There were 45 people at the Annual General Meeting of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society on Tuesday 22nd May. Paul Share, the Chairman, reported that the Society had had a good year and had seen the book launch of, "The Court Rolls of Romsley 1279 – 1643", edited by Matthew Tomkins. The Secretary, Koviljka Riley said that member's support was good and the web site had been up graded. The Treasurer, Ruth Harper, reported that the bank balance was healthy and the subscriptions would remain at £6.00. Rob Andrews reported that we have an interesting and varied programme of talks for next year. All the committee members were willing to stand for another year.

After the formal part of the meeting we had a talk by Bob Greathead, who was influenced by his ancestor, James Henry Greathead, who built one of the first tunnels under the Thames. This followed on from the talk on, "Water from Wales", given by Paul Harrison in March. For many months we have seen a series of blue plastic pipes lying in the surrounding fields. Bob has been studying this enormous project by Severn Trent Water. This is not so much history as history in the making.

They are building a series of tunnels for a pipeline which takes water from the River Severn at Lickhill to the water treatment works at Frankley Reservoir. This can also be used as a back up water supply when needed. They are also building a Break Pressure Tank at Romsley. The whole project will cost £300 million. We could see from the stunning photographs that the engineering was awe inspiring and made full use of modern technology.

The language of engineers is rich and we heard about trenches, shafts, concrete, laser guides, hydraulic jacks, banana bolts and boring machines, which were remotely controlled by a modest looking console. The team of dedicated workers needed all of these to complete their work!

It is due to be finished in July and the scarred landscape returned to the countryside we know and love. The talk was unusual but gave us an insight into the world of engineering in our own locality.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 26th June when our President, Julian Hunt, will give a talk on, "Mills in the Belbroughton Valley." The next meeting of the Court Rolls Group will be on Wednesday 13th June at 2.30pm, in the Church Hall. The last meeting on Tuesday 24th July, will be a talk by Max Keen on, "The History of Dudley Castle".

Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans