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.
25. Sparking a debate on Bonfire Night safety
Equipped with a handwritten cardboard placard and clipboards, three uniformed members of the 4th Market Drayton Guides take to the town streets ahead of Bonfire Night in October 1986. Claire Marshall, Sasha Talbot, and Lyn Haynes gathered local opinions on fireworks, hoping to turn their community survey into a published article for a guiding magazine. Do you remember being stopped in the street by these eager Guides back in the autumn of 1986? Were you or anyone in your family involved with the Guides or Scouts in Market Drayton during the 1980s? | Shropshire Star archive
26. A familiar sight on the roadside
A classic red K6 telephone box stands on the verge at Richards Castle, right on the historic border between Shropshire and Herefordshire in March 1960. A familiar and welcome sight along rural roads back in the day, this humble kiosk stood at the centre of local debate when proposed boundary changes left residents wondering which county their village phone box actually belonged to. Do you remember making a call from this roadside telephone box back in the 1960s? Did your village have an iconic red phone box that everyone relied on? | Shropshire Star archive
27. Drinking up that daily crate of school milk
Sipping through paper straws from tiny glass bottles, a group of Wellington primary school pupils enjoy their daily milk break during the mid-to-late 1950s. Shared from the collection of Margaret Wood, this nostalgic scene includes her brother John Brown (third from the left), whose family famously ran Brown's Taxis next to the Majestic in Wellington. The crate of third-of-a-pint bottles was a daily staple for schoolkids back in the day, providing a boost of goodness halfway through the morning. Do you remember drinking those little bottles of school milk back in the 1950s - sometimes warm by the radiator in winter or chilled on the doorstep? | Picture courtesy of Margaret Wood
28. Early electric innovation on Shrewsbury’s slopes
Walking alongside his newly introduced electric vehicle, Postman F E Foulkes guides a Royal Mail parcel van up steep Claremont Bank in September 1957. Introduced by Shrewsbury Post Office to replace traditional petrol vans for town centre deliveries, these pedestrian-controlled electric vehicles made the heavy daily rounds far lighter work for local postal staff tackling the town's hilly streets. Do you remember seeing these unusual pedestrian-guided electric parcel vans humming around Shrewsbury town centre in the late 1950s? Did anyone in your family work for the GPO or Royal Mail during this era of post-war innovation? | Shropshire Star archive