Description:Pupils of Oldfields Secondary Modern School, Uttoxeter, at Consall railway station.
John Hudson, one of the pupils, remembers:
"This Consall station photograph was taken during a field trip to the Churnet valley, mostly boys of class 2a, but myself and Barry Crutchley, from class 3a, assisting the two teachers, Mr Lamb and Mr Critchlow, both of whom can be seen standing at the back. We travelled by train from Uttoxeter to Cheddleton (impossible now of course), walking down the valley, along the canal towpath, making diversions to see things of interest, catching the train back at Froghall. During the trip, we were amazed to watch the beer for the Black Lion at Consall Forge, being delivered by train, which stopped right in front of the pub, the barrels being rolled straight off the railway truck and up to the pub, then the train shunting forward slightly to unload the next truck. We also visited Mr Podmore’s flint mill, which I believe is now holiday cottages, but then was fully working, powered by two huge, overshot waterwheels called Jack and Jill. Mr Podmore told us that the waterwheel also drove a generator for the electricity, so apart from the wages of the two men who worked for him, it cost almost nothing to run! They had a huge pile of unglazed reject pottery there, that was to be mixed in with the flint, so we literally had a 'smashing' time without being told off!"