The man known as Mr Pelsall turns 100. Whats it like to of seen so much change living in the same black country town?
Sim Mayou, ex Councillor, former Navy man and local businessman turns 100 years old, and all his life he has lived in Pelsall. We catch up with him for an extended chat to hear some of the stories he has about his life and his love for this Black Country village.
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00:00right okay so we're here in Pelsall and we're here in Pelsall and we're here with mr Pelsall
00:08sim how are you sir well i'm i'm okay myself yeah really well i mean it's a special day for
00:18you this weekend tomorrow is my special day yeah go on how old my family have organized
00:25a wonderful sort of surprise for me i understand yeah they won't tell me what it's all about
00:32still still a surprise of sorts then wait and see just do as we ask you today yeah yeah turn up so
00:39100 years the centenary yeah how old do you feel well you know i don't feel that that period or
00:51that age yeah uh the only thing is like you're all right in your your brain yeah but your body
01:01don't respond the same your body's not doing what your brain's telling you
01:06that's right i i'm i'm slower now yeah well you're 100 pretty much you know
01:12it's like when you know you've been an athletic type all your life yeah and i used to like like
01:19my games and sports well let's get back to so you were where were you born i was in bed
01:31in in walsall no palestine palestine palestine yeah i was born here so you've had your whole
01:36life in palestine and um so you were schooled around here and you were a counsellor at one
01:42point yes that's on my this is on my stick they presented me with it yeah and that little ring
01:48there oh is that what that means all about it okay oh yes it does say something you want to
01:55now don't worry too much see we'll have a closer look at that in a sec
01:59so you've seen a few changes over palestine in 100 years i should imagine
02:04very much so really
02:09so much so that uh one time i've always i've always been dedicated to palestine
02:18yeah it's a lovely village yeah the only trouble is now like that uh we've expanded with
02:26people coming in but sad to say we don't seem to have the same
02:34interest in in keeping the village uh as it should be kept yeah like it was in the old days
02:43people are a little bit less more community minded and just yes you know yes it's it's a shame in a
02:49way yeah uh i don't mean that disrespectful to them really uh in any way but i would like to
03:01we used to have a very very good uh civic society in the village here
03:09we only left with about there's just three of us yeah left yeah like and the the leaders and
03:18the main yeah people uh who you know the what i call the brainy ones yeah yeah so
03:27palestine when you were a kid growing up was it a good place to grow up what what did you
03:34how did you make you fun when you were a kid what did you get up to
03:39where i lived up the north uh top of palestine uh the highest point in palestine where i lived
03:48it's uh i think it's over 500 feet above sea level yeah uh look that we had a huge common
03:56yeah uh we were very poor i mean we we never the only thing was fortunately my father was a miner
04:08yeah so work was very scarce at the time before the war yeah so it was hand to mouth all the time
04:15yeah and like uh with your family uh it was who got up first in the morning you had to pick out
04:23of the clothes under the table oh okay i've gone to school many a time with two left shoes on yeah
04:31because that's all that was left like yeah yeah so where was your dad a miner at where was that
04:37brown hills miner at number three pit yeah
04:43whirly okay yeah yeah so you you saw your dad as a miner did you did you ever did that make you
04:49think i don't want to be a miner or did you think i want to do that no no i think i think what uh
04:57no it didn't uh was never deterred from not being a miner it it was just the fact that
05:05uh it it was my mother was was a was a very good domestic person because she was a served her time
05:16in service when she was a young girl and my father was a a very good footballer he paid for played
05:26at one time and also one of my uncles for blocks with strollers okay yeah i don't know whether
05:35you've ever heard of them that rings a bell but uh they were a very famous team in yeah uh
05:42lemore okay and what was your dad's name then what was your dad's name then
05:47Bertie Bertie Mayhew yeah were you any good at football did you follow in his footsteps
05:53uh yes uh one of my eldest brother played uh amateur because we had we used to have three
