Our Bcc do!

[mjay]

Sad that i missed meeting you all

Glad you all had a good time
Be great if you could arrange another for next year

Mandy x

[Lulu]

I had a great time and have only just managed to get the photos onto my lap-top, as I had to go out again as soon as I got home yesterday morning.

I won't share photos of people, as they probably won't want to be plastered over the Internet but for those unable to make it, will post, the Cake, The Pub and the View. The Bell has long been a favourite of mine and I don't use the Bear bit, as it is a modern addition and I am a Pedant about such things

[Lulu]

And here is the cake, which was HUGE!!

[anne138]

I'd like to add my thanks to Jan - a great evening all round. Looking forward to next years do already !!
Anne

[Northern Lass]

Thanks for putting those photos on Lulu brilliant
Lulu has kindly sent me some to send to those that were there too so will do
that over next few days some great photos.

Yes Anne we will do one every year I think now
we all had a good time and going to different pubs would be interesting see what they have to offer.

[rotti]

Lulu also sent me some photos of some fat bird who turned up pretending to be me!!!! I was sat at home, knitting a balaclava. Apparently, she went round telling everyone she was rotti, eating all the cake and drinking all the beer . WHEN I FIND HER, I WILL HAVE STRONG WORDS!

[Northern Lass]

Lulu also sent me some photos of some fat bird who turned up pretending to be me!!!! I was sat at home, knitting a balaclava. Apparently, she went round telling everyone she was rotti, eating all the cake and drinking all the beer . WHEN I FIND HER, I WILL HAVE STRONG WORDS!

Disgraceful!

I too had that photo and there was another fat bird with said fat bird and they looked like
they had banged their heads together!

[Lulu]

What can I say? Those that were will know the truth.

[MarkCDodd]

Sounds like you were all crissed as pickets.

[Antie Em]

The Bell and Bear, Gorsty Hill

From an article in the Black Country Bugle in 1976, when it was hailed as Pub of the Month.

The Bell Inn, located on Gorsty Hill, close to the Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Halesowen boundaries has been a noted ale-house for longer than any living man can possibly remember.

Inns, and even roads were few and far between if we go back 200 years into Black Country history, but on Yates"™s map, dated 1775, we find Gorsty Hill clearly marked.

Only eight dwellings are shown bordering the whole of the thoroughfare, which ran from the centre of present-day Blackhearh to Halesowen.

A farmhouse and barn are where "The Bell" now stands, and it is probable that the public-house we know today sprang from these original buildings "“ with some obvious conversions.

The Feredays - On BCC here : http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/tr ... onnections

The Fereday family were in ownership at that time, occupying their wayside dwelling, which was then surrounded by green pasture meadows and fields, swaying corn, with the dense thicket of Coombs Wood in the hollow across the road.

Tremendous changes were on the horizon. Within the next thirty years, a nearby canal system and the opening of several local pits brought rapidly increasing population and industry. Traffic between Halesowen and Rowley grew accordingly, and it became profitable for the owners of Fereday Farm to open up a kind of roadside hostelry, to accommodate wagon drivers and those who travelled on horseback along the busy Halesowen/Rowley Road.

The location of this establishment was nothing less than ideal "“ being positioned on an almost level stretch of highway, sandwiched between the considerable slopes of Coombs Holloway and the upper reaches of Gorsty Hill.

Drivers found it an ideal spot to give their horses a breather between these two severe gradients and "wet their own whistle" at the same time.

That was when the farmstead was first converted into a tavern with stabling and a Wheelwright"™s and Blacksmith"™s forge.

The family prospered. In 1860, Thomas Fereday owned the property. He married into the wealthy Wright family of Old Hill, and when he died in 1885, "The Bell" and surrounding lands passed to his daughter, Fanny Wright-Fereday. She married Edward Lloyd Gatacre, but they were divorced in 1877. Around that period, the inn was known locally as "Fanny"™s".

Sam Lowe"™s Long Tenure : on BCC here : http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/tr ... =118567769

She stayed at "The Bell" until 1895 when Mr Samuel Lowe purchased the public house which he owned until his death in 1934. It was then acquired by Messrs Grigg and Brettell, who were subsequently "taken over" by Ansells Brewery

[mallosa]

added more to BCC but need to fill in the gaps (perhaps on a new thread?)

http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/fa ... cre-Family

[dianel]

Sounds like you had a great time. It would have been interesting to have visited a pub which had been owned by people with such familiar names.

As I said I would be, I was there in spirit (wondered why I woke up with a hangover on Sunday). Think I will definately have to plan another visit to the UK around this time next year.

I am currently sitting on our campsite in sunny North Queensland, gazing out at the blue, blue sea, past golden sands and the few remaining coconut palms left by Cyclone Yasi at South Mission Beach. It's a tough life and I'm such a martyr

Di

[Jimmy]

Some ones got to do it Di, so stick at it.

[Northern Lass]

Sounds like you had a great time. It would have been interesting to have visited a pub which had been owned by people with such familiar names.

As I said I would be, I was there in spirit (wondered why I woke up with a hangover on Sunday). Think I will definately have to plan another visit to the UK around this time next year.

I am currently sitting on our campsite in sunny North Queensland, gazing out at the blue, blue sea, past golden sands and the few remaining coconut palms left by Cyclone Yasi at South Mission Beach. It's a tough life and I'm such a martyr

Di

That would be fantastic Di if you can come over next year.
We will be having another do every year now
won't we guys!

Steve is organising the next one
aint ya Steve

[Rob]

Before i go to one of these "do's " i'd need to check the people who go.Can we have a few photos of last saturday on here please?