AGM and Supper.  After the formal business last Friday evening 47 members and guests enjoyed a convivial time together, with another excellent meal prepared by Isobel Gill followed by a ‘virtual’ auction conducted by Chris Mills.  Our thanks are due to Isobel and her team and to Chris, David Freke and Ilona Sekacz for all the work they put in to ensure the evening was a success.

As the days lengthen, there are many activities on offer in Kineton and the surrounding area.

Saturday 18 April 2015. Clive Benfield, Lord of the Manors of Kineton and Little Kineton, has invited members to join The Royal Society of St George, Warwickshire at their St George’s Day Banquet in St Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry, on Saturday 18 April, 2015 at 7.15 for 8.00pm.  Click here to view booking form with further details.

Sunday 26 April, 2015. The Lighthorne History Society had invited members to join them at an exhibition and talk on Bruce Bairsfather and his Association with the Verney Family in Lighthorne Village Hall at  2.30 pm on Sunday 26 April.

“Captain Bruce Bairnsfather became nationally famous as a World War I cartoonist, with his depiction of the soldier “Old Bill”. He also witnessed first-hand one of the 1914 Christmas Day truce football matches which took place in no-man’s land.

On 2 August 1914 he enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and by November he was serving on the front line in Belgium. He started drawing on scraps of paper, doodling and designing comic characters, one of which became Old Bill. He sent several of these sketches and greetings cards to 27 year old Clare Verney in Lighthorne and the exhibition will include Clare Verney’s album, together with other sketches and photographs.

Prior to joining the army Bruce acted in, stage-managed and designed elaborate sets for pantomimes for the Verney family, that were staged in a specially constructed theatre in the grounds of Lighthorne Rectory, where Clare lived with her parents. Follow this link for further information on Bruce Bairnfather’s Lighthorne connection, http://www.lighthornehistory.org.uk/site/wp-content/uploads/LH186.pdf

We are very fortunate to have persuaded Mark Warby, editor of the Old Bill Newsletter to come and talk to us about Bruce’s Lighthorne connection and to show us his material, which has been recently exhibited at the RSC at Stratford. Tea and refreshments will be available after the talk. Entrance is free to members of the Lighthorne History Society, membership of which is available on the day at £4 per annum. Otherwise the cost of entrance to non-members is £4.”

Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 May, 2015. Brian Lewis will be opening the Windmill at the top of Pittern Hill for public viewing between 2.00pm and 5.00pm on both days.

Saturday 16 May 2015 Warwickshire Parishes Symposium.  Details of this interesting event, together with an application form, were circulated in the first March newsletter. The K&DLHG has offered to man a stall for the day.

More K&DLHG news

Next meeting.  A reminder that, on Friday 17 April 2015 at 7.30pm, Chris Rice will be talking about The Landscape of Compton Verney.

Subscriptions.  For those of you who have not already re-joined, annual subscriptions (still £7-50 per person) are now due and can be paid at the April meeting. The Group’s programme card for 2015-16 is now available.

Outings 2015.  Further details of the three summer outing will be included in the next newsletter in early April, and bookings can be made at the meetings in April and May.

New K&DLHG Secretary required. Most of you will know by now that I have decided the time has come for me to step down as secretary.  At the AGM I gave formal notice that I am determined to give up by 30 September 2015 (by which time I will be well into my eighteenth year as secretary).

If you or someone you know would like to find out what taking over as secretary might  involve, please get in touch with me (tel: 01926-640545, email: ashley@pasgas.plus.com) or our chairman, David Freke (tel: 01295-670516 or 07876-290044 email: frekedj@globalnet.co.uk) as soon as possible.

Even if you do not feel that the secretarial work is for you, please give serious thought to joining the committee and bringing some fresh ideas to our programme planning.

With best wishes

Peter Ashley-Smith, K&DLHG secretary 22 March 2015

Michel Valiadis.  As some members will already know, Michel died on 17 February 2015.  He and his wife Alison, presented the first of the Christmas Treats at our meeting last December.  The funeral service will take place at Oakley Wood Crematorium next Tuesday, 3 March 2015 at 2.30pm.

ooooooo

Subscriptions.  Annual subscriptions (still £7-50 per person) are now due and the Group’s programme card for 2015-16 is available to members. 

AGM   A reminder that the AGM will be held on Friday 20 March 2015 at 7.00pm.

Last Call for Supper.  Anyone wishing to purchase a ticket for the Supper after the AGM should contact Gill Ashley-Smith, 3 Green Farm End, Kineton, CV35 0LD  tel: 01926-640545 email: ashley@pasgas.plus.com  Payment will be required before the night, so if you wish a ticket as a receipt for payment and are unable to collect in person, please enclose a self-addressed envelope.

