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In partnership with www.expressandstar.com/motors ond-hand sec wa u Yo ond-hand to nt wa car ond-hand a buy to ond-hand sec t jus ’s It has it But ond-hand not t manual. be to has . car r. ond-hand manual. driving much as t jus ’s It t tics. oma aut driving much not t tics. th wi p hi rs ne rt pa In th mot om/ .c tar sands es xpr .e www ors mot Thursday, January 17, 2013 Express & Star ES 42 www.expressandstar.com Steelway is a Wolverhampton success story. It was founded in 1928 at the Queensgate Works site in Wolverhampton by C. W. Goodyear. Three years later it merged with F. Hammond & Co, a noted manufacturer of handrail standards. In addition Steelway was the sole selling agents of drop forged handrail standards manufactured by J. Brock- house & Co of West Bromwich and in turn Mr. J. V. H. Brockhouse was the selling agent in London for all Steel- way products. In 1935, this new company made its mark impressively on the national scene. On March 19, Mr Hore-Belisha, the dynamic Minister of Transport, inaugurated the pedestrian guard rails at Britannia Crossing, in Camden Town, London. They were only the sec- ond such safety barriers in the country and they had been made by the enter- prising and innovative Wolverhampton company at its factory on the Bilston Road. The order had come because the pre- vious year, Steelway had manufactured the United Kingdom’s first pedestrian guard rails, which had been installed in July at the busy junction of Prince’s Square. These safety guards had been an immediate success in stopping pedestrians walking off a blind corner into the path of motorists and they had T T h h e e C C a a r r l l C C h h i i n n n n P P a a g g e e Loving care and friends Jane’s aunt and uncle, Florence and David Webb well recall ‘Uncle Joe’ and have kindly sent in this photo of him with Floss’s mom and Jane’s gran, Flo- rence Hackett. It was taken in the front garden of her house in Daisy Bank, Coseley. Like Jane, her Auntie Floss and Uncle David still live in Daisy Bank, Coseley and last year celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary. As for the giv- ing Joe Austin, he became blind in his latter years and died in America approximately 39 years ago. E arly last year we featured an intriguing and moving story from Mike Baker, now of Wollaston, that highlighted the importance and value of neighbourliness in the midst of hard times. Sadly when he was 18, Mike had lost his father and five years later, he was living with his severely dis- abled mother in Horseley Heath, Tipton whilst he was working at the famed works of Horseley Bridge and Thomas Piggot Ltd. Mike and his mother lived in a ground floor council flat at No. 12 Smiths Place, Tipton, but, as he recalls “mother was 61 years old and an extremely severe arthritic to the extent that she was housebound and had to be lifted and carried to the bathroom or bedroom. She had to be virtually hand- fed and washed and dressed each day. Her name was Martha Anne Baker, a committed Christian woman. “I, being in fulltime employment had to leave her for most of the working day, and in which case my Mother depended on neighbours (God Bless them all) to look after her needs and to have their daily chats and nibbles and the inevitable cup of tea, or two etc. Angel “A family of four lived directly above us on the top floor of the flats, namely Reg and Joan Git- tins with their eldest daughter, Susan, aged about 10 years and youngest daughter, Gillian, aged seven years. Joan Gittins spent so much time looking after my Mother that she was indeed an angel in disguise, and of course the children used to help too. “Imagine my Mother’s surprise and my sur- prise when the ‘Express and Star’ arrived on Sat- urday July 22, 1961, and we saw on page 6 a picture of Gillian as part of an article headed ‘May Her Wishes All Come True. Gave away all three to others.’ Gillian, in an essay at school, was the only pupil in the class who gave away all three wishes to others. One of the wishes being that Mother could walk. “Sometime later Gillian received a visitor from New York, namely a Mr Joe Austin, who I under- stand was a Blackcountry Man, originally from Bilston, who went to live and work in the USA and was very successful. He had come over to the UK to see the Cup Final and called on Gillian and her family and also called to see my Mother. “During his visit he asked Gillian what she thought Mrs Baker would like as a present, and she said, ‘a Bible with large print, as her eyesight is not very good’. “Sure enough some weeks later a large parcel arrived at our flat, and upon opening we discov- ered a Bible with large print produced by the American Bible Society, New York, and on an inside leaf of the Bible it was labelled, ‘To Mrs Baker from Gillian’s Uncle Joe in New York’. This Bible is still in my possession and is in pris- tine condition. Some time later an airmail letter arrived at our flat, and upon opening we found a postcard which said, ‘Mrs Baker, I thought you would like a bookmark for your Bible. It was made by a blind girl. Sincerely Joe Austin.’- Reply to J. Austin, Box 186, Bronx Central, NY51-USA.’ In the envelope was a beautiful cro- chet cross in white and pink, which we still have. “Well in May 1962, after a seventeen-week period in hospital, my Mother passed away and within days a letter arrived from America which when opened revealed a poem, written and sent by Joe Austin. With such beautiful words and Joe’s constant concern for my Mother I sum- moned up all my very sparse poetical knowledge and sent back a very simple poem in return. Steel company played major An unknown location from about the 1930s, although it may be a football stadium; Steelway would have made the stair balustrade drawn the attention of Hore-Belisha. He had become Minister of Trans- port in the National Government in 1934 and was a man with a mission to improve road safety. During the year he came into office, 7,343 people were killed and 231,603 injured in road acci- dents. Half of them were pedestrians and three-quarters of the accidents happened in built-up areas. Hore-Belisha was appalled at this “‘mass murder” and strove to end it. His Road Traffic Act of 1934 intro- duced a speed limit of 30 mph for motor cars in built-up areas; he re- wrote the Highway Code; and he intro- duced the driving test and Belisha beacon. He also championed the instal- lation of pedestrian guard rails. In March 1935 he announced that “as part of the experiment” which he was carrying out with the highway author- ities, safety barriers were to be erected at both the Britannia Crossing in Cam- den Town and the junction with Cam- bridge Road, Stepney. The guard rails at the latter were put up on March 22, 1935, three days after the one in Camden. Both instal- lations were “at the edge of the foot- paths to prevent pedestrians from stepping off the kerb in dangerous places and to guide them to the marked pedestrian crossings where there will be gaps in the rails”. It was stated that if they succeeded “the experiment will be extended to other important road junctions in London’. Thanks to the pioneering design and manufacturing expertise of Steelway succeed they did, as was made plain by an announce- ment from the Minister in February 1936. As a result safety barriers went on to be developed on a large scale in London. Two years after the launch of Steel- way’s first pedestrian guard rail in London, the Wolverhampton company manufactured the sockets and detach- able uprights to form crowd control barriers for the 1937 coronation of King George VI – parts of which were used again for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. A letter of appreciation from New Scotland Yard was sent to Steelway after the 1937 event. It read: “Now that the coronation is a matter of his- tory, I should like to express my thanks to your firm for the efficient way in which you met the demand for barrier material. As you know the barriers were of unusual design, which required special attention by you in manufac- ture. They proved most satisfactory, and I have not had any complaints regarding them. This is a matter of sat- isfaction to all concerned.” A pioneering enterprise in industrial access metalwork, Steelway became well known and highly regarded for its flooring, ladders, stairs, handrails, guardrails, and platforms. It continues to be held in esteem for such products. Malcolm thinks that this smashing photo shows the Bilston Road by the canal, and recalls that there used to be a junkshop in that row of buildings
