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.
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9. Keeping it in the family on the milk run
Stepping up to handle the local milk deliveries around 1945 or 1946, sisters Lilian and Molly Edwards take to the road with their horse and cart from Grove Farm in Rodington. Posing with milk churns in hand, the daughters of dairy farmer David Edwards carried on a vital post-war rural service - delivering fresh milk straight from the farm to doorsteps across the village. Do you remember receiving fresh farm milk delivered by horse and cart in rural Shropshire back in the 1940s? Does anyone in your family have memories or stories of Grove Farm or the Edwards family in Rodington? | Picture supplied
10. Swirling skirts and summer sunshine in a bygone era
Back when village life moved at a gentler pace, schoolchildren twirl and clap in colourful summer frocks and smart shirts during a lively outdoor rehearsal in Munslow in July 1965. This wonderful full-colour photograph captures the pupils practicing traditional country dancing for their school open day under the watchful eyes of headmistress Mrs B Gregory and assistant Mrs M Harris. Do you remember taking part in country dancing on the cobbles for school open days back in the 1960s? Were you or anyone in your family among the young dancers twirling in the sunshine that summer? | Shropshire Star archive
11. Parcels with a bit of extra moo-vement!
Station handlers carefully wrap three young calves into protective sacking outside the parcels office at Shrewsbury railway station on May 10, 1961. Bound for a long journey north to Scotland, these unusually lively 'parcels' were safely bundled up to keep them calm and secure before being loaded onto the train - offering a surprising sight for everyday commuters passing through the station. Do you remember seeing livestock being transported by train back when railway stations handled all sorts of unusual cargo? Did anyone in your family work on the railways or in livestock transport around Shrewsbury in the 1960s? | Shropshire Star archive
12. Taking a shortcut through rail history
While many towns converted redundant railway lines into roads, planners for Dawley New Town found an even cleverer use for a disused route passing through their central development area in November 1968. Rather than tunnelling through hillsides, engineers laid huge sewerage pipes directly through the former railway cuttings and existing brick tunnels before backfilling them - as a suited onlooker takes in the clever civil engineering feat. Do you remember seeing the transformation of the local landscape as Dawley New Town and Telford grew during the late 1960s? Can you spot where these old railway tunnels and cuttings used to run? | ©PA