The Survey began in the 1950s when Harry Sargeant, the County Archivist from 1947-1976, decided to embark upon a project to record areas of the county which might possibly be subject to change. Many people considered it a strange project for an archive office to undertake, thinking that pictures of the present day would not be of interest. But, many decades later, we can appreciate the foresight of the project.
During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, specific areas of the county were identified. As far as Badsey was concerned, in 1960 a Record Office staff member, Ann Banning, went to take some photos in an area scheduled for development, and in 1963 a County Surveyor, J K Cornelius, took some photos in an area which was likely to change.
The following photographs make up the Badsey survey:
1960 Survey (13 photos)
A small survey, amounting to 13 photographs in total, was undertaken in 1960. Miss Ann Banning, a Record Office member of staff, was sent to Badsey to take photographs of the Brewers Lane area of the village because of the development which was to take place shortly with the building of St James Close. A former pupil of Prince Henry’s Grammar School, Miss Banning had friends who lived on Brewers Lane, and so had a particular interest in the area. She also took photographs along Chapel Street and at the entrance to Badsey Fields Lane. Ann Banning later married Ron Horsley who took part in the 1968 survey.
1963 Survey (16 photos)
Another small survey (16 photographs) was undertaken in 1963 by J K Cornelius, a Surveyor who worked for Worcestershire County Council. Four photographs were taken in Aldington and 12 were taken in the High Street and Mill Lane area. The old cottages next to Malvern House were already in the processes of demolition and, in 1966, The Poplars was to be demolished to make way for a housing estate. His photos included the old Mill cottages, some of which were demolished in 1971 and the others refurbished.
In 1971, J Cornelius returned to Badsey and took five photographs, but only of Vicarage Cottage, Barn Cottage and Orchard Cottage in Mill Lane.
1968 Survey (528 photos)
The bulk of the photographs in the collection were taken on 26th May 1968. Miss S M Woods, a member of the Record Office staff, accompanied by 18 volunteer members from Birmingham Photographic Society, set out for Badsey on “the Badsey Expedition”. The weather was not brilliant as the leaden skies in some of the photographs show, but they succeeded in covering most of the village. Photographs were taken of individual houses, with the exception of housing estates built in the 20th century where just general shots were taken (Synehurst, Synehurst Crescent, Synehurst Avenue, Horsebridge Avenue, Green Leys, Banks Road, Oak Close, Binyon Close, The Poplars, Seward Road). In the centre of the village, the only houses which appear to have been omitted are: 10 Badsey Fields Lane, 28 Badsey Fields Lane, Orchard Bungalow on Badsey Fields Lane, 67 Bretforton Road, 10A High Street (10A had not then been converted into residential accommodation, but it is surprising that no photo was taken of it), 20 High Street (a number of general shots of the new housing development called The Poplars were taken, and the newly-built houses, numbers 22 & 22A High Street, on the left side of the entrance, and number 20A High Street, on the right side of the entrance, were captured, but number 20 managed to elude the camera), 5 & 7 Old Post Office Lane, 11 Old Post Office Lane and 10, 12, 18, 22 & 24 Sands Lane. This may have been because the owner did not grant permission, the photographer ran out of time, or simply (in the days when photography processing was a much more laborious process) that the photograph did not come out.
The survey did not extend to Bowers Hill or the far end of Willersey Road (from Three Ways towards Bowers Hill).