The ticket price is £10-00 per person and, as I have said before, represents fantastic value and a significant reduction on the price for the previous two years, whilst still maintaining Isobel Gill’s high catering standards.  After the Supper, Chris Mills will be conducting a ‘virtual’ auction where no money is required but you can test your valuation skills.

Outings 2015.  Further details of the three summer outing will be available at the AGM.  Bookings can be made at the meetings in April and May.

Warwickshire Parishes Symposium Saturday 16 May.  I attach details of this interesting event, together with an application form.  The K&DLHG has offered to a stall for the day.

With best wishes

Peter Ashley-Smith, K&DLHG secretary

1 March 2015

Download the symposium application form

Next meeting.  A reminder that on Friday 20 February 2015 Pat McGarrell and Colin Jennings will be talking about ‘The Rise and Fall of Covent Garden Market, Leamington Spa.’  [ie.  this Covent Garden was behind Tesco’s at the top of The Parade]

Subscriptions.  The Group’s programme card for 2015-16 will be available at the February meeting, when annual subscriptions (still £7-50 per person) will be due. 

AGM and Supper.   This year the AGM will be held on Friday 20 March 2015 at 7.00pm.  Tickets for the Supper that follows the AGM will also be on sale at the February meeting. The ticket price is £10-00 per person and, as I have said before, represents fantastic value and a significant reduction on the price for the previous two years, whilst still maintaining Isobel Gill’s high catering standards.

Anyone unable to attend the February meeting but wishing to purchase a ticket for the Supper, should contact Gill Ashley-Smith, 3 Green Farm End, Kineton, CV35 0LD  tel: 01926-640545 email: ashley@pasgas.plus.com  Payment will be required before the night, so if you wish a ticket as a receipt for payment and are unable to collect in person, please enclose a self-addressed envelope.

Last month’s speaker.  Mairi Macdonald, who showed us ‘A History of Stratford-upon-Avon in Pictures’ at our January meeting, will be on television on Thursday evening, when she helps Michael Wood tell the story of ‘Shakespeare’s Mother – The Secret life of a Tudor Woman’ (BBC4 at 9.00pm).

URGENT

New K&DLHG Secretary required. I have decided that the time has come for me to step down as secretary.  Although I am willing for my name to go forward for re-election at the AGM, this is only to allow time for a new secretary to be found and to have time to settle in to the role.  I have told the committee that I am determined to give up before 30 September 2015, by which time I will be well into my eighteenth year as secretary (having taken over from Neil Willoughby in March 1998).

If you or someone you know would like to find out what taking over as secretary might  involve, please get in touch with me (tel: 01926-640545, email: ashley@pasgas.plus.com) or our chairman, David Freke (tel: 01295-670516 or 07876-290044 email: frekedj@globalnet.co.uk) as soon as possible.

Even if you do not feel that the secretarial work is for you, please give serious thought to joining the committee at the AGM and bringing some fresh ideas to our programme planning.

Website.  Full K&DLHG programme details and other news are available on our website at www.kinetonheritage.co.uk

With best wishes

Peter Ashley-Smith, K&DLHG secretary

8 February 2015

Next meeting. A reminder that, on Friday 16 January 2015, Mairi MacDonald is coming to tell us about ‘A History of Stratford-upon-Avon in Pictures’ . As usual the meeting will be held in Kineton Village Hall starting at 7.30pm. Members will remember Mairi as a frequent and entertaining speaker at our meetings over many years.

AGM Supper. This year the AGM will be held on Friday 20 March 2014 at 7.00pm. Tickets for the Supper that follows the AGM will be on sale at the January meeting and that in February. The ticket price has been held at £11-50.

February meeting.  On Friday 20 February Pat McGarrell and Colin Jennings will be talking about ‘The Rise and Fall of Covent Garden Market, Leamington Spa’. For those of you who might be confused by the name, this Covent Garden was behind Tescos at the top of The Parade.

Subscriptions. The Group’s programme card for 2015-16 will be available at the February meeting, when annual subscriptions (still £7-50 per person) will be due. There will also be a second opportunity to purchase tickets for the Annual Supper

Website. Full K&DLHG programme details and other news are available on our website at www.kinetonheritage.co.uk

With best wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year

Peter Ashley-Smith, K&DLHG secretary

6 January 2015

Next meeting.  Join us for a festive evening of ‘Christmas Treats’ this coming Friday, 12 December 2014.  To start us off there will be three short presentations: Alison Valiadis will be introducing a short film recording a 1970s re-enactment of the Siege of Warwick Castle; Richard Groves will be telling of unintended consequences of being aware of your surroundings under the intriguing title ‘The Perils of Paying Attention’; then Ilona Sekacz and friends will be introducing and explaining the seasonal tradition of Wassail.  As if that was not enough, the evening will be rounded off with our offering of mince pies and mulled wine!

