KENILWORTH HISTORY & ARCHÆOLOGY SOCIETY
February 2016 Newsletter
» Last month Dr Nat Alcock in his talk about The Mediæval Peasant House in the Midlands surprised us all as he revealed just how many of these buildings still exist around the country, and how many we have nearby. We are all looking more closely at timber-framed houses now.
» Tonight The AGM, followed by Tom Garner on the History of Photography
» Next month March 14th Kate Christmas will give an account of the “New Place Project” under the aegis of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
» Kenilworth Family History Society 10th February Julie Crawshaw Shakespeare’s New Place: “The House Wherein I Dwell”. 9th March – Paul Handford: Women Ambulance Drivers on the Belgian and French Front in WW1. Meetings 7.30 at Senior Citizens’ Club.
» Warwickshire Local History Society Tuesday 16 February: Dr Kat Iles, ‘The Birmingham Assay Office’; 8pm Tuesday 15 March 2016 AGM 7.15pm NB, followed by Dr Maureen Harris, ‘The “debauched” parson and the “wit-already-expired-rogue”: Warwickshire parish politics, 1660-1720’ 8.00pm, preceded by coffee at 7.30pm, in The Friends’ Meeting House, 39 High Street, Warwick, CV34 4AX
» Kineton Local History Soc. Friday 19 February – Richard III and his rediscovery in Leicester – Richard Buckley All meetings at 7.30pm at Kineton Village Hall
» Warwickshire Geology: 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 17 February Dr Paul Olver (Hereford & Worcester EHT) ‘Minerals, Magmas & Man’
» CADAS: 9th February Title: Hoards, Hounds and Helmets: The story of the Hallaton Treasure Lecturer: Vicky Score 12th April “The Infancy of the Alphabet” Lecturer: Professor Alan Millard All meetings are held at the Friends’ Meeting House, Hill Street, Coventry, at 19:30
» Another, different miscellany of 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.
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!
The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum wishes to draw our attention to its Spring Programme.
Please contact: http://www.theherbert.org/learning/adultcourses/seasons/spring-courses-2016
For the Record
The Ford ran on Sunday 7th February. A police car answering an early emergency call negotiated Castle Road and was brought to a halt by the flood. It reversed and went round the Fields to rejoin the road at the bottom of Castle Hill and continued on its way. The driver had not ignored the warning lights: they had failed to come on! It was comforting to see the trusty old red “Road Closed” and “Flood” signs back in position later in the day.
Contacts:
Chairman – 01676 532654;
Secretary – 01926 858670;
Treasurer – 01926 852655;
Vice Chairman & Editor – 01926 858090
Website www.khas.co.uk
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Kenilworth History & Archaeology Society
Held on Monday 9th February 2015 at 7.45pm in the Senior Citizens’ Club, Kenilworth. The meeting was chaired by the Society’s Chairman, Jan Cooper
- Apologies: Apologies were received from Helen Scott, David and Carol Parker, Geoff Hilton and Roy and Jackie Shearing.
- Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Monday 10th February 2014: Members each had a printed copy, and, with one typographical correction, the Minutes were adopted by the meeting and signed by the Chairman.
- Matters arising from the Minutes: No matters were raised.
- Chairman’s Report: The Chairman referred members to her full report in Kenilworth History 2015. She spoke of the need to increase public awareness of the Abbey and the Barn Museum, so that visitors would realise that Kenilworth had other interesting attractions besides the Castle. Two open walks, advertised locally last year, had each attracted over 30 people, and there had also been three specially arranged tours for groups. The Barn would be re-opening on April 5th 2015, and work would be continuing prior to that date on the refurbishment upstairs. Afternoon volunteers would be needed to staff the Barn on Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays throughout the summer, and all members were urged to help if possible so that the responsibility did not fall on just a few people.
