KENILWORTH HISTORY & ARCHÆOLOGY SOCIETY
June 2016 Newsletter
» Last Month: Dr Richard Buckley of Leicester University, who has been the lead figure in the whole of the “Richard III Project” from its outset, gave a very lively account of all the preparation and actual work that went into establishing that the skeleton found in the famous Leicester car park was, without doubt, Richard’s. It was a humble presentation, and the audience came close to applauding his admissions of scepticism. A really good evening!
» Tonight: We are pleased to welcome David Snowden of our associated Society at Evesham who is offering – “Riding the tiger”: the Life and Death of Simon de Montfort. Expect an excellent evening.
» Next month there will be a special KHAS meeting to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the Great Siege of Kenilworth. This meeting will be held on Monday 25th July at Kenilworth Castle. Chairman Jan will be giving you further details this evening. This is a members’ only meeting and is currently fully subscribed.
» Next indoor meeting: 12th September. Dr Nick Humphris will speak about the archæology of Chedworth Roman Villa, where a lot of work has been done recently to discover more.
» Kenilworth Civic Society: 21st June Daniel Dalton, MEP talking on the role of the MEP. 7.30, Senior Citizens’ Club
» Kenilworth Family History Society Meetings 7.30 at Senior Citizens’ Club. 13 July Dr Colin Chapman + summer refreshments “The Ecclesiastical Courts: Sin, Sex and Probate”.
» Warwickshire Local History Society Saturday 9 July 2016. A visit to Radway to see the new Edgehill Exhibition at St Peter’s Church, a tour of Radway followed by tea.
» Warwickshire Industrial Archæology Society: WIAS OUTING! An extra visit for WIAS members has been arranged by Alain Foote on Friday 8th July to the “Cementing Relations with Southam” exhibition in Southam followed by a site visit to examine the remains uncovered during the excavations at Nelson’s Wharf, Stockton. This will be followed by lunch at a nearby pub for those interested. The visit starts at 10:00 a.m at Southam Heritage Collection in Vivian House, Southam. The visit will be led by John Frearson. Anyone interested in joining this visit should contact Alain Foote on alain.foote@tesco.net.
» A vigil at St Nicholas’ Church, Kenilworth followed by prayers for those who sacrificed their lives and limbs on both sides of the conflict at the Battle of the Somme in World War I. It will commence at 4.30am (sic) on Friday 1 July and finish at 7.30am. Those were the times that the British and allied soldiers mustered in the forward trenches, before they went “over the top”. You are invited to attend for all or part of those times.
» Making ‘The Barn Museum and Heritage Centre’ accessible to the public. Recent appeals for Members’ help bore some fruit, but there is still a need for more. Please contact Michael Formstone on mformstone@mac.com or Margaret Kane on 864624, and give just two hours a year!
» We need a new Archivist – can anyone help?
» We need someone to help the Vice-chairman with editing, and publication production. Please contact him – he hopes to be at this meeting later.
» Warwick Words (bookshop in Warwick) will be presenting a History Festival in Warwick from 3-9 October. They will be celebrating historical writing – fact and fiction, including meeting and discussion with authors, talks, workshops, etc. As part of this, on the 8th there will be a History Fair from 10 am to 2 pm where local history societies have the opportunity to promote their work. This is a free event open to the general public and will be held at the Friends Meeting House in Warwick. Chairman Jan and Committee Member Sue intend to represent KHAS but would be grateful if anyone else would be willing to come along and help part of the time. Please see Jan this evening if you would like to be involved.
» At the moment Kenilworth is concentrating on Simon de Montfort and his family connections with the town. If you would like to know more about another of Kenilworth’s famous historical residents – John of Gaunt – Chairman Jan will be giving a talk, “John of Gaunt – Power & Passion”, for Kenilworth U3A on Thursday 16th June at 2.30pm. Venue: Methodist Church, Priory Road. Non-members are welcome to attend.
» The Editor of the Leamington Courier Group has offered the Society all the bound volumes of the Kenilworth Weekly News from inception to date for its archives. The Society is, we are sure, extremely grateful for this, as otherwise they would have gone into store anywhere in the country where the parent company had room. Now they will stay in Kenilworth and be accessible. Does anyone have a 6 foot steel cupboard to join the one already in the ‘Barn’ so that we can safely store them?
» The new edition of Pevsner’s Warwickshire is published on the 28th of this month. Copies available from Kenilworth Bookshop. £35
Contacts: Chairman – 01676 532654; Secretary – 01926 858670; Treasurer – 01926 852655;
Vice Chairman & Editor – 01926 858090
Website www.khas.co.uk