January meeting.  On Friday 16 January 2015, we will be joined by Mairi Macdonald, who will be presenting ‘A History of Stratford-upon-Avon in Pictures.’

Tickets for the AGM Supper, being held on 20 March, will be on sale at this meeting and on 20 February.

Community Drama.  Those of you who came to the November meeting when Colin Edwards talked about ‘Ilmington Remembers the 1950s: a village recording project’, will be aware of what can be achieved when a community pools its talents in a drama project.  The Anglican and Methodist churches in Kineton are attempting something similar next year – putting on a “fantastic new Passion Play” during Holy Week 2015. If you are interested in getting involved in any way, from actor to event steward, you will be welcome to attend the initial meeting at Kineton High School next Wednesday 12 December at 7.30pm or to contact either the Rev Barry Jackson 01926-640248 barry@edgehillchurches.org  or the Rev Dawn Saunders 01926-640385 dawnjsaunders@aol.com

If you are unable to join us next Friday evening for the Christmas Treats, the committee of the Kineton & District Local History Group wishes you a very happy Christmas and looks forward to meeting you at one of our meetings early in the New Year.

Peter Ashley-Smith, K&DLHG secretary

7 December 2014

Next meeting.  A reminder that, on Friday 21 November 2014, Colin Edwards is coming go talk to us about ‘Ilmington Remembers the 1950s:a village recording project.’ As usual the meeting will be held in Kineton Village Hall starting at 7.30pm.

David Gill, a long-term member of the K&DLHG and a former chairman, went into hospital yesterday (Tuesday) for an operation on his knee. I am sure all members wish him and Joy a speedy recovery and return to active life in Kineton.

A Thoughtful Departure. Having experienced two differing styles of funeral last week, I came across the following notice for an older relative of a family resident in Kineton during the 1920s and 1930s:

Deaths. Huttenbach – On the 1^st Dec, at 35 Norfolk Square, Ludwig Huttenbach, late of Penang and Singapore, in his 58th year, after a short illness from pneumonia. Cremation took place at Golder’s Green. Friends please accept this, the only intimation. He having expressed this wish:- “As friends might be inconvenienced by attending my funeral, while their doing so would not do me any good, I wish that notice of my death be given only after the cremation has taken place.”                                            The Times, Thurs 4 Dec 1913

With best wishes

Peter Ashley-Smith, K&DLHG secretary

5 November 2014

Next meeting.  Our Autumn  programme of indoor meetings continues next week when, on Friday 17 October 2014 Chris Holland will be talking about ‘August 1914: When Warwickshire went to War’.  Chris is an authority on many aspects of the First World War as they affected the Midlands and is the author or editor of several books , including ‘Before Gallipoli: the 29^th Division in Warwickshire and north Oxfordshire’ , ‘Coventry  and Warwickshire 1914-1919; Local Aspects of the Great War’ and ‘A Strange Time: the diary and scrapbooks of Cordelia Leigh [of Stoneleigh Abbey] 1914-1919’. No doubt, some of these books will be on display and available for purchase at the meeting.

As usual the meeting will be held in Kineton Village Hall starting at 7.30pm.

Local History Fair   The Leamington History Group will be holding its annual Local History Fair at Dormer Hall, Dormer Place, Leamington Spa, from 10.00 am to 3.30 pm on 18 October 2014.  The theme for the event is “Changing Places”, with special reference to Leamington Spa and World War I. There will be a range of displays, a bookstall and a raffle. A centrepiece will be a map compiled by Dick Fisk showing the locations of the homes of the families in the district which lost at least one member.

A dozen or so local history groups will be taking part, entry is free, and coffee and tea will be served all day

Roundwood Press.  Later this month, Michel Valiadis has arranged an ‘Exhibition of Books Printed in Kineton.’  This will include books covering many different subjects including the Civil War, printed between 1950s and 1980s.  The exhibition will be open to the public on Friday 24 October 2014 (6pm–8pm), Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 October 2014 (10am-4pm) in Kineton Village Hall.  Admission £1.

With best wishes

Peter Ashley-Smith, K&DLHG secretary

9 October 2014

Next meeting. Our programme of indoor meetings resumes next week when, on Friday 19 September 2014, Professor John Hunter, will be telling us ‘Tales from a Forensic Archaeologist.’ As usual the meeting will be held in Kineton Village Hall starting at 7.30pm.

Summer Outings 2014. Over the summer members enjoyed three varied outings, to Southam, Cropredy, and the Acton Scott Historic Working Farm.  Our thanks are due to Isobel Gill for her hard work in organising these.

BALH Newsletter. click here to view the latest e-newsletter from the British Association for Local History, of which K&DLHG is a member.

With best wishes

Peter Ashley-Smith, K&DLHG secretary

10 September 2014