NEWSLETTER 4th NOV 2019
Forthcoming talk on Friday 15th November. We are privileged to welcome back Helen Lloyd, a pioneer advocate of Oral History studies, who inspired our Group with a presentation almost 2 decades ago. She is a Regional Representative of the Oral History Society and a Trustee of the Charles Parker Archive of oral history and folk music recordings. She has always emphasised the importance of capturing the experiences of “ordinary” people, who otherwise go unrecorded and unappreciated. Her talk is titled Oral History: extraordinary lives of ordinary people. The Group has a small collection of recordings made over the years, and we look forward to hearing about how much potential historic value can be found in the unique experiences of every person, and how best to unlock this resource.
[Note the WWII Oral Histories project at the bottom of page 2]
Report on Friday 18th October talk on Constabulary Tales: my early years in the police by Alan Benjamin. Alan regaled us with hilarious tales of his experiences as a young police officer in south Warwickshire in the late 20th century. Starting with his schooling (his description of smoke-filled staff rooms was recognised by at least a few of our members), and describing his choice of career, he took us through his extraordinary interview. The medicals were undertaken naked, en masse, with military efficiency, in full view of the top deck of passing buses, and under the control of a repetitive sergeant. I will never regard glass milk bottles in the same way….. He gained one of the 12 places out of the 311 applicants. At the end of his military-style training, apparently communicated entirely by shouting, the passing-out parade consisted of synchronised traffic-signalling, to music! He regarded this as too embarrassing to allow his father even to know that there was a parade.
Once on the job Alan was clearly spotted early on as good material as he was taken under the wing of an experienced officer, and so avoided summary dismissal at the end of his 2 year probationary period, a fate which befell one of his colleagues not blessed by such patronage.
On the beat he seems to have found ways to liven up boring night shifts. One device was to play cat-and-mouse around Redditch with a fellow panda car patrol, in the course of which, on one occasion, he chased and apprehended a pair of safe crackers by accident, thinking that their car was his fellow officer’s. He felt his subsequent commendation was possibly unearned. On another occasion he drew his truncheon and bravely confronted a sinister noise coming from a narrow, darkened passage, only to discover a cat. We did learn the Correct Use of the Truncheon however.
His reminiscences seemed to recall a more innocent time, although he did spend time escorting prisoners to court, and was a Scene Of Crime Officer, neither of which sound very light hearted occupations. He acknowledged that he deliberately glossed over his more gruelling experiences. On retirement he indulged his musical and folk dancing passions, and he plays folk music with one of our previous speakers, Richard Churchley, as well being a member of a Morris team. His talent for entertainment meant that we were treated to one of the funniest and most engaging evenings K&DLHG has experienced. Bob Briggs led a well-deserved vote of thanks.
Other Events
Southam Heritage Collection’s 2019 Christmas Exhibition at Southam. Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10.00 – 12.00. Ends Christmas Eve. Free
Tuesday 5th November. Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society From the Romans to Repton, holloways to hillforts: the archaeology of the National Trust, by Janine Young at Warwick Market Hall Museum. 7.00pm
Monday 11th November. Warwick Market Hall Museum. Europe After WWI, Simon Jarman OBE 6.00-800pm . Tkts £7.50 bookable online from the Museum webpage: http://heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/museum-service
Thursday 14th November. Banbury Historical Society, People, Time, Pace: the archaeology of HS2 by Dr Helen J Wass, 7.30pm Marlborough Road Methodist Church, Banbury.
Tuesday 19th November. Warwickshire Local History Society Madness in Warwickshire by Dr John Bland. 7.30pm Aylesford School and VI Form College, Tapper Way, Warwick CV34 6XR
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
KDLHG Committee Matters. There have been no committee meetings since the October Newsletter
Next committee meeting. The next meeting of the committee will be on 18th November at 7.30, at Catherine Petrie’s home.
DF 04.11.19
Peter’s local history essays, edited by our President Robert Bearman, have now been printed and members and friends are invited to the launch on October 4th at 7.30 in the Village Hall.
Our first evening talk after the summer break is on Friday 20th September entitled Shadows of the Past: WWII, to be given by Paul and Terry Gaunt, cousins of our Vice-Chairman Roger Gaunt, about the