06:05enclosed football pitches in my village yeah so each that belonged to like the pub yeah so they
06:14always had a football team yeah now uh over the years we haven't got one well yeah it was sad to
06:22see the demise of the ground there at Pelsung must have been sad for yourself being a village man
06:27and um so you had brothers and sisters any any brothers and sisters any any brothers and sisters
06:34yeah i had i had uh that was my oldest brother me and a younger brother yeah uh
06:43and two sisters but they've all gone there's only mother your last man standing i'm the last man
06:49standing yeah but it's nice to know like that my my son uh has married a very good lady yeah
06:59and uh she's now like uh we've got uh three grandsons yeah really who were married yeah
07:09and uh they're bringing along now what's that carrying on the family name because it's unusual
07:15surname isn't it how are you pronouncing it may you may you yeah it is not mayo yeah where does
07:23that come from have you ever done the family history uh right unusual we was i think it
07:32started off with a different name to may you but over the years it became may you
07:38slightly changed over the years yeah but we were actually uh from many many on the continent
07:49somewhere like come through the deserts and all we were traders yeah the the tribe
07:56the uh uh were traders and we were kicked out yeah from one uh from one uh country to another
08:08yeah until we got in uh the last country was france yeah france kicked us out there yeah
08:17and we landed in cornwall and i think it was about the 18th century yeah um we haven't made our way
08:25much from cornwall but funny enough you continued that line of traders didn't you because just next
08:31door to here we've got the hardware shop yeah which bears your name above the front yeah yes
08:36yes it's strange really yeah in a way because uh my trade was a interior decorator
08:46and i used to do a lot of uh wood wood graining yeah and marbling and different ones and it was
08:56lovely work so that's what you did to pay the bills that was your game yeah yeah and then when
09:02when did you open the shop did you did you start the shop did you yeah yes uh it started a bit
09:08higher up actually yeah uh because uh it's quite a story really in a way but i'll try and digest it
09:17that uh every time i went past but on the bus uh to work and come back yeah this shop
09:27was a very well-known butcher shop okay yeah and it was a well-established shop
09:34and then uh another young chap who had learnt his trade at another butcher shop in the village
09:42because we that's about the only shop we had at least nearly half a dozen butcher shop how many
09:49used to register in it and then vegetable shop yeah not nothing like we've got today yeah yeah
09:56of course the supermarket but anyway yeah uh and i i unfortunately uh
10:08i have to say this but he committed suicide yeah yeah and if anybody
10:15uh did that in palace or whether it was a house or whatever yeah nobody would go in nobody would
10:23would want to yeah take it on like take on the property like as i was going backwards and
10:30forwards uh it was just developing in my head like that uh there's gonna come a day when i'm
10:39i'm not able to sort of do what i'm doing like i'm doing now and and that uh i saw this shop
10:49which is empty for quite a long time and i every time i came home and from work and my wife was at
10:58the table having my dinner like at the end of the day and i used to say to about my wife like you
11:05know you know i reckon this it's a diy shop would go quite needed in the village yeah like it's
11:15yeah and she like it that was the main thing yeah yeah and then she said she used to say
11:23well don't keep talking about it get something done about it yeah yeah so i found out who the
11:30landlord was yeah i went and saw him and and he said yeah here's the key he says yeah go and have
11:38a look and he didn't ask me what i was gonna do there how old do you reckon you were at this point
11:43roughly how old do you think you were at this point roughly oh well uh it was uh i've got uh
11:55i think we've got yeah we've got jeff jeffrey at the time we he was the baby at the time
12:03uh i i was it's hard to say i mean i bet 35 yeah yeah yeah so that's been serving the community
12:14ever since and still is with jeff there yeah heading the ship yeah yeah and so well that's
12:21how it all started yeah i i when we when i came out when i uh you know finished with the navy
12:31well yeah we went yeah it's one of the war like and when you take on time that then you know
12:38discharge yeah uh i had uh 53 pounds gratuity that was my ending money from the navy i suppose
12:52really speaking you could probably say that was quite a lot of money in that time yeah but uh
13:01all that money was almost taken up with with fixtures and cleaning it up yeah getting it
13:08set up yeah so how old were you when in in the navy i was 18 yeah and in there for how long roughly
13:18uh i did i did uh almost six years yeah so what's what did your memories of being in the navy
13:28what did um what impacted that off you know what did it teach you what do you well it's strange
13:35really you should say that because when i left school i wanted to i'd always say like where we
13:42lived was very close to the canals because the canals in belgium yeah you can't enter palestine
13:51by road yeah without going over a bridge okay that's a yeah little island yeah
13:58and i was always off on the when i was a toddler i was always off on the bus yeah
14:07so you fancied a life as a on the barges when you were young then
14:11yeah well i had that many thrashing because the state i used to get you know they couldn't get
14:18me to school yeah excuse me while i just lubricate my throat yeah i'll get it to you somewhere
14:29hang on all right you got it cool
14:34uh i was very difficult to get to school yeah i must say but anyway when i uh
14:48when i left school i wanted to join the navy strangely enough
14:56uh it looked like the boys service
15:02but my parents wouldn't sign for me my mother was totally against it okay yeah she said
15:09i'm not letting you to go in you know it looked worried about your safety well i think uh
15:18it was looked down upon like more or less to do it like that but and of course i never lost that
15:26feeling so when it came to go in the navy like that's that's what i signed for yeah yeah but uh
15:37my career in the navy was very exciting yeah because uh i i did my my there's so many things
15:48happen it's unbelievable things happen uh and i i was i was uh doing my different training
16:02yeah and then the last training that i i was at was was uh the the arms i was never interested in
16:13guns or anything like that but you had to do this track this uh course and it was up at uh
16:22scotland uh by the fourth bridge a big navy base there
16:28and uh if i'm not taking up your time anyway uh when i went up there
16:40to uh with with the with other ratings to go through this is the last course that you did
16:47before you got based at a place for uh what they call distribution to a ship yeah
16:55uh and uh we'd gone all through the small light uh small items like revolvers and then the rifle
17:08and then you go then up to the machine guns and all that yeah different ones you're just
17:16tripping them down putting them back up yeah and then you go on then start to go on to the more
17:23bigger guns like and uh we was in this uh this uh that was in nissenots and uh we was marched off
17:37down the crowd of us uh to the to the where the big gun was yeah and there was a special uh drill
17:48for an an item that if if uh you fire the the the gun or or press the firing trigger and it
18:00it the the shell didn't go yeah there was a special drill to the artisans to undertake
18:08to to safeguard this this uh non-firing yeah and of course with a crowd of uh other
18:19youths they're all gaming about this chap that the instructor he he said to he said
18:27he could see this kid playing about and messing about at the at the back of the
18:34the crowd of those yeah and he says you at the back there
18:42uh he says come out here so he come to the front and he says uh
18:52you know what i've been talking about he says now just like that he said now what
19:05he said now he said well i when i'm in uniform you call me sir yeah he said okay he said what
19:14anyway with his with his uh accent yeah he says uh what's your name
19:25and he told him he says told him what his name was he says where do you live
19:32he says warsell and of course i've got me here right now yeah i said oh also
19:39huh he said uh what's your name did you say and he told him what his name was and he told him the
19:48number of the house yeah this instructor yeah i couldn't believe it so he said is there anybody
19:57else here from the midlands yeah and i said what's that i said i'm i i'm not from warsell but
20:06i live in a village just outside warsell yeah oh where's that i said palestine
20:14what's your name i said may you he said 22 woodland palestine and he was right yeah
20:23no way what are the chances i said i said how does he know all that i said that's right sir
20:30he says put you back okay he says get back he says let's finish the drill yeah so uh
20:37we got they sent me back we went through the drill like uh that you have to do and what you
20:44have to say and all this sort of thing and that was the end of the day like for us then all the last
20:51back to you yeah the nissan up where you was a bit you know yeah this was uh and as we
20:59you put you fall in like properly and then march you drill march um and uh when we got to uh
21:10measure notes uh and he altered us like and he says turn right dismiss that was over the other
21:18like and then he said may you you stand fast so they all buggered off and i left me standing there
21:28and he come to me and he says uh he says uh i want you to come to my cabin tonight
21:38he said i want to have a talk to you i i did you give me the time right yeah after you had your
21:46evening meal so i went he said i knocked on the door i said come in and i opened the door and went
21:57in and he says uh oh he says sit down he said take a seat there so i sat down and he said now
22:09before we start uh talking he said what would you like to drink he said you can have a rum
22:17uh whiskey gin he says you can what which which would you prefer so you had a you had a drink
22:25with him and he said um he says to you well my name's charlie any memories and go on what who
22:31was it then and then he and then he he said uh if if you like he says i'd be interested in you
22:40staying here yeah he said and i'll i'll train you up to be an instructor yeah and he was just
22:50go back a bit though so how did he know where you lived and that then he was he was your postman is
22:56yeah so he was the village postman around here no way just across the road yeah from there now
23:05but anyway and he and he i said like he tried all roads to get me to stay yeah and i said no
23:14charlie i said i've joined the navy to see that to get to see i said i want to be on the boat
23:21i said i don't want to i don't want to be what they call shore base yeah i said i want to be
23:29seagoing yeah yeah and and that and that's that's what i was really well i mean you know
23:37how do you fit it all in what you were saying you know when you lived 100 years and been a
23:41serviceman and that but i look like you know my life with them i was very lucky yeah in as much
23:48that uh that's for you that is so what what do you what have you learned what's what's your words
23:59of wisdom after you know what is what's your words of wisdom then what have you learned 100 years as
24:04as a black country parcel man what have you what have you learned what what's your
24:10your words of wisdom to someone then oh
24:16oh in my opinion be uh willing to sort of uh look after your village
24:26the way you live uh because all the years where i've traveled i've never found anything
24:35hardly as pretty as what parcel is yeah with all the trees all these trees were planted
24:43to honor queen victoria's jubilee okay yeah i remember when they was on it like that
24:51yeah so all that travel you've done and all those things you've seen it's it's made you
24:57appreciate home really yeah i appreciate yes like you know it's such a lovely village
25:04yeah and and there's so many interesting things we're we're we have a wonderful wildlife area
25:14up at the north common there yeah it's a brilliant yeah and we're so lucky with all this
25:20open land yeah that was dedicated to us so what's um how are you going to celebrate turning 100
25:28then any plans any and you're going out for a meal or i mean relatives well the only plans i
25:33i've got is what my family got for me the secret mission this is what like you know
25:44it's got they wanted i can understand they wanted to be a surprise yeah yeah this is this is why
25:51uh like uh that they wanted to like the the king's message yeah yeah uh they wanted to be
26:00so yeah you've got a message off the king but you've been told don't open it until tomorrow
26:05otherwise bad luck well they want they want it yeah so they're going to hand it to me
26:11yeah uh to open is it saturday or sunday your birthday no saturday saturday it's tomorrow
26:18yeah tomorrow yeah if you get time to come down to it i'm sure you'll be interested
26:25well i think i think that's as much as probably we can get in with the video it feels there's a
26:31lifetime of stories there oh there's nothing near the life i know yeah but um thank you for sharing
26:38some of your stories and your and your memories with us i'll tell you i'll tell you what i'd like
26:44a copy of that video yeah yeah if it was possible cool well it'll be on that x people will be able
26:51to get a little glimpse into some of the time you've spent over the hundred years
26:56on the express and star so thank you sim thank you sir no problem