Taylor's Restaurant and George and Bertie's café are popular venues in Cannock for friends meeting for a chat over morning coffee or afternoon tea. These two establishments still belong to the Taylor family, although their chain of bakeries is no more.
Michael Taylor left the family business in the late 1960s to train as a teacher. He spent his entire teaching career in Walhouse School, now St Luke's School. My daughter, Anna, was in his class in her final year at primary school and that was the most inspiring year of her school days.
Michael has many talents and interests. He is a committed member of St Stephen's Methodist Church. He sings in the church choir and with an operatic society. He goes on walking holidays. He gives dinner parties to raise money for church funds and he belongs to Probus. However, it is his magnificent collection of model soldiers that has impressed me most. He invited me to go to see them and hear about them.
'At the beginning of World War 2,' he said, 'as a small boy, I had a few toy soldiers that I played with but there followed a blank period till I was about 30 years old. I discovered then that one could get specialist models.'
Forty years on, he is still adding to his collection.
'It is divided into two sections', he explained. 'Up to 20 years ago I was collecting 54mm standard international size models, specialising in British soldiers.'
I was looking at one showcase where figures were displayed from Waterloo, the Crimean War, the Victorian era, up to the end of the 19th century. In among the specialist figures I spotted a group of four Grenadier Guards.
'I painted these', announced Michael. 'They are toy soldiers, and toys for children to play with are just glossed.'
It didn't take me long to recognise Michael's meticulous attention to detail. His large collection of books ensures that every detail down to the colours of the tiny buttons is accurate.
'Twenty years ago I started collecting flats', he went on. 'They are made of lead out of moulds.'
He gave me a tiny silver-coloured figure of a soldier on a horse to examine. These figures are painted on one side, firstly with an undercoat and then finished in fine paintwork.
When a friend first introduced Michael to these flats about 22 years ago, he thought they were too small and fiddly, but soon he saw the advantages. They take up less room than the traditional round models.
Nearly all flats are made in Germany, so naturally they would concentrate on German wars like the Franco-Prussian War. I examined a Swiss scene showing the last remnant of the French army that had been trapped and under threat from advancing Germans. The soldiers crossed into Switzerland and begged the Swiss to intern them. That scene is on view in a round museum in Lucerne.
'I put the finished flats in boxed diorama', said Michael. 'I paint the background and each figure is embedded in polystyrene. The boxes are like little theatres. As I paint pictures, too, and do the scenery for the operatic society I belong to, this is no problem for me.'
At this point we paused to discuss his paintings and he has promised me one for Anna for her new home in Lapland. Four years ago Michael iced Anna's two wedding cakes, depicting both faces of Everest in exact detail. 'That was my job in the family business', he added. 'I did the icing and decorating.'
We were by then viewing a new scene that he is currently working on. The range of flat figures is immense, from cavemen to spacemen. This is a religious scene, based on Pieter Brueghels famous painting of Census at Bethlehem. The figures in the diorama are copied from the picture.
I was intrigued. I picked out the hens, the cockerel, Mary on the donkey, a man and woman killing a pig, a child and an adult skating on ice. It was fascinating. I asked Michael where he obtained the figures from. 'By mail order', he explained. 'The production of these figures is a German Cottage industry. Once every two years there is a huge fair in Kulmbach, in Bavaria, and I try to be there. They have hundreds of stalls displaying flat and round figures and collectors gather from all over the world.'
I wondered what would happen to the magnificent collection eventually. 'I have thought about that question. A friend once said jokingly that I could make a Zinn Sarg with all my flats.'
'What's that?'
'A lead coffin!'
There are no more than 200 collectors in Britain today and Michael belongs to the British Model Soldiers Society. This coming Saturday he is holding one of his twice a year meetings at his house. 'I am expecting up to fourteen people to come from around the country,' he added.
Although I could have stayed all day looking at the wonderful displays and listening to the fascinating details, I had already stayed longer than I had intended, so I thanked Michael for giving me so much of his precious time. He lent me a precious book called The Art of the Flat Tin Figure, written by a namesake of his. As I walked home, my brain was on fire with all the knowledge and enthusiasm Michael had imparted to me, and I was back 25 years in time, understanding my daughter's feelings after a day in Mr Taylor's class.