Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
Does anyone remember the Public Opinion Action Association, which met every week in Digbeth Institute in the early 1950s? As I remember t6he leading light was a Wallace Lawler, who had a firm in Dudley which made wc seats. He was a committed Liberal and tried for a seat in the House of Commons (he might even of succeeded, preceding that dawdling motorist George Wigg). It has taken me over a month to remember his name, but I have warm memories of the meetings I attended. He was a real political animal and would rant on about his pet subjects, sometimes quite emotionally. But he was also a good chairman, and encouraged others to say their piece.
The purpose of the group was to give ordinary people a chance to discuss matters of concern and to pass resolutions to to the responsible people. After the Chairman's opening welcome and any special apologies, the first item was to report correspondence received in reply to earlier esolutions which the meetings I went with a fellow tram-nutter who thought he could the group to arrest the scrapping of the trams. Other individuals would talk about their respective hobby-horses, and then everyone would join in discussion before a vote was taken.
A regular attender at that time was Vivian Bird, in those days a fairly junior reporter for the Brummy Post & Mail and another excellent speaker. Another was a lady named Ivy Mangan. There were others, but this is over 50 years ago, before I was even 20.
The purpose of the group was to give ordinary people a chance to discuss matters of concern and to pass resolutions to to the responsible people. After the Chairman's opening welcome and any special apologies, the first item was to report correspondence received in reply to earlier esolutions which the meetings I went with a fellow tram-nutter who thought he could the group to arrest the scrapping of the trams. Other individuals would talk about their respective hobby-horses, and then everyone would join in discussion before a vote was taken.
A regular attender at that time was Vivian Bird, in those days a fairly junior reporter for the Brummy Post & Mail and another excellent speaker. Another was a lady named Ivy Mangan. There were others, but this is over 50 years ago, before I was even 20.
