BY LOCAL HISTORIAN AND GENEALOGIST YVONNE MOORE
I offered to help Stephen with his research after seeing his articles he wrote for Sutton Coldfield Town Council during the covid era. I helped with lots of diverse research until Stephen died in 2022.
I often hear authors being interviewed on radio or television and as someone interested in the local history of Sutton Coldfield and having read the first two books Stephen has written about the town, I thought that I would ask him a few questions about his links with Sutton and why he writes books about the town.
Yvonne: What are your favourite memories about growing up in Sutton Coldfield?
Stephen: I had a long garden in which to play and the attached gardens where my friends lived were also long. So, putting them together we had a lot of space to play in plus there were lots of trees to climb. I spent a lot of time in trees!
Yvonne: Do you have any memories of shopping as a child?
Stephen: I remember the centre of the town before the shopping centre. I wanted to buy a bunch of flowers for my mother from Chamberlains, but I only had 1s 3d instead of the required 1s 6d. However, they still let me have them! When I was a little boy, the toy shop Gills was a magical place. In my teens I became an avid reader. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the Just William and Billy Bunter books I borrowed from the library.
Yvonne: What was, in your childhood, or still is, your favourite place in Sutton Coldfield?
Stephen: The School House at Bishop Vesey’s – a beautiful eighteenth century building.
Yvonne: Why have you begun writing books about the history of Sutton Coldfield?
Stephen: I’ve written books about other subjects, but I live in Sutton, I’m an historian … so it seemed natural to write about it. I believe that knowing the history of where you live helps you better understand it – so I do hope that people read the books!
Yvonne: How do you go about researching the books that you have published about the history of Sutton Coldfield?
Stephen: When I first began to write books thirty years ago, I used to have to travel all over the country to visit libraries & archives. Now so much is available online. I research things very carefully and I am pleased to say there is a lot of new information in my books about Sutton.
Yvonne: What are the books you have so far published about Sutton Coldfield?
Stephen: The current series is in three parts. So far parts one and two have been published.
GLIMPSES INTO SUTTON’S PAST part I 1880 -1859, £4.99 paperback and part II 1851-1885, £5.99 paperback, £3.99 Kindle on Amazon. Also available from other booksellers.
WEBSTER & HORSFALL & THE ATLANTIC CABLE, £4.50 paperback, Amazon and other booksellers.
This book is about the wire making industry that started in 1818 at Penns Hall in Sutton Coldfield.
Further books were added before his death.
This interview was conducted during a telephone conversation in January 2022.
Yvonne Moore 2022 ©