- Treasurer’s Report: Members each had a printed copy of the audited accounts for the year ended 30th November 2014. The Treasurer pointed out that the accounts may appear ‘distorted’ by approximately £5,000 of money which was specifically for Barn refurbishment. He reported also that KHAS had assisted two local organisations by allowing grants that they had been awarded to be channelled through the KHAS bank account. The apparent surplus of £146.91 had been subsequently reduced by a late cheque in the sum of £140 for printing costs, so that we had ended up breaking even for the year. Donations at the Barn were up on the previous year, and ‘Other donations’ arising partly from walks and talks were also higher than the year before. It was proposed to keep subscriptions for 2015 at the same level as previously. The Accounts were formally adopted on a proposal from Betty Sunley, seconded by Cynthia Crick.
- Election of Officers: All of the present officers and committee members had indicated their willingness to serve for a further term, and no other nominations had been received by the closing date of 31st January. It was therefore moved that the Committee should continue as at present, on a proposal by Steven Wallsgrove, seconded by Michael Formstone. The Committee for 2015 is as follows: – Chairman – Jan Cooper
– Vice-Chairman – Norman Stevens
– Treasurer – Anthony Manning
– Secretary – Geoff Whiteman
– Committee Members – Margaret Kane, Barbara Platten, Susan Tyler - Date of the next AGM: The next AGM will be held on Monday, 8th February 2016
- Any Other Business:
Archivist: the Chairman referred to the vacancy advertised in the February Newsletter for an Archivist. All of the KHAS material formerly
stored in the Library had been transferred to the Barn at short notice, and although the existing holdings were well-documented, there was a need for someone to deal with and record new donations.Harry Sunley Memorial Project: the death of Richard Morris had dealt a sad blow to this project, but all those involved in it were determined to see it through. The KHAS Committee proposed to pledge a sum of £500 to the project, to be ‘called off’ as and when required, and to be reviewed on an annual basis. The suggestion was adopted on a proposal by Sylvia Wilde, seconded by Celia Rickers.Kenilworth Abbey Advisory Committee: the two KHAS representatives on the Committee were currently David Brock and Norman Stevens. Norman had expressed the wish to stand down, and Philip Stock had agreed to become our second representative in his place.Barn Liaison Officer: Ian Fenwick, actively working on the Barn refurbishment, identified a need for someone on the Committee to be
designated as the Barn Liaison Officer. Margaret Kane had already been providing this link informally and it was agreed that she
should continue to act in this capacity as a formal arrangement. There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8.00pm.
Minutes of an Extraordinary General Meeting of Kenilworth History & Archaeology Society, held on Monday 12th October 2015 at 7.45pm in the
Senior Citizens’ Club, Kenilworth. The meeting was chaired by the Society’s Vice Chairman, Norman Stevens. - Apologies: Apologies were received from Jan Cooper, Sue Tyler and Roy and Jackie Shearing.
- Proposal: By way of introduction, the Chairman described how the Harry Sunley Memorial Project was now gaining momentum again, having slowed down following the death of Dr. Richard K Morris. It was proposed in future to run the Abbey Gatehouse in the same way as the Society currently runs the Barn, by means of a licence with Warwick District Council. The existing licence would be extended to include the Gatehouse.
It was recognised that it would be impossible to find sufficient volunteers to steward the Gatehouse for regular summer opening at the same time as the Barn, but it was intended to make the building and its contents available on request to individuals and groups with specialist interests. The Chairman read out the full terms of the existing licence for the benefit of the meeting, and explained the insurance position. It was
confirmed that KHAS has an insurance indemnity of £5m. Several questions were asked by members and answered by the Chairman.
(1) Young people climbing on the roof of the building were a matter for the police and Warwick District Council.
(2) The security of the Gatehouse building would be maintained at the same standard as for the Barn.
(3) It was confirmed that the pieces of masonry stored within the Gatehouse were the property of Warwick District Council, and not KHAS. KHAS owns the display stands and related equipment. - Decision: The KHAS members present were asked to indicate their approval of the proposal by a show of hands in favour of it. A further request for a show of hands against the proposal produced no response, and the proposal was therefore declared accepted unanimously.GW 14/10/2015
The Society’s Accounts for 2015
