Madeley: Time Line 
History & Dates.

By Chris Machin

(Photo. © Kevin J. Clarke)

1991 to Date

1991 - ‘Well, I Forget The Rest’, is published. Quentin Crewe’s autobiography, it covers his wartime boyhood in Madeley and his later move back to Madeley following his inheritance. (ISBN 0-09-174835-6 Hutchinson). Available at Newcastle Library.

1991 - The animal sanctuary shuts, but the wildlife rescue service will continue.

1991 - £35,000 is spent on a landscaping scheme for Madeley Pool. This includes tree planting, seats, rubbish bins, a wildlife haven and plans to introduce wildfowl. Later in the year, stock fish are introduced, common and mirror carp, crucian carp, roach, rudd and tench. The resident Cob and Pen swans on the pool are always named ‘Bob’ and ‘Ginny'. The River Lea rises at Leahead, near Aston, and flows through Madeley and the Pool, onto the River Weaver, then the River Mersey and then to the Irish Sea.

1992 - Thousands of gallons of sewage flood the pool. Council workmen had accidentally unlocked a local drain.

1992 - Keele by-pass is officially opened three months ahead of schedule by Guy Gibbs, aged seven, who had won a local road safety competition.

1993 - About eighty pupils from Staffordshire’s Special Schools join celebrations at Madeley Pool to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Izaak Walton. Carl Walton (no relation!), of Queens Croft School, Lichfield, catches a 7oz Rudd.

1995 - Voluntary Pool Warden, Tom Blaise retires after 15 years service.

1995 - Betty Sumnall is Mayor of Newcastle from 1995 to 1996. She has been a local councillor from 1980, when her husband had died.

1995 - Mr. Rajesh Morjaria applies to open a pharmacy in Madeley.

1995 - Waterside Close housing estate is built.

1996 - Cardway Cartons closes its Madeley Plant at Netherset Hey Industrial Estate and relocates to Alsager. Twenty six jobs are lost.

1996 - ‘Our World’ is published. It includes creative writing and pictures from every child at Sir John Offley Primary School. The cover painting is by Bethany Brough.

1996 - Madeley Conservation Group celebrate the centenary of the village garden party with a Victorian style fair on June 15th.

1997 - Rev Jane Tillier takes over as Vicar at Madeley.

1998 - Dave Burnley from Grayling Willows wins a competition in The Sentinel to visit 10 Downing Street and ask questions directly to PM Tony Blair.

1998 - Animal Liberation activists free two thousand mink from Kelbain Mink Farm in Onneley. Locals fear the mink may follow the River Lea down to Madeley and attack domestic animals, cats, dogs etc.

1998 - With the closure of Silverdale Colliery, no more coal trucks run from Silverdale Colliery to Madeley Junction.

1999 - ‘Uncovering The Madeley Landscape’, is published by The Madeley Conservation Group.

1999 - The Evening Spice Indian Restaurant takes over The Bridge Inn. It is a finalist in The Sentinel Business Awards 2000.

1999 - ‘The New Madeley Manor House. A Short Biography’, is published.( ISBN 0953696103)

2000 - ‘Madeley in Living Memory’, is published by Madeley & District Community Association.

2000 (December) - An article on Madeley appears in Cheshire Life.

2000 - Homestead Madeley WebSite went on line, set up and maintained by Philip Shaw.

2000 - May 25th. Andrew T. Finney & Kevin J. Clarke set up an experimental Madeley Village website as a college project. Later on that year, Philip Shaw and Andrew T. Finney later agree to pool information and resources to enable the birth of a larger site. Initially it is run from the LineOne ISP site until slow connection speeds force a move in February 2002 onto the Freeserve http://madeleysaffs.fsnet.co.uk web address.

2001 - Dr. J R M Worthington retires after 21 years at the Madeley Practice.

2001 – The Cob swan and one of the breeding pairs cygnets are shot using an air pistol and nailed to a tree at the western end of Madeley Pool. R.S.P.C.A. rescuers remove the Penn and the remaining cygnets for their own safety. No culprit(s) have as yet been caught.

2002 - Evening Spice Restaurant won best ethnic caterer award at Booker Prize for Excellence.

2002 - A new playground at Sir John Offley Primary School, costing £3500, is opened. It is paid for by the school's Parent, Teacher & Friends Association.

2002 – After a long relationship with Madeley village Mike and Jean from The Crewe Arms retire and sell the business to Punch Taverns. They suffered the tragic loss of their only daughter a short time before.