NEWSLETTER 8th May 2019
Forthcoming Meeting: May 17 Kineton Village hall 7.30
Our next meeting on 15th May is a double act by Martin Russell and Tony McKay entitled “Unravelling the Cropredy Campaign 1644”. This is about the English Civil War action commonly known as the “Battle of Cropredy Bridge”, when Parliamentary and Royalist 
forces fought a series of skirmishes in the Cherwell valley above Banbury. The title of the talk suggests that there was more to this exchange than the traditional label would imply, so we look forward to hearing what Martin and Tony have unearthed about this action. The topic chimes with the Warwickshire Record Office initiative to transcribe the claims for compensation following the Civil Wars – local parish returns are currently being transcribed by several of our members.
Report on the 26th April meeting 2019. Our member Tim Newcombe gave an illustrated talk on The Mills Family and the History of the Pillertons. Both the manors of Pillerton Priors and Pillerton Hersey were owned by the Mills family from the 1790 until the estate was sold in 1920. The last male owner, the Reverend Henry Mills, seems to have become neglectful as he aged, and was fined for not clearing ditches and allowing his properties to become dilapidated. Tim showed a photo of the Rev. Mills’ gamekeeper, Mr Butler, who keenly protected the estate’s rights. The estate was sold after WWI, like many others (for instance, Compton Verney), the victim of new social, political and financial pressures. Peter Waters led our thanks to Tim, commenting that his talk showed how much fascinating detail can be retrieved and brought to life about almost forgotten, but nonetheless significant local people and events.
Other Events.
World War 2 Oral Histories. A website founded by broadcaster and historian, Dan Snow, and author and broadcaster, James Holland, WarGen (http://wargen.org) is a crowd-sourced online repository of oral-history from the people who lived through World War 2. As well as containing varied stories from this fast disappearing generation, this group is now looking for individuals to join their volunteer team as interviewers in their local communities. They are also eager to hear from people who might have their own stories to tell. If you are interested in either becoming an interviewer or sharing your story, please contact Shane Greer at shane@wargen.org
Heritage and Culture Warwickshire (HCW) has just launched a new project called Warwickshire Bytes. The project has several strands – all digital. HCW are inviting people to get involved with online indexing of documents held at the County Record Office, starting with court depositions from the 19th and early 20th century. No prior knowledge is necessary and full support is given. Another aspect is Warwickshire in 100 objects and stories. HCW are asking people to contribute objects and stories to the Our Warwickshire website so they can create a People’s History of the county. Click here for more information:
Sunday 12 May Gold in them thar hills? Yes! Fool’s Gold!’ Why are the Burton Dassett Hills there? What’s in them? Who dug? When? Why? Are they magnetic? What’s that tower for?
Burton Dassett Hills. Meet 10.30 at Car Park near the Tower (approx 1-2 hours)
All-day parking £2. Part of WGCG GeoWeek in Warwickshire 5-12 May 2019
Thursday 16 May Warmington Heritage Group, Warmington Village Hall, 7.30pm: Ginny Davis on From the Pillory to the Prison Cell.
Monday 20 May Leamington History Group, Dormer Conference Centre, Dormer Place, 7.30pm: David Fry on A look at Leamington’s early postcards & the photographer who produced them.
June to October Southam Heritage Collection exhibition at Tithe Place, Southam, Playtimes Past. Tues, Fridays and Saturdays 10.00am to 12 noon
Thursday June 6 Oxhill Village Hall, 7.30pm David Freke on Warmington Man 2000 years BC (and some Romans)
Thursday 20 June Warmington Heritage Group, Warmington Village Hall, 7.30pm: Chris Hone on The Wroxton Mineral Railway.
Monday 24 June Leamington History Group, Dormer Conference Centre, Dormer Place, 7.30pm: Sheila Woolf on Here Come the Girls.
KDLHG Committee Matters.
The new committee met at 7.30pm on April 29th 2019, at 5 Church Houses, Manor Lane, by kind invitation of Catherine Petrie. We welcomed our new Treasurer, Ted Crofts, to the committee, and thanked Peter Waters for looking after our finances since November last year. TC briefly outlined the financial situation, membership numbers, and progress on changing bank signatories for our HSBC account.
We discussed the urgent need for new committee members to help run the Group effectively, and agreed to actively seek new recruits to the committee. DF pointed out that he has been Chairman now for almost 12 years, and announced that he will stand down at the 2020 AGM, but would still stand for committee membership. IS resigned her role as Secretary, with immediate effect, while remaining on the committee. There is an urgent need to fill the post of Secretary as soon as possible.
The publication of Peter Ashley-Smith’s book is at the proofs stage. Bob Bearman, Gill Ashley-Smith and David Beaumont were congratulated for their work on bringing this to fruition. An ISBN is still required and DF undertook to sort this out. Four hundred copies will be printed with a sale price of £9.99. Gill Ashley-Smith has generously donated any profits from the book to K&DLHG.
The progress towards procuring a home for our archives is painfully slow. A plan for the proposed new mezzanine at the back of the Village Hall stage has been prepared and awaits approval from the Village Hall Users Group and detailed estimates.
The next Committee meeting is on Monday 1st of July at 7.30pm, again at Catherine’s home.
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DF 08.05. 2019