Romsley & Hunnington History Society -

Programme 2016-17

Our meeting season for 2016-17:

Autumn 2016

• 27 September - Hagley Park, Past and Present, Joe Hawkins Meeting Report
  
• 25 October - The Young Diarist of Hartlebury, Diana Clutterbuck Meeting Report
  
• 22 November - Herbert Austin and the Story of Longbridge, Max Hunt Meeting Report
  

2017

• 28 February - Repair Work at the Old Naval College in Greenwich, Derek Clarke Meeting Report
  
• 28 March - The Black Country in the Great War, Mike Pearson Meeting Report
  
• 25 April - Richard III, Max Keen Meeting Report
  
• 23 May - Annual General Meeting and Romsley & Hunnington in 1939, Julian Hunt Meeting Report
  
• 27 June - Victorian & Edwardian Buildings of Birmingham and the Black Country, Tim Bridges
  Meeting Report

Meetings 7.30pm at Romsley Church Hall. For more details please contact Paul Share (Chairman) on 01562 710197

Summer Events

Wednesday 13th September will be a very important day for the Society. Julian Hunt's book on the Court Rolls is due to be released and to celebrate everyone is invited to the Church Hall, between 2-5pm, for tea and cakes.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 26th September at 7.30pm, in the Church Hall, when Paul Harding and Helen Lee will give a talk on Medieval Medicine and Surgery. Paul's talks are usually vividly dramatised and are always fascinating. Why not come along and see for yourself?

Click the links to read reports from the 2016 AGM and other meetings during the 2015-16 season.

For other local history events see What's on in Worcestershire, compiled by the Worcestershire Local History Forum.

Meeting Report - May 2016

A LITTLE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO THE THREE KENELM PAGEANTS

(See Pat Evan's excellent report in last month's magazine)

Three pageants took place in St. Kenelm's Church during the 1960s as the result of a suggestion made by a female dramatist, Miss Winifred Dawes, who visited the church and was very taken by the legend of the boy king and his murder by a jealous sister and her lover.

In the event the first pageant, which depicted the actual legend, was based on a school play by a Stourbridge schoolmaster, Mr Geoffrey Pearson. This simple script for children was adapted for mainly adult performers by Mr George Smart, producer of the Halesowen-based drama group, OHADA.

This first pageant, "The Play of St. Kenelm", took place in 1962 and was quickly followed by "At the Spring of St. Kenelm" in 1963, which showed various pilgrims visiting the shrine over the centuries. After a gap of three years, in 1966, the final pageant was "The Path of a Queen". This dealt with the aftermath of Kenelm's murder and Quendreda's subsequent disgrace.

All three pageants were written and produced by George Smart.

Meeting Report - July 2016

Sometimes we need to be reminded that we live in a wonderful part of the country, with its rolling hills and valleys and a place rich in history. As part of the 50th Anniversary of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society, on Sunday, July 3rd, in St. Kenelm's School, "The Ballard of St. Kenelm, AD 821," by Francis Brett Young, was performed by members of the Francis Brett Young Society. The words were set to music by Andrew Downes. The Hagley Community Orchestra and Central England Ensemble, conducted by Cynthia Downes, accompanied them.

Over the years, the sad story of the boy king, Kemelm, has been told in many ways. This time, the mood of the music, which blended with the words of the poem, highlighted the drama, the sadness, the retribution, and the final triumph of this fascinating tale of St. Kemelm's martyrdom, set under the shadow of the Clent Hills. Not many villages have such a legend, and on a beautiful sunny afternoon, the villagers of Romsley and Hunnington gathered to hear the story and listen to the dramatic music, while watching background slides of H.R. Wilson's illustrations, making us realise what a fund of talent we have in our local area. This was a fitting celebration for the 50th Anniversary of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 27th September at 7.30pm in the Church Hall. Everyone is welcome.

Meeting Report - June 2016

The rainy weather failed to prevent members & friends of Romsley and Hunnington History Society from meeting in the Church Hall on Tuesday 28th June 2016.

The Chairman, Paul Share, welcomed everyone & reminded us that tickets were still available for the performance of "The Ballad of St. Kenelm" on Sunday 3rd July.

Julian Hunt was our speaker, who gave a talk entitled Dayhouse Bank. He told us that from the age of 11, he always cycled through Dayhouse Bank on his way to school and remembered the Wesleyan Chapel plus a large house.

Using photographs taken in 1976 by John Brown, Tithe Maps & references from Court Rolls and Censuses, Julian gave us a detailed insight into the history of Dayhouse Bank.

Dayhouse (short for dairy house) was first mentioned in the Court Rolls in 1533. It was here that William Hulle kept his heriots(beasts). The Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1811 in the garden of a house called 'The Cottage' where the Hunt family lived (no relation to Julian). The date stone was laid on May 19th 1873 by Miss A.M. Cookes.

According to the 1861 Census, the Manchester Inn was known as The Spout & belonged to John Booth. As well as being an innkeeper, he was also a railway contractor. In 1851 he worked as a navvy and had contacts with Manchester, which may account for the name of the pub.

The names and occupations of the occupants of Dayhouse Bank during the nineteenth century were also found in the 1851 Census; Abraham Davenport, William Clewes, John Reade, Hannah Rutter, Edward Harris to mention a few. Nailers, farm labourers, woodcutters, farmers and shoemakers were just some of the occupations. Married women were listed as 'unpaid domestic duties'.

Julian concluded his talk by informing us that the Censuses & some of the Court Rolls can be found on the Romsley & Hunnington History website: www.rhhs.org.uk

Paul thanked Julian for his informative talk. The next meeting will be on 27th September when Joe Hawkins, who is the head gardener at Hagley Hall, will be giving a talk on Hagley Park Past & Present. The society will also be staging a smaller version of the 1966 exhibition (which possibly encouraged the formation of this present society) on Saturday, 10th and Sunday,11th September 2016 in the Church Hall. Everyone is welcome.

Meeting Report - May 2016

The Annual General Meeting of the Romsley and Hunnington History Society took place on 24th May, 2016. Paul Share, the Chairman, opened the meeting on a sad note, as June Humphreys, our secretary for 23 years, passed away recently and we stood for a minute's silence in her memory. June was a lovely lady, who will be remembered for her quietly efficient organising ability, her skilful art of gentle persuasion and especially her kindness. She will be sadly missed.

It is partly through her work over the years that the RHHS is in the position it is today. We have 60 members, a healthy bank balance and a very promising programme of speakers for the next year. The formal part of the meeting was quickly concluded, as we were all looking forward to the presentation which was to follow.

This year the RHHS is 50 years old. In order to celebrate this event, Julian Hunt and Ruth Harper organised a very original evening. 1966 was the 100th anniversary of the Parish of Romsley. The Rev. David Copley, the Rector of St Kenelm's Church, and Mr. Joe Hunt decided to put on a pageant depicting, "The Legend of St. Kenelm". Not many villages can boast of a legend depicting greed, murder and retribution and a play was written by Geoffrey Pearson. This was performed in the Church, which was transformed for the occasion, much to the disapproval of some of the congregation. The play was produced by George Street, and was a great success. The actors, both children and adults, were all local people and there were performances every night for a week.

We still have a record of this event, as Mr. Alan Harper took many photographic slides. Julian Hunt and Ruth Harper had the clever idea to use the slides and some of the original cast and present members of the society, to retell the story and reminisce about their experiences of 1966. It was fascinating to see St. Kenelm, alias David Tromans, barely recognisable as the shy little boy king, taking the same roll today!

Now, 50 years on, we all enjoyed being reminded of the story, although there are still some unanswered questions. Was it a white cow or a red cow? We still don't know! However the audience of 70 people, which included some of the original cast, really enjoyed the evening, a blend of old and new, with a touch of nostalgia, thanks to the hard work put in by the performers. Ruth Harper hazarded a guess that it was the pageant of 1966 which gave Rev. David Copley and Joe Hunt the idea of instigating a History Society in the village. Little did they realise that their children, Ruth and Julian, would carry on the tradition of a History Society in 2016.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 28th June, when Julian Hunt will give a talk on "Dayhouse Bank." On Sunday, July 3rd, "The Ballad of St. Kenelm", an afternoon of lovely music, verse and entertainment, will be performed in St. Kenelm's School at 2.30pm. Tickets, priced at £10.00, are now on sale from Paul Share, tel. 01562 710197.

Pat Evans