NEWSLETTER NO 64 JULY/AUGUST 2017
Chairman's Report
Welcome to our new Programme of events for 2017-2018
The Committee hope that there is something for everyone once again. We know how much our members appreciate the quality of our speakers and the very reasonable yearly subscription.
This coming year will mark the twentieth year of the History Society’s existence as a completely independent Society, not an offshoot of the Civic Society. We are planning another weekend Exhibition of some our photographs, maps and documents at the beginning of June next year to commemorate this milestone. It will be similar to the very popular event which we staged in 2009.
Looking back over the Programme which has just finished, so many evenings stand out as informative and also extremely enjoyable occasions. We began the year with the Rev. Garry Ward from the parishes of Claverley and Tuck Hill, telling us about Major Frank Foley and how he had been responsible for saving the lives of thousands of German Jews by helping them to escape from Hitler’s Germany. Because his exploits had been covered by the Official Secrets Act for many years it has only been comparatively recently that information has been forthcoming.
In October Max Keen, dressed in armour, enthusiastically unfolded the story of Alfred the Great, by asking the question as to whether Alfred really was a great king or was he just very lucky? In November we were treated to another evening when we learnt surprising facts about one of the key events in British history. The subject was the Battle of Waterloo, but as well as the events on the day of the battle we were taken into the aftermath of the fighting when teeth were extracted from bodies to be reused and even the bones of the fallen were not wasted but were processed into bone meal for fertiliser.
John Last’s little movie films of Codsall in the 1970s were very well received at our Christmas AGM and mulled wine evening. For those people who knew Codsall before the bypass it was a nostalgic event. To see a double- decker bus reversing from by the Crown Pub into Wood Road in order to start its journey back to Wolverhampton was quite something. It highlights the important of taking pictures at any time. We all recognise how much Codsall is changing at this moment in time.
At the start of 2017 Richard Bifield told us about the British on holiday, not just today but way back into Roman times. We think of our package holidays today but forget about the hundreds of wealthy people who thought nothing of taking the Grand Tour for months on end. Then the coming of cheap travel on the railways enabled even ordinary people to look forward to an annual break.
I think everyone who came to hear Derek Poulson talk about The History of Accents in February went away with a smile on their face. His delivery and the way he could produce the different regional accents was superb, this was definitely an evening to remember. The following month Les Whitehouse took us back to the Second World War and the ways by which Boulton Paul factory attempted to keep itself safe from being bombed. As a researcher with a fifty-year association with Boulton Paul, Les was a mine of information.
Phil Revell’s talk about the Mayflower Children in April was like following a detective story as information unfolded about four children from the More family and why they were shipped out to America as orphans on this momentous voyage. In the last talk of the year we were given a fascinating account of the construction and the subsequent history of the SS Great Britain and how it was saved from destruction and brought back to England to be lovingly restored to its former glory in its original birthplace in Bristol docks. We were all so impressed that we are considering it as the place to visit for our Saturday trip in 2018
We thought that we would be unable to have Brian Draper on the coach with us for our annual trip this year. Brian has had a problem with his foot which had required an operation. However, he had recovered sufficiently to make our visit the first trip that he has done this year. Everyone who went to see the Red Kites at Gigrin Farm was amazed at the spectacular sight of around 300 -350 feeding right in front of them. The sun came out in time for us to enjoy the beautiful views on the return jouney.
Events during the year
We laid Remembrance Day wreaths on the War Memorials in Codsall and Bilbrook.
Beating the Bounds. This year almost everyone who started the walk completed the whole 12.4 miles of the boundary, starting from St Nicholas Church to Gunstone, Bilbrook, to Wergs, the A41,
Oaken Lawn, Codsall Wood and back to the Church.
Photographic display in Bilbrook Village Hall
With the help of grants from Bilbrook Parish Council and the County Council photographs of Bilbrook, supplied by the History Society, have now been framed and are on permanent display in Bilbrook Village Hall.
Codsall & Bilbrook History Society’s website will soon be updated with our new Programme and Newsletter. Remember to use codsallhistory.com
Staffordshire Parish Registers
Newly printed this year, Marchington St Peter’s 1609-1900
If you are interested in borrowing this register, or any others, please contact Judy.
GB1900
Would anyone be interested in helping with this project? The object is to transcribe all the place names on the 2nd edition County Series six inch maps of Great Britain, published by the Ordnance Survey over thirty years around 1900
http://www.gb1900.org
Once volunteers sign up, they click on the map next to the start of each name, and type the name into the box which pops up, the system automatically recording the location.
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RENEWAL OF SUBSCRIPTION 2017-2018
Please make your cheque for £8 per person payable to Codsall & Bilbrook History Society and return it to Membership Secretary:
Mrs Margaret Dean, 162 Wood Road, Codsall, WV8 1DW.
If you require a receipt, please enclose a stamped addressed envelope.
I/we enclose a subscription of £......
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Registered Charity 503843