Newsletters

December 2015 Newsletter

KHAS Christmas

DECEMBER 2015 NEWSLETTER

Kenilworth Castle in the Snow

Advanced notice of the AGM in February 2016. Barbara Platten will, sadly, be resigning from the Committee for personal reasons, so that there will be a vacancy. Tonight, self-explanatory nomination forms are available. Please take one and nominate someone you know who would be an asset to the Society’s functioning. Do be sure to obtain their permission, however!

» Last month Gordon Cain took us through the complicated process whereby the pro-cathedral of S. Phillip, Birmingham was saved from serious damage through the deterioration of the cupola on the dome. As ever, his account was clear and very well-illustrated. If ever one thought that S. Phillip’s was one of the less interesting cathedrals England, Gordon’s talk brought it sharply into focus as a most interesting building with a fascinating history, short though that may be.

» Tonight Paul Thompson, assisted as ever by his very able wife, Alex, reveals something of the Christmass of yesteryear. We then do our best to anticipate the great festival by socialising, imbibing and nibbling!

» Next month January 11th : Dr Nat Alcock is talking about The Mediæval Peasant House in the Midlands. Even Kenilworth had peasants in the past

» A CD containing every issue of Kenilworth History from 1981 to 2015 (inc) is now available. It has on it also a file of all the ‘Tables of Content’, six spreadsheets of those contents sorted by date, author, title, and three subject categories, and one continuous file of all the KHs so that it can subjected to a wordsearch from beginning to end – a really valuable resource for any researcher. The Society is charging £5 a CD, which, if you consider that people in the Town bought over 60 copies of KH2015 alone for £5 from the Bookshop this year, is incredibly good value for money.

» You will have been emailed about voting for the Society in the “Kenilworth Worthies” contest. If you don’t do so tonight when you get home, or in the next 24 hours, you will have missed your chance! Go to http://kenilworthchamber.co.uk/survey/kenilworth-worthiesvoting-form/ and look for the “Organisation of the Year” category.

» Kenilworth Family History Society 13 Jan. 2016 Richard III & DNA by Dr. Turi King University of Leicester, Dept.of Genetics & Archaeology. SCC 7.30pm

» Warwickshire Local History Society Tuesday 16 February 2016: Dr Kat Iles, ‘The Birmingham Assay Office’. 8.00pm, preceded by coffee at 7.30pm, in The Friends’ Meeting House, 39 High Street, Warwick, CV34 4AX

» Kineton Local History Soc. Friday 15 January – Stratford upon Avon’s Historic Spine – Dr Robert Bearman All meetings at 7.30pm at Kineton Village Hall

» Warwickshire Geology: 20 January: Prof. David Siveter (Leicester): Exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils of the Chengjiang Lagerstatte, China: the flowering of early animal life. All meetings take place at S. Francis’ Church Hall, Warwick Road (Kenilworth main street), Kenilworth CV8 1HL, with coffee at 7pm before a 7.30pm start

What’s Under Your Feet? A galaxy of rocks, fossils and minerals comes to Kenilworth on Saturday 20 February at the Senior Citizens’ Club 10am until 3pm Come and see Stunning specimens; Great displays; Learn something about how our Earth has evolved Why is the Warwickshire landscape like it is Rocks under the microscope; Meet a Geologist & ….. have your rocks, fossils & minerals identified!

» CADAS: 12th January Title: Roman Woman: a Costumed Food Demonstration Lecturer: Jane Arnold All meetings are held at the Friends’ Meeting House, Hill Street, Coventry, at 19:30

Ideas for Christmass presents:

  • The third edition of A Portrait of Kenilworth in Street Names, originally produced by former Secretary, Geoff Hilton, is out, edited now by Robin Leach.
  • The second edition of The Story of the Abbey by Sunley & Stevens, first published 20 years ago but now enhanced with discoveries made in the 20 year gap, largely by members of this Society, is now available. Published price is £10, but copies are available to members tonight at £8. Last time!
  • The Deeds of King Henry V by Geoff Hilton drawn from John Strecche’s 1420s Chronicle. Deals with the Agincourt campaign of 600 years ago. £7.50, but £6.50 to members for the last time tonight!

» Miscellaneous guide books to places all over the country and of various dates are available for sale at the back of the room – 5p each, to the Society’s funds.

» Website Chris Blunt has made an excellent job of setting up a new Website for the Society. As you will remember, in the past Dr Pats included the Society in his ‘MidWarks’ on-line assembly. Since his illness and death, the site has been locked and become hopelessly out of date. Chris has established a new domain name for us, and published a trial version for us to expand. You are recommended to look at the site for yourself, and if you have any suggestions, please contact, in the first instance, your Editor. Do, however, bear in mind that what you will see is largely a proposal for your information – please don’t tear it to bits (no-one has yet). There is still work to be done on it, but your help will be appreciated, although it might be worth noting that since it went on-line at the end of November, we have had 1008 hits from all over the world! Try it! Use it!

Contacts: Chairman – 01676 532654; Secretary – 01926 858670; Treasurer – 01926 852655;
Vice Chairman & Editor – 01926 858090 [wpml_mailto email="norstevens@hotmail.com"]norstevens@hotmail.com[/wpml_mailto]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.