wedding reception my mom was invited to in 1940 for the marriage of her friend to Harry Pottinger. The reception was held at the Boat pub in Tividale. Luckily for my mom and her cousin, they were unable to go, because unfortunately, the pub was hit by what mom said was one of our's jettisoning something from the aircraft on the way back from a bombing expidition in Germany. I remember reading about this in a newspaper in Smethwick Archives and also seeing the record of his death in the WWII Civilian deaths also held in Smethwick. I intended to pop down to the archives and have another look, but no need to now, because it has been added to Ancestry here :
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/5177/ ... turnRecord
Also on the same page are my relatives the Roberts family. Most of the family was killed in November 1940 by the same sort of accident. The house was in City Road, right opposite the Barley Mow pub. The house was rebuilt, but you can still tell which one it was because of the different brick used.
Maggie