February 17th – Darlaston, again. What a difference a day made. Spring was in the air, the sun on my face and warmth in my heart.
Shame about the trees in front of St. Lawrence’s Church. They make it impossible to get a decent angle on one of the finest churches hereabouts.
February 4th – I had to nip into Wednesbury from Darlaston mid-morning, so hopped over Kings Hill. Something about the light, the cold, the slightly softening haze caught my eye. It’s brittle cold at the moment, but I’m at the stage where I’m barely noticing it. I love days like this, wrapped up well they’re a joy to ride in.
January 26th – Passing through Kings Hill in Darlaston whilst nipping into Wednesbury, I noted that the former Servis factory site – nothing but a pile of rubble for a few years now – was subject of a planning application for 250 homes.
Which is good, really, because we need them. But…
Servis was a big employer in Darlaston for many years, and was originally part of Wilkins & Mitchell, who made power presses and other machines. Servis stuff wasn’t great quality, and they didn’t modernise, despite pioneering electronically controlled washing machines. In the 1990s the company ran into trouble, and was bought by Italian white-goods giant Merloni, themselves crashing in 2008. Since then, the brand has re-emerged under a Turkish badge-engineering parent company.
The factory was razed, and lay pulverised as a testament to the economic rough seas Darlaston was enduring; as the factory was carried to dust, Councillors and regeneration wonks pronounced this site would very soon see a retail and leisure renaissance.
There was soon to be an election, and one must suspect this was the usual electorate-buttering bullshit; the rebirth never came, and like the Exidor factory up the road, it’ll now become homes.
Kings Hill – once the beating industrial heart between Darlaston and Wednesbury – is slowly becoming reclaimed by housing.
December 17th – At Kings Hill, passing through on an errand, I noticed the former Kings Hill Methodist Church seems to finally be in the process of conversion to flats. Permission has been outstanding for a while, and the grounds around have been cleared and I’ve noticed workers coming and going for a couple of weeks.
In the morning sun, it looked handsome, and I’m glad it’s being repurposed, rather than lost.
December 1st – Another piece of architecture that’s bothering me is the old Three Crowns in King’s Hill, Darlaston; another one I pass frequently, for years it was being used by a jig and inspection company, but now seems to be empty. It;s a genuinely lovely building, which underneath the fake timbers and facing really deserves a better future than dereliction and eventual loss.
The trouble is, who would take on such a building?
I feel sad about this one every time I see it. I hope it gets saved.
November 20th – In Kings Hill Park in Darlaston, there’s a lovely recent sculpture. Paid for by lottery funding, it represents the resurgence of nature post-industrialisation, and the globe of leaf and bird silhouettes is stunning.
Each side of the supporting plinth is a cast metal relief depicting aspects of local history and life; industry, the zeppelin raid, football and other iconic aspects of Darlaston culture. I particularly liked the bike and horseshoe nails.
It’s a commanding and fascinating thing in a great location, and I could look at it for ages. So much better than a lot of such commissioned work, this has a real feeling of being of its community, without feeling contrived, or art-by-numbers.
The fact that it took real artistic skill to create also helps.
A fine thing.
June 10th – Sights you don’t see everyday. Late afternoon, I’d nipped down into Wednesbury on an errand, and on the Darlaston Road at Kings Hill, the road was closed off by Police. There was a supermarkey delivery lorry lying on it’s side, and it looked quite bad. It turns out another vehicle was involved, but thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt.
That’s what you call a bad day at work.
A sobering thing. Stay safe out there, folks.
June 5th – A better day. There was warm sun and it was dry with a keen wind. I had to nip down to King’s Hill near Darlaston, and passed the derelict, abandoned Methodist Church. I haven’t been this way much of late, and since my last look at this architectural stunner, it has continued to decay gracefully. The building has been sold, and permission granted to convert it into apartments, but work has not commenced yet.
At least we’re not losing the building.
What fascinated me today was the way nature is reclaiming the place. When the Church still held it, although unused, volunteers used to tend the grounds. Now, it’s run wild, and a riot of begonias, roses and shrubs are taking over.
It’s sad and beautiful simultaneously.
March 26th – I cycled to work in bright sunshine, but it felt bitterly cold, although I guess it wasn’t, really. Since it was so nice I took a quick loop of Kings Hill Park in Darlaston. It’s a credit to the people who work hard to maintain it. The spring flowers are gorgeous, the planters are shaping up well and the the place is clean and tidy.
It’s such a shame that Oak Park in Walsall Wood can’t get a fraction of this kind of dedication. A real shame indeed.
December 11th – In the midst of an industrial Darlaston winter day, flowers. Outside the derelict, doomed Kings Hill Methodist Church, a beautiful rose grows from the scrub, bringing welcome colour on a grey day. The building is thought to have been sold to a developer, and may be under threat of demolition, which would be a shame.
Not 10 metres away, flowers of more permanence – metal poppies complete the detail on beautiful new railings, erected as part of the refurbishment of Kings Hill Park. They are gorgeous. The designer should be very proud.
Brightness can be found even on the dullest days.
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