NEWSLETTER 10th April 2021
AS THE VILLAGE HALL REMAINS UNAVAILABLE OUR TALK ON APRIL 16th WILL TAKE PLACE BY VIA ZOOM. OUR CONTINUING APOLOGIES TO OUR MEMBERS WHO DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ZOOM,
Our talk on 16th April, to be given by Colin Clay and Phil Taylor, they have entitled Back Tracks: detecting the past. They will show how the historic landscape can be investigated using 
remote sensing techniques, coupled with maps and field survey. They will explore the possibilities recently opened up by the free online availability of Lidar images, together with the use of metal detectors, aerial photographs and the Portable Antiquities Scheme data resources. Colin and Phil have spent several years using these methods to explore the evidence for historic activities surviving in local landscapes, and we look forward to hearing about these cutting edge techniques, and finding and what exactly “Lidar “ stands for.
Report on our meeting on Friday February 19. Professor John Hunter described the progress of The Making of Tysoe Project which formally commenced almost exactly a year ago, just before the first covid-19 lockdown. This ambitious project aims to integrate and expand the many strands of information about the historical development of Tysoe parish.
Professor Hunter demonstrated how it is intended to integrate the evidence from landscape survey, geophysics, place-/field-name records, population profiles, structural analysis of the church and other buildings, documentary searches, archaeology and history. All this will continue in parallel with recording church iconography, village memorials and well-heads/springs together with collating and digitising vulnerable records, photographs and genealogical information housed variously around the village. The survey of the churchyard is complete and will soon be uploaded to the web, enabling researchers and family historians to access the wealth of data collected, on the model of the Kineton survey completed nearly a decade ago. His talk was well supported and several new members were recruited.
Report on 33nd (Remote) Annual General Meeting – 19 March 2021
The AGM papers were circulated via email and post. Our President Dr Robert Bearman managed the business of the meeting and a formal election resulted in the following members of the committee being elected:
Chairman David Freke
Vice-Chairman Roger Gaunt
Secretary Ilona Sekacz
Treasurer Ted Crofts
Outings Secretary Isobel Gill
Programme Secretary Claire Roberts
Other committee members
Catherine Petrie
Peter Waters
Alex Hitchman
Rosemary Collier
Pam Redgrave
George Lokuciejewski
We are pleased to welcome back the 2020 committee and delighted to have elected four new members, Alex, Rosemary, Pam and George, who handsomely responded to our call for new nominees. We look forward to the next year with the hope that covid restrictions will be lifted in time for our autumn talks to go ahead in the Village Hall. Our summer outings are expected to take place, but may be subject to changes in government advice, but watch this space for updates.
Obituary
Many of you will have heard that our long-term member Bob 
Briggs died suddenly recently. Our condolences to Val and his family for their loss. His association with the village went back many decades, long before my tenure as Chairman, and many members will have known him far better than I.
I do however remember Bob with great affection. From his accustomed seat on the back row he often asked speakers the direct question many members wanted answering, as well as offering acute observations of his own.
He was a stalwart of the local choir, the Swan Singers, and we had several opportunities to hear his fine bass in several of our Christmas Treats sessions. His “Old Man River” was particularly moving, and equally memorable was his scamper through his beloved Gilbert and Sullivan, taking both male and female roles in his stride. His engagement with the group was typified by his contributions to our meetings, outings and members’ presentations.
Characteristically he sent a piece to our lockdown Memorable Christmas session in December 2020. He will be missed. DF
2021 Programme update:
April 16 Colin Clay and Phil Taylor: Back Tracks: detecting the past
May 21 Dr Stanley Ireland: The South Warwickshire Roman coin hoards:
June 11 Sheila Woolf: Guided Tour of Stoneleigh, subject to covid regulations
July 16 David Freke A walk in a prehistoric and Roman landscape at Warmington
Aug. Day trip to Croome Court, to be confirmed
Sep 17 Peter Coulls: Warwick and Leamington Tramways
Oct 15 Michael Luntley: From This Ground: songs and stories about 19thcentury Warwickshire agricultural workers (a performance, so subject to covid restrictions)
Nov 19 Ellie Reid Dressing up the Past: the 1906 Warwick Pageant and the 20th century pageant movement in Warwickshire.
Dec 10 Christmas treats
2022
January 21 tbc
February 18 tbc
March 18 AGM
Official covid advice and regulations may change for better or worse in the coming months, so we will be assessing the programme one meeting at a time and we will confirm each event when we are reasonably confident that we can run it. Even in a strict lockdown we intend to continue virtual meetings online on the regular dates, but they may not be by the speakers or on the topics set out in the current 2021-22 Programme. Please be patient if an eagerly awaited talk is postponed. We will try to re-schedule any speaker not suited to the Zoom route.
Other Society News
Warwickshire Local History Society
K&DLHG is affiliated to WLHS and our members are entitled to join their meetings.
WLHS Annual General Meeting via Zoom on Tuesday 20 April at 7.15pm, followed by Professor Chris Dyer who will speak about ‘Immigrants in Warwickshire: a mobile population 1200-1525′.
Please see their website for a summary of the talk and the forthcoming WLHS programme, and click on this link to register your attendance for their talks:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/warwickshire-local-history-society-lecture-tickets-138259348433
Many other local societies are running their talk series via zoom! Check the Warwickshire Local History Society website for up to date lists.
Council for British Archaeology West Midlands
CBA West Midlands have also given details of local history and archaeology podcasts.
Amongst several podcasts about the region CBAWM has recently released podcasts by Dr Roger White of the University of Birmingham on Wroxeter Roman city and the Roman West Midlands. https://historywm.com/podcasts
Other local on-line offerings:
Birmingham Museum virtual tour https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/virtual-tour
Herefordshire Museum and Art Gallery Life through a Lens virtual tour https://www.herefordshirelifethroughalens.org.uk/virtual-exhibitiontours/
Warwick Castle Virtual Tour https://historyview.org/library/warwick-castle/
Walk around the UNESCO Black Country Geopark . If you’re local to the Black Country there are many Geosites to walk and exercise in within the UNESCO Black Country Geopark (and for everyone else once lockdown is over)
https://blackcountrygeopark.dudley.gov.uk/sites-to-see/
KDLHG Committee Matters.
There has been no committee since the last Newsletter
DF 10.04.21
Contact: David Freke
Email frekedj@globalnet.co.uk
07876 290044