History: Telford New Town 1971
A prospectus for Telford New Town from c1971.
Another from the collection of John Steele from Oakengates private collection, scanned by Michelle Jones and put together here in format that was originally intended.
Interesting to see the image top right (fishermen) in this cover has been taken from a more colourful brochure here, and given a pen style treatment.
At this time in Telfords development photos of finished buildings would have been scarce, and this shows images being reused and recycled.
The purpose of this booklet is unclear. It’s lack of marketing speak suggests it neither aimed at bringing people in, nor industrialists. It seems much more like a chronicle or journal of the master plan for other areas to examine progress or an update for people in the area to let them know what has been happening and what to expect. Towards the end there is a conciliatory piece about understanding the needs of Dawley folk as well as those expected to migrate from the Black Country and Birmingham.
Download the Telford New Town Brochure PDF 1.4MB
As there are no photos, I won’t post & comment each page, but I’d look forward to your comments below.
Hi Michelle Jones
I’m not 100% sure I have the right person because on the John Steel collection site there is no contact information other than the website’s URL. With a bit of convoluted Cross referencing I came up with this site.
If I have the wrong person my apologies.
If you are the right person I have a request.
Firstly well done for publishing John Steel’s collection. I knew John through IGMT from about 1985 through to his retirement and for a little while after. A lovely chap and privilege to have known him. Great reading through some of his cuttings. I would love to see his slides if you get round to posting them.
My request is:
In his collection of photos/slides are there any images of the Blists Hill Foundry from when it was set up or from its early days. I volunteered and also worked and was paid for Patternmaking support for the foundry. My casual connection started in 1985 and continued through to about 1994, which was a little after John’s retirement I think. My reason for asking is that I am writing a booklet on the decline of Patternmaking as a skilled craft within industry. My time at the museum coincides with my own departure and retraining as the craft declined rapidly with the introduction of CAD and CNC machining processes. I have images of my own but nothing worth printing. I could revisit and take current shots but they wouldn’t be of the time. This was the time when Mike Day was Curator, John was site manager, and managed the foundry, and Bill and Bob were the foundry men there. If you have any images and you give permission for their use full credit will given and of course you or John’s estate retain copy write.
I look forward to hearing from you.
If I have the wrong person, a brief reply would be much appreciated so I can further my search.
Regards.
Neil Blakeman