It is always a great pleasure to welcome back a speaker who has given such splendid talks before and this was certainly the case when Mari Macdonald visited the group for the April meeting to speak about Easter customs.

Her previous subjects had been historical – The Battle of Edgehill and The Gunpowder Plot for instance, but this time she took as her topic the field of folklore and tradition, focussing particularly on Warwickshire. Most peopel knew a few of the traditions, but almost everyone learned something new.

Miss Macdonald started by tracing the origins of many Easter customs to the days of the Vikings and even earlier. the sun had always been an important part of primative worship and it is believed that the great disc of the sun was the origin of the football used in the town football matches played at Easter, when the game is virtually a free-for-all, ranging from one end of the town to the other in such places as Ashbourne in Derbyshire.

The sun also became a symbol of Jesus Christ’s reserection and as in so many instances the Christian faith took over ans adapted pagan customs. The speaker pointed out how English folklore had a habit of taking over and generally softening these customs, for instance the mysterious and powerful Easter hare had become the fluffy Easter bunny!

Miss Macdonald was left in no doubt as to how much her talk, with its mixture of humour and serious fact had been appreciated.

Photos from the the Warwickshire best village award ceremony.

Kineton won first prize in the Heritage section for the Churchyard project.

More information under Churchyard project.

The January meeting of the Kineton and District Local History Group saw the usual successful combination of AGM and annual supper. The AGM proceeded smoothly, with David Freke re-elected as Chairman and the rest of the committee and officers re-elected en-bloc, with the welcome addition to the committee of Roger Gaunt. The President Lord Willoughby de Broke presided.

There followed an ingenious and informative quiz devised by David Beaumont, a founder member of the Group, who raided his fine collection of local photographs which members had to identify. It was surprising how many even Kineton residents found they were unable to recognise!

However, the quiz was enjoyed by al, as an appetiser for the supper – once again the catering for the buffet supper was done by Isobel Gill, who provided an ample and delicious spread.

The evening ended with two comic monologues by group member Richard Acton, which was enjoyed by all. Members left feeling that a very happy evening as well as an instructive one had been spent and it is not every AGM about which this can be said!

“Beautifully structured”, “extremely interesting”, “brilliant and amusing too” were some of the remarks overheard after Dr Beat Kumin’s lecture on The development of the parish at the most recent meeting of the Kineton Local History Group.

Such is the standard of speakers at the group’s monthly meetings now that one frequently feels like saying “that was the best ever!” but here with some justification.

Dr Kumin from the University of Leicester, took a subject that many of those present had not thought much about and presented a potted history of the structure of parishes from early 14th century to the present day.  He had the help of excellent slides and examples, many of which were directly related to Kineton and district, something not all lecturers manage to do and which was much appreciated.

He explained the division of land into territorial units – manor, parish and hundred – and the relevance of such terms as glebe land and Tithes, yet within this was all delivered with a light touch and made accessible, even to the least well-informed on the subject, so that when the lecture ended the audience could not believe where the time had gone and were left hungry for more.  One remark surely sums up the evening – “utterly professional, but he never made us feel stupid” – a tribute with which most present would concur.

When Andrew Hamilton began browsing through his Grandfather’s diaries, which he had kept throughout his long-life, he found them at first rather dull.  Then he found one volume different from the rest, which proved to be an account of his Grandfather’s life in the trenches in the First World War.  As he read on, he realised that it was a rare thing, a first-hand account of the so-called ‘Christmas truce’ of December 1914 – a truce in which Captain Robert Hamilton had played a major part.  It was this diary that formed the basis of the recently published book by Andrew Hamilton and Alan Reed and on which Sir Andrew’s talk was based.

Another packed audience listened enthralled as he told the story of how hostilities had been set aside for a short while as the men on both sides met in no-man’s land, exchanged small gifts and even played football.  It is a story that one would dismiss as fiction were it not for the fact that here was the evidence of one who had witnessed it and even promoted it.

It was griping, moving and also deeply humorous as Sir Andrew told it, helped by a fine collection of photographs and the drawings of one of the men in Capt. Hamilton’s troop, the famous cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather.  It was Bairnsfather’s creation ‘Old Bill’, familiar to many of the older members of the audience, who familiarised the life of ‘Tommy’ of the First World War, with all its hardship and its humour.

The subject of the February meeting of the Kineton and District Local History Group, was Tysoe and the history of its red horses.  It must have intrigued many people as Mr Kevin Wyles’ talk attracted the largest audience in recent memory.

Why the plural ‘horses’? Did anyone know where were they had been sited? The answers to these and many other questions were answered in Mr Wyles’ lively and spontaneous talk.  He told of the ancient red horse, carved into the hill above Tysoe in a time beyond our records and concealed by a plantation of trees, maybe in the 18th century.  Then there were at least three others, carved to the west of the original about 300 years ago.  All had now vanished but are recalled in folk memory and in the name by which the area is still known as ‘The vale of the red horse’.

Mr Wyles passed around the audience many artefacts, largely pottery, which he himself had excavated in the area,many dating from Roman times.  It was a real treat to handle these; to hold in one’s hand a fragment of a Roman pot shaped by a hand that had died nearly 2,000 years ago.  A fascinating and rewarding evening giving the audience a fresh insight into their local history.

At Warwickshire’s Best Village Competition award ceremony on 22nd September, Kineton and District Local History Group were awarded gold for the Churchyard project in the History & Heritage section.

Congratulations to everyone involved!

Summer evening visit on 18th July 2008.

Photos courtesy of David Beaumont.