How it all began...
Around Halesowen's Green Borderland.
Roy’s Story.
During 1987-88 volunteers from the Halesowen Abbey Trust successfully completed two major ‘Countryside’ footpath improvement projects on the Coombeswood Green Wedge, which is situated just north of Mucklow Hill.
Following on from this, a third project was initiated in conjunction with Dudley Council, to improve the public footpaths near the Abbey ruins in the old parishes of Lapal & Illey.
However, the ongoing success of the projects caught the attention of the parish clerk for Rornsley, Hunnington and Franbley. In January of 1988, they approached the Abbey trust with a view to asking for help in how they could improve their footpaths.
As these footpaths would compliment the work to be undertaken in the Illey and Lapal, the Trust agreed to help and decided that an overall plan was required for the Countryside surrounding Halesowen. The task was to draw up a map that would indicate all the public footpaths and the work required to bring them up to a reasonable standard.
A survey was carried out, and the ‘Map’ was completed on the 8th May 1988. This was to form the main reference for the majority of the footpath improvement schemes that were carried out over the following 9 years.
At the 10th committee meeting of the Abbey Trust on May 11th 1988, it was mooted that the new footpath map would make a ‘wonderful’ basis for a leaflet or book on walks around the area.
I, Roy Burgess, being the Honorary Secretary of the Abbey trust at the time, offered to initiate 6 or 7 walks which would be circular, and also linked to each other. By early 1989, 7 walk routes had been devised, drawn up and test walked. A set of directions to accompany the walk maps were all drawn up, typed out and ready to be published.
As is often the case, the inevitable happened:- Family, Career, The Trusts ongoing projects, etc. And so the 7 walk leaflets were left in 1989, gathering dust in the darkest corner of the Trust’s filing cabinets.
Until 23 years later….
Mark’s Story.
Roy and I met a couple of years ago in the gym. We chatted about nature. I asked Roy why there were not many guide walks in Clent and even over the A456 where I live. Roy asked if I was joking , "No" I replied. Roy then told me he had written seven walks in 1989 and never had them published.
That was that, we walked them several times, as nature and man had changed the landscape and decided what a great benefit to the local people if we could show Halesowen to a wider audience, with history and points of interest for everyone's knowledge. It is our hope that it will encourage you to come to Halesowen!
