Romsley & Hunnington History Society -
Bromsgrove Road, Hunnington 1975
Bromsgrove Road, Romsley
Dayhouse Bank, Romsley
Hunnington Station
Bluebird Toffee Factory, Hunnington
Romsley Sanatorium
Romsley School
St Kenelm's Church, Romsley
Vincent's Houses, Hunnington
Vincent's Toffee Factory, Hunnington
Secretary's Report 2014
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
27th MAY 2014
SECRETARY'S REPORT
Our member support continues to be good and we are attracting a variety of visitors to our Speakers meetings. I am sure this will continue with the programme which has been arranged for our next season, as several of those talks relate particularly to Romsley and Hunnington.
However, we have three events still to come this summer. We have our annual dinner at Blakedown Golf Club on Friday, 13th June. On June 24 we have a talk on 'The English Civil War in Bewdley, Kidderminster and Worcester' by Max Keen , and we have our visit to Wightwick Manor on 3rd July. Max says he likes his talks to be controversial at times, to stimulate historical thought and debate! They are lively and animated, all with costume of the period and multimedia projections!
Moving on now to our first talk of the Autumn, on 23rd September our speaker will be Andy Shepherd, who has been connected with 'Guiding and Scouting in Romsley and Hunnington' for a number of years.
Julian Hunt will be giving us a talk on 28th October on a well known 'Poet and Landscape Gardener, William Shenstone'.
On 25th November we shall hear some memories of the First World War.'Meet at Dawn - Unarmed'. This talk will be given by Andrew Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton retired in 1989 from teaching History at schools in Hereford and Worcester. He was responsible for the restoration of a water mill to full working order in Warwickshire and managed it as a popular tourist attraction. However, since 2008 he has been writing and lecturing on the Great War and started Dene House Publishers in 2009 with the publication of 'Meet at Dawn, Unarmed'. This is a commentary on his grandfather, Robert Hamilton's diary of his experiences with the Royal Warwickshires in 1914 and his part in the Christmas Truce at St. Yvon in Belgium. I am sure that in view of the 100 years anniversary of the First World War this year this will attract a wide audience.
Turning now to 24th February 2015 and hoping that the weather will not be inclement, we shall hear Julian Hunt talking about 'Romsley Schools and Schoolteachers - 1684 to 1950'.
Members will remember that in February of this year Dr. Chris Upton, Senior Lecturer at Newman University, came to talk to us about the Priestley Riots which took place in Birmingham. On 24th March next year, he will visit us again, this time telling us about the 'Peaky Blinders - The Gangs of Birmingham'. Dr. Upton was appointed as Historical Consultant when this six part period drama, set in Birmingham at the start of the 1920s, was being made, and which appeared on our screens last September. He worked with the production team, writers and actors, to ensure that the series was as accurate as possible. He said while the series itself was not based on a true story, the types of events, times and environment in which the drama took place were real. He was particularly keen to make sure that the actors' accents were as accurate as possible and not confused with Black Country accents. So another talk not to be missed!
On 28th April next Dr. Michael Hall will be giving us a progress report on 'What the Court Rolls Tell Us'. Following Matt Tompkins' translation from Latin into English of some of the Court Rolls relating to this area, a small research group has been meeting monthly in the church hall, analysing the names of people and places that have been mentioned in the Rolls. Some of these individuals came before the Court time and time again and were fined for not clearing their ditches or for allowing their animals to wander where they should not be, or for stealing a goose. People never seem to learn!
Our Annual General Meeting will be on May 26 2015 and this will be followed by a selection of local photographs from the collection of Brian Green.
Our final talk next year will be on 23rd June, when Ruth Harper and Others will be giving us their memories of 'Soggy Cabbage and Ink Stained Fingers'. Well that is what Ruth says it is about, so who am I to argue. For this talk we will meet not in the Church Hall but in the School Hall and I am sure it will be a very successful evening, very well attended. Another date for your diary.
June Humphreys
Secretary
Secretary's Report 2015
This is my last report for our Annual General Meeting, so what else can I say but So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye! But it is not really goodbye to our Society or Committee. Although I have found a willing volunteer to take over from me as secretary, I shall still be a member of the committee in the guise of Website Co-ordinator and I shall still be following up any enquiries that we receive relating to ancestors or properties in Romsley or Hunnington.
I first became secretary about 22 years ago, following my husband, Eric Humphreys, when he moved on from secretary to chairman, and in those days it was almost a full time unpaid job. Three or four times a year there was the newsletter to prepare and print - the Chapmans Pannier - for circulation to all members. Most of the material for The Pannier was supplied by Joe Hunt, our then President, and when he was no longer with us, The Pannier came to a close. Also starting in the nineties Eric and I prepared numerous copies of all of Joe's talks to the History Society, for sale and distribution to societies and universities here and abroad. Four copies of each document that we published had to be lodged with the British Library.
For a number of years each September Bromsgrove Library used to set aside about forty books on history subjects which they would lend to us for the year and which our members were free to borrow. Details were taken of who had which books and it all worked very well. None ever went missing.
There was the monthly piece to be prepared for the Church magazine, one or two articles to be written for the various societies we were attached to, and of course every spring there would be the new programme of speakers to prepare ready for the AGM in May. There was also a piece for the Halesowen and Bromsgrove newspapers each month.
So I was very pleased when Pat Evans took over the writing of a piece to go in the Church magazine each month. She has done it willingly and excellently and I am very grateful to her. Thank you Pat for doing this. Thank you also Clive for preparing and circulating the posters publicising our forthcoming talks.
At our AGM 2014, one of our newer committee members, Rob Andrews, took on the job of finding a good supply of monthly speakers. Thank you Rob. And now we have Kov Riley, who has expressed great interest in taking over the rest of the administrative work from me following this year's AGM. Once again, my grateful thanks to you Kov.
A few months ago, I had an e-mail from a Samoan Kiwi in New Zealand. His name was Matt Hunt and he had followed our website with interest. For the last twelve years he had been trying to find that vital piece of evidence to prove that he is a descendant of the Hunt family who left Romsley in the 18th/19th century, visiting Samoa on their way to a new life in New Zealand. However, with assistance from my son, Brett, we were able to tell him that he is not part of the Romsley Hunts, and that he should be looking more towards the London boroughs for his ancestors. Very disappointing for him but at least we have pointed out the right track for him.
June Humphreys
Secretary’s Report 2016
This is my first report for our Annual General Meeting of Romsley and Hunnington History Society. A role, which I ‘inherited’, so to speak, from June Humphreys, who sadly passed away recently. A lovely lady, who had mastered the art of ‘gentle persuasion’.
“Not much to it,” she said. “Just take notes at the Committee Meetings and the AGM!” June was always ready to help and advise me when I needed it and it is true to say that I will miss her.
At this point, I have to say a big thank you to the Committee for their patience when asked to repeat what they’ve said several times in order for me to record it accurately in the minutes.
Since taking on the role, we continue to email the monthly ‘write-ups’ to the Church magazine as well as to the Worcestershire Local History Forum. So thank you to Pat Evans for your efforts.
We also continue to receive emails from Worcestershire Archive and Archaeological Service and Dudley Community Information Service with what’s going on near and far.
For 2016 the WLHF have organised a photographic competition, the theme being Victorian and Edwardian Street Furniture in Worcestershire.
Overall, it’s been an interesting year, seeing our membership numbers steadily grow. The guest speakers have been varied and entertaining – thank you Rob Andrews for organising this. Here’s to another successful year.
Koviljka Riley
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Some contents of this website are taken from the book Romsley and Hunnington, a Millennium History,
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