Romsley & Hunnington History Society -

Secretary's Report 2013

ROMSLEY AND HUNNINGTON HISTORY SOCIETY

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 28th MAY 2013

SECRETARY'S REPORT

Another successful year has gone by. Good speakers, good audience participation, and we now have another fine programme of speakers for next autumn and winter whom we hope you will enjoy. Hopefully next winter we shall not suffer from the same inclement weather that we have had this winter. Never before have we had to cancel two good speakers because of snow.

However, we have been able to rearrange things and so following our Annual General Meeting John Billingham is going to give us the talk that he was unable to in January - Images of Worcestershire, Part II.

'Trusting the Ground with the Treasure of Warriors' . This is the talk which Stephen Dean will give on Tuesday evening 23rd July. Stephen is the Principal Archaeologist at Staffordshire County Council and the Treasure of course is the Staffordshire Hoard. This will be an excellent talk and we hope there will be a good audience present to hear him.

Moving on now to the next season, the programme is currently as follows:

• I was contacted in January of this year by Mark Clifford, Project Officer at Avoncroft Museum, who told me that they had recently acquired a nailer's cottage. He asked if we would be interested in a talk by him 'The Development of a Nailor's Cottage from the 1840s to 2013'. He will be coming to us on 24th September, when he will be looking at the changing building, the family history and how the building will be interpreted and displayed by the museum.
• Matt Tompkins, who has been translating some of the Court Rolls has now reached the end of his project following which a small research group has been meeting once a month in the church hall with a view to analysing the names of individuals and places that have been mentioned in the Rolls. Michael Hall has kindly agreed to talk about this on Tuesday evening 22nd October. 'What the Court Rolls tell us - A Progress Report'.
• On November 26, Julian is going to give us the Romsley story - 'The Newcomers - Moving to Romsley 1920-1975'.
• Nothing has been planned yet for January 2014. In view of the three bad winters that we have experienced, the committee has been thinking of dropping the January meeting and going on until the end of June instead.
• On 25th February Chris Upton is going to tell us about 'The Priestley Riots'. These were also known as the Birmingham Riots of 1791 and they took place from 14th to 17th July of that year. The riots started with an attack on Birmingham's Royal Hotel. Apparently in the 18th century Birmingham became notorious for rioting.
• Paul Harding and Helen Lee are coming back to see us on 25th March. You may remember they have been very popular with our members in the past, when they have spoken about and demonstrated how life was in the trenches in the 1914/1918 war, and again when they told us what the Romans got up to in this area. This time we have moved on and we are going to find out what a Georgian Lifestyle was like. Helen tells me the talk will cover how they lived, lighting, cooking, new discoveries, newspapers and hot chocolate.
• Our last speaker is Emma Hancox, Archivist and Archaeologist from Worcester, who will be giving us a talk on The Archaeology of Redditch New Town on 22nd April. Emma is the Historic Environment Policy and Advisory Manager for Worcestershire County Council and her main interest lies in the archaeology and history of north west Worcestershire. She was at one time a field archaeologist with Birmingham Archaeology.
• Our AGM will be on the 27th May next year followed by Photographs of Halesowen in the 1960s by John and Brian Tromans.

Those of you who need to do a certain amount of printing will be only too aware of the cost of printer ink, in fact recently there was a television item on this very subject. Several of the agencies who correspond with our Society are extremely aware of the cost of sending out hard copies by post and are now sending their information, newsletters and progress reports on line instead, suggesting we download them for our members (when we will bear the cost of the printing!). They are also suggesting we advise our members to keep up with the latest news and developments by going to the Archive and Archaeology Service website which is www.worcestershire.gov.uk.waas The Worcestershire Local History Forum would also like us to encourage our members to use their online site www.online.wlhf.org.uk.

We have a certain number of e-mail addresses which members have given to Ruth, our Treasurer, but if you have recently changed your e-mail address or have a new one, please let Ruth have it and then we can add you to our circulation list.

June Humphreys

Chairman's Report 2013

Romsley and Hunnington History Society

Chairman's Annual Report 2012-2013

Our Annual Dinner was held on the 15th June at Churchill and Blakedown Golf Club. Our speaker was Simon Carter from Avoncroft Museum.

The Annual Trip to Harvington Hall was perfect in every respect: sunshine, delightful cream tea, wonderful surroundings and an excellent guide - our very own Pat Green - who certainly made the day very enjoyable.

Our Secretary, June again has given us a vast variety of speakers this year. Unfortunately the severe weather took its toll on two of our meetings. However, we have still managed to book Stephen Dean, the Staffordshire Hoard speaker, for 23rd July. Thank you June for your continued support.

It is encouraging that membership is still increasing and hopefully will continue to do so.

Our President, Julian Hunt, gave an excellent talk and slide presentation on 20th century Hunnington, again with a record attendance in excess of 70 folk. Our thanks to Julian and the members who assisted with the distribution of leaflets round the village. The questionnaires resulted in photographs, deeds of land and properties, architects' plans and other useful information being made available to add to the presentation.
The Wills project team still meets to index the Court Rolls transcribed by Matt Tompkins.

The website has been much improved, including the addition of the Wills and Inventories that the team has been working on.

Jean Cockin is still interviewing members of the village and recording their memories with a view to adding extracts to the website in the future, with the aid of a laptop and relevant software which has now been purchased from Society funds.

My personal thanks to June, Ruth, Julian, Janet, refreshments team, 'chair positioners' and all members who contribute to make this Society a continuing success.

Paul Share, Chairman 28th May 2013.

Chairman's Report 2014

Our annual Dinner was held on the 14th June at Churchill and Blakedown Golf Club with Rev'd Dominic Melville, Team Vicar in the Halas Team Ministry, being our speaker for the evening.

The Annual summer trip, bathed in sunshine, was a very informative guided tour of Coughton Court followed by a walk around the gardens.

Our Secretary June has once again given us  a very good selection of speakers for the year, unfortunately she has decided to relinquish this part of her secretarial duties and our thanks go to June for her excellent work organising speakers over the years.

The membership of the society has continued to flourish and some evenings have almost reached capacity attendance, such is the quality of speakers and topics.

Our President, Julian Hunt, continues to work tirelessly in his quest to research the history of the villages of Romsley and Hunnington.

The Wills project team continues with indexing Court Rolls information, our thanks to all involved.

The website is being updated on a regular basis as various additional information evolves.

Our thanks to Jean Cockin for all her work interviewing members of the villages and recording their memories.

My personal thanks to all committee members and helpers who contribute to the ongoing success of the society.

Paul Share, Chairman