Category: NewsDesk

Heritage NewsDesk: Get Involved and Hold Your Own Heritage Open Day

The 2026 Heritage Open Days will take place from 11 to 20 September. Heritage Open Days is England’s largest community-led festival of history and culture, involving thousands of local volunteers and organisations. Every year in September it brings people together to celebrate their heritage, community, and history. Stories are told, traditions explored, and histories brought to life. All the events are free.

269 industrial heritage sites in England took part in Heritage Open Days (HoD) 2025, offering guided walks, talks, and exhibitions as well as hands on experiences. If you would like to take part then the HoD website has full details on how to list a site, event, and/or acitvity.

For further details on how to take part as an event and/or site organiser follow this link: Get involved

Our Easter Holiday

North Staffordshire Heritage’s Easter Holiday begins today. Our office will be closed until Monday, 20 April. We hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable Easter. Take care. We look forward to seeing you again on the 20th.

Can You Help Us?

Researching the History of St John’s Church, Goldenhill

North Staffordshire Heritage is researching the history of St John the Evangelist on High Street, Goldenhill, for a book about the life of Sir Smith Child.

Smith Child’s Philanthropy and the Founding of the Church

During the nineteenth century, Smith was North Staffordshire’s most generous philanthropist. In 1840, he became chairman of the Fundraising Committee set up to build a church at Goldenhill. He gave £200 towards the building’s cost and established a £1,000 endowment to pay the resident minister’s salary. The committee’s efforts were remarkably successful. It raised the money to build the church in just four months.

The church’s foundation stone was laid by Smith’s wife, Sarah, on 3 August 1840. One year later, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Lichfield.

The Church of England closed St John’s over a decade ago.

An Appeal for Photographs and Memories

North Staffordshire Heritage is seeking photographs of the church, both interior and exterior, before its closure.

If you have any photographs of the church and are willing to allow them to be copied, or if you wish to share your memories of worshipping at St John’s, please get in touch with northstaffordshireheritage@outlook.com

Heritage NewsDesk: Listed Status for Threatened Museum

In announcing the listing, Historic England noted that “We recommended listing the buildings at Grade II due to their historic and architectural interest. Leather working is strongly associated with Walsall, and the town is still a major centre for the industry. The workshops on Wisemore are among a very small group of such buildings of this date surviving in Walsall, and so are of particular significance for the town as they embody the industry that played a major part in the lives of many local people.”

In response to the listing, Walsall Council’s leader Mike Bird was quoted in the local press as saying: ‘It might be heritage to them but at the end of the day it’s an old factory, simple as that.’

DO YOU AGREE WITH COUNCILLOR BIRD?

We don’t. A town that destroys its heritage is a town without a future. Think again, Mr Bird. Your response is pathetic.

Walsall Leather Museum Given Listed Status

Heritage NewsDesk: Tell SPAB About Your Historic Windmill or Water Mill

Mills Now & Then – SPAB Call for Your Mill Histories

National Trust to Take Over Ironbridge Gorge Museums

National Trust Take Over Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in ‘Landmark Moment’ for UK Industrial Heritage

Friday NewsDesk

During the week, we have learned how to use a new scanner that can scan books without damaging them.

We have completed the first stage of our research into the growth of further and higher education in the Potteries. The research program examined vocational training from the early 19th to the end of the 20th century. It traced the history of Staffordshire Polytechnic and Stoke-on-Trent College.

During the project’s second stage, we will look at university and further education since the end of the 20th century.

Have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. Stay safe and we’ll see you again on Monday.

      The National Fairground Museum Has Moved to Statfold Country Park

      Roll Up, Roll Up, Come on and enjoy the fun.

      The National Fairground Museum is now at Tamworth’s Statfold Country Park.

      Visitors to the museum can ‘roll up’ and enjoy all the fun of the fair. They can travel on the Ghost Train, ride on a roundabout, play vintage arcade games and have a bite to eat in the Cafe Carousel.

      For more details, please telephone 01827 830398 or email info@statfold

      Housing Plan Angers Local Residents

      Stoke-on-Trent City Council has a fight on its hands. The council wants to build over 3,000 homes on two greenfield sites at Norton Green. There was widespread opposition to the schemes when they were discussed at a public consultation earlier this week.

      Residents believe that the proposed developments will fundamentally alter the village’s character and destroy the local community.

      Darren Gerrard, the chair of Norton Green Residents’ Association, said: “We love where we live. If this scheme goes ahead, the identity of the village will be lost… Norton Green could become the biggest building site in the city, and it’s all on greenbelt land.”

      The association is encouraging local people to oppose the city council’s development plans. To help them challenge the proposals, the association is holding two drop-in sessions at Heakley Hall Farm. The first session is on Saturday, October 4, and the second on Saturday, October 18. Both sessions start at 12:00 p.m. and last until 4:00 p.m.

      High Energy Costs Could Kill the Pottery Industry

      High energy costs are threatening the Pottery industry’s future.

      Local firms are paying £875 million a year for the energy they use. An analysis by Nottingham Trent University indicates that Britain’s ceramic industry spends 70% of its turnover on energy and 14% on government and regulatory levies.

      Energy costs for the pottery industry in America and China have not risen since 2020.

      The analysis examined a company based in Stoke-on-Trent with 49 employees and a turnover of approximately £630,000. This year, the firm will be paying £443,000 for the energy it uses.

      Pottery worker Sharon Yates said to delegates attending the Labour Party Conference: “I am a proud pottery worker – just like my dad before me. The most highly skilled potters make ceramics in my town and we export the round the globe. But the industry we rely on is dying.

      Tell us what you think. Do you agree with Sharon? Is the pottery industry dying, or can it survive the high cost of energy? If the industry is on its last legs, what does the future hold for Stoke-on-Trent? Have your say and tell us what you think.