Phil: Jack Judge wrote Tipperary of course. My grandfather Fred KNIGHT was a drinking mate of Jack JUDGE, and my mother Vera PRESCOTT (nee KNIGHT) used to play with the JUDGE children in the 20s and 30s. My granddad always claimed to have put the second "long" in the chorus of Tipperary. Jack originally wrote the chorus as "its a l-o-o-ng way to Tipperary" and my granddad said "Jack - it'd sahnd berra if yo purra nutha lung innit" so Jack did. Paul Prescott Oldbury born and bred - now living in Scotland. PS: You still need to pass over a canal to get to Oldbury town centre. They've only filled the Oldbury town loop in. The Brindley and Telford main lines are still there, and still encircle Oldbury. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Phil Lamb" <pjlamb@btinternet.com> To: <CANAL-PEOPLE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 9:13 PM Subject: Re: [CANAL-PEOPLE] Intro. MILLWARD & MEEK > Vana et al, > At one time Oldbury was entirely surrounded by water. To get in or out > of the town centre you had to pass over a canal. Now they are filled in but > the Birmingham - Wolverhampton canal still passes close by. This is one > canal but two cuts between Smethwick and Tipton. > For any locals, a good walk on a Sunday afternoon in late summer is > through the Galton Valley Smethwick, up on the one cut, and back along the > other. There is a canal Heritage Centre (in an old pub - no beer though) > some splendid bridges in stone, concrete and cast iron, (Galton Bridge, > Steward Akkydoc etc), a gauging stop, lots of locks including what are > believed to be the oldest working locks in the country. > > Jack Judge is Oldbury's most famous son - for what reason ? (Nothing to > do with canals) > > Phil in Hales Owen > > > >I recently found that my g.g.grandparents John MEEK and Nancy MILLWARD were > >boat people born abt. 1820 (+/-). Their daughter was Sarah MEEK b. 1841 > >at Oldbury. Sarah married Joseph COOPER of Smethwick in 1871 and > >immigrated to US abt. 1872. > > > >I am so happy to find your list and learn what it meant to be a canal > >person. I look forward to some discovery. > > > > > > > ==== CANAL-PEOPLE Mailing List ==== > C J Genealogical Collections > Web Page http://freespace.virgin.net/genealogical.collections > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >