Take a trip back through the decades with this collection of pictures capturing some of the people, places, jobs and everyday moments that helped shape life across Shropshire.
From early-morning delivery rounds and rural trades to telephone exchanges, road openings, changing communities and fashions, these images offer a fascinating glimpse of life in years gone by. Some scenes may still be instantly recognisable, while others have long since disappeared - but each one offers a little window into Shropshire’s past.
The pictures are in no particular order.
Which images bring back memories for you? Share your memories in the comments.
- You can enjoy this and more with our weekly FREE Nostalgia Newsletter - with scores of archive pictures and exclusive features on the history of Shropshire and Mid Wales - all sent to your inbox every week. Sign up here.
1. Testing out the tech of tomorrow
Trying out the latest modern handsets on display, 16-year-old Jane Davies tests a phone during a visit from the GPO travelling exhibition at Towers Lawn car park, Market Drayton, in October 1972. Complete with classic 1970s fashion, the mobile showcase gave local residents a chance to glimpse the future of home telecommunications, checking out sleek new push-button models, colourful rotary designs, and state-of-the-art office equipment. Do you remember visiting the GPO travelling exhibition when it toured around Shropshire in the 1970s? What was the first colour or style of telephone your family had installed at home? | Shropshire Star archive
2. A bit of roadside drama on Abbey Foregate
Hard at work underneath a broken-down Mini Van), company fitter Jack Sumnall from Dawley fixes a newspaper delivery vehicle owned by Leakes Ltd - publishers of the Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News - in October 1961. As a police officer and onlookers chat beside the raised vehicle in Abbey Foregate, reader Bob Mountford shared that his father-in-law Jack was brought in to keep the newspaper fleet moving across Shropshire. Do you remember seeing the classic Austin and Morris Mini Vans making their daily newspaper delivery drops around Shrewsbury in the 1960s? Did anyone in your family work in local newspaper distribution or mechanical trades back then? | Shropshire Star archive
3. Burning the midnight oil to build a future
Working under floodlights as darkness falls, a group of 20 determined Wellington men press on with a self-help housing scheme in 1953. Refusing to let shorter autumn days and the end of British Summer Time slow them down, these local tradesmen and volunteers laid bricks well into the night to construct homes for their families during the post-war building boom. Do you remember the remarkable self-help housing associations that popped up across Shropshire in the 1950s? Did anyone in your family roll up their sleeves to help build their own neighbourhood in Wellington or Telford back in the day? | ©PA
4. Final lessons in a tiny village classroom
Sitting side by side at wooden bench desks, the entire student body of Harley Church of England Primary School focus intently on their schoolwork on June 28, 1961. With just 12 pupils in total attendance, this intimate village classroom was captured shortly before its final closure, ahead of the children being transferred to a newly built school in neighbouring Cressage. The striking image later featured in a national feature highlighting the changing landscape of education in Britain during the space age. Do you remember attending small village primary schools like Harley back in the 1960s? Were you or any members of your family among the 12 children pictured here before the move to Cressage? | Shropshire Star archive