NEWS

Peter's plea for Abbey Farm Photo 12th December 2002 update - photo found click here. A Gornal ex-pat is hoping that Yampy readers can dig up any old photos they have of the farm that once stood near the corner of Abbey Street and Abbey Road. Peter Mudge has lived in Australia since the late 1960's with wife Marion (nee Esp). He was born in Torquay Devon, but moved to the Black Country in 1957, living in Hurst Hill and then Ivy House Lane before meeting future wife Marion while working at Wolverhampton Die Castings. Marion was from New Street in Gornal village and still has family up on Five Ways. The couple settled down in Gornal, and Peter's initial problems understanding our accent were resolved by frequent visits to the White Chimneys. "To listen to the Gornal folk talk - well, I was lost" laughs Peter "but I found them to be great people , and the nights that I spent in the Chimneys were the highlight of living in the Gornal area" "We have now been living in Australia for the past 34 years, but I still call Gornal my home. Home for the Mudges was Abbey Farm, next to the Zoar Chapel. The building has long been demolished and Gornal Library now stands on the site. A regular visitor to Yampy, Peter has recently realised that he has no pictorial record of the farm and has appealed to our readers to help in the following email: Hello fellow Yampians, Well, it seems that for all the time my wife and I lived in the old house next to the Zoar (now library) we never took a photo. So please folks dig deep into your albums and see if you have one, and send it to Yampy. Then I too will get to see it. To all my friends still living in the area, hello and a very Merry Xmas to you all. To all Yampy viewers and admin, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Xmas from Australia. If you have such a photo and would not mind sharing it with Peter and other Yampy visitors, please email it to us at admin@yampy.co.uk. If you don't have it on computer, no problem - the Yampy office is right opposite the old farm/library, above Alan Whittle's, and your photo will take just a few minutes to scan in. Please ring us first on 01384 255000 to make sure that we will be ready for you. If you would prefer, we could pick the photo up from your house and return it safely within the hour. We are sure that Peter will have an even merrier Xmas if he has a picture of his home in Gornal to reminisce about, so here's hoping that someone can find that elusive photograph of Abbey Farm.

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