Romsley & Hunnington History Society -

Annual General Meeting 2015

On Tuesday, 26th May 2015, the Romsley and Hunnington History Society held its 49th Annual General Meeting in the Church Hall. Paul Share, the Chairman, reported that the Society now had 51 members and continued to flourish. There have been various meetings and activities throughout the year and our President, Julian Hunt, has worked tirelessly in his quest to research the history of the area. The Wills and Court Rolls projects have progressed well and Julian has also made a valuable financial contribution to the Society from the many lectures he has given.

Paul thanked June Humphreys for all her hard work as Secretary to the group over the past 22 years. June is retiring but will continue as Website Co-ordinator. The Society owes both June and her late husband, Eric, a debt of gratitude for all their help. Koviljka Riley will now take on the role of Secretary and Robert Andrews will now be responsible for booking speakers. There is a very interesting programme of talks for the next season.

Our Treasurer, Ruth Harper, reported that the finances of the Society were healthy and there was no need to increase the subscriptions. Jean Cockin is continuing her work interviewing local residengts and recording their memories. The Society has had a very successful year and is looking forward to the 2015-2016 season when it will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first meeting in 1966.

After the formal part of the proceedings David Eades gave a talk on "The Photographs and Postcards of Brian Green 1942-2003". Brian, with his camera, recorded the buildings, roads and canals of the area around Halesowen as they were in his lifetime. Do you realise that Halesowen once had three cinemas, two hospitals, and several chapels, all housed in beautiful buiildings and now sadly demolished? If there was any demolition or renovation Brian recorded the changes for prosperity. His photographs gave a very interesting view of Halesowen in the not too distant past.

We look forward to the presentation by Ruth Harper "Soggy Cabbage and Ink Stained Fingers" on Tuesday, 23rd June, in the school, which will be open at about 6.45 p.m., to allow people to look around. This is to celebrate the centenary of Romsley School. There will be an outing to the Carpet Museum, Kidderminster on Thursday, 2nd July and the Annual Dinner will be on Friday, 10th July, at Blakedown Golf Club. The first talk of the new season will be on Tuesday, 22nd September 2015. It will be a return visit by Paul Harding and Helen Lee, who will be giving a talk on "The Battle of Evesham". Everyone is welcome.

Pat Evans