Memories of Brian Bailey in 2001

If you have lived most of your life in Wem, then you may well know that Brian Bailey holds a Silver Commonwealth Medal for Clay Pigeon Shooting, which he won at the 1974 Christchurch Games in New Zealand. You may not know though that for many years he was the coach and manager of the British Shooting Squad which is based at Bisley, near London, of which he’s a Lifetime Honorary Member of the Clay Pigeon Society. He is Mr Brian Bailey. Brian had been watching the successful English teams at the recent Manchester Commonwealth Games and reminiscing about the time he won his Silver Medal.

“Nearly all the Commonwealth Countries entered a team in the Shooting classes, there were more member countries back in 1974 and each country entered two of their best shooters into the Clay Pigeon Shoot, I remember the standard was very high and I felt very proud when I won the Silver Medal.”

After his own success he went on to coach and manage the successful shooting team going to the 1986 World Championships and 1988 Seoul Olympics.

“ I gave up a lot of my time to coaching the English squad, which also meant that I travelled to every major sporting event around the world. I visited Australia and New Zealand a number of times along with three or four visits to South Africa. “

Brian told me that his sport meant he had to have a very understanding wife. “ I had to spend a lot of time away from home, but Sylvia was always supportive which was a great help to me.” Wem honoured Brian by making him an Honorary Townsman and also named a street, Bailey Close, after him. When Brian was home he ran the family business, Edwards and Bailey Coal Merchants. The ‘Edwards’ name was his wife Sylvia’s maiden name. Sylvia’s father had a coal business at Prees and Hodnet. Brian’s dad, Bill Bailey ran a hauliers business and delivered coal for the coal merchants who were based on the Station Yard.

“ My dad used to have eight shire horses in the earlier days and he would deliver coal to households all around Wem and as far as Myddle.” Said Brian. “I remember him delivering daily to the Maltings, the Brewery, the Gas Works and Creamery at Aston. He had a good friend called Wilf Hall and they would do a lot of dealing together and would travel up to Manchester to buy shire horses at the sales”

Brian went to work with his father at an early age and remembers clearly how the old station yard looked when it was working in the 1940’s and up to it’s closure.

“ It’s sad for me to see that the railway yard has no future, I remember clearly how busy it was. As you came off Aston Street there were the coal merchants offices all lined up, people will remember Huxleys, Rutters and Shepherds and the weighbridge. The steam trains passing through Wem were not only passenger but long goods trains that shunted wagons into the sidings. They delivered wood which went straight into Isherwoods yard and the coal wagons ran out into the sidings to be tipped and weighed and corn was brought in for animal feeds. Waiting to be loaded out would be beer barrels and finished butchers blocks along with milk churns and cheeses.
< When I was a lad I remember riding on the old steam shunting trains as they pushed the wagons into the sidings”

If you look across at the old yard just past the station car park, you can see the original blue brick stable, shed and station yard office. Brian is very angry that this old building, which was built around 1880, has been so sadly neglected. (Note- these were demolished a few years later and Isherwoods Way was built on the site

“ That building is structurally in remarkable condition and it was built at a time when Wem was becoming an important and successful market town.They don’t build like that any more. I’ve seen the proposed plans for the now derelict yard and Isherwoods site and they don’t include keeping it, it would be criminal to pull it down.”

Behind the station yard building there are large sheds which Brian remembers being constructed. “ I remember those sheds being built to store corn, and also the ramps and pens being built for keeping cattle that were brought by rail to Wem. The cattle were then herded down the High Street to the livestock market which used to be held where the supermarket car park is now. These pens and stores had a short working life because the ‘Beeching Act’ came into effect closing stations and goods yards along with most of Britains rural rail network”

After all the line closures Brian remembers hauling the thousands of railway sleepers to farms far and near to be used for the making of silage pits. “ We got the contract to take up the siding lines and all the ash base from the Aston Park Army Camp, we took thousands of tons of ashes up to Steel Heath where they were used to make breeze blocks.” Remembers Brian.

“That was a sad time, to see all those lines and railway yards being pulled up and stations like our own Wem Railway Station disappearing. I think the only reason the rail line stayed was because it was a testing line from Crewe for the then new diesel trains. “

The Edwards and Bailey Coal Business, now run by Brian’s son, had to leave the old station yard. It is the end of an era, leaving Wem with no more coal merchants operating from a yard that was once the main artery for Wem Businesses.

Brian feels strongly that some of the proposed developments to the old station yard should include the restoration of the blue brick shed. I am not sure what the time scale for development of the site is, but next time your walking towards the station look across to the old station yard, and let us know your views.

Mr Bailey now owns and runs with his son Edwards and Bailey Coal Merchants. He also runs that useful yard on Aston Street where you might find yourself going to look for garden trellis or a garden ornament, or a replacement grate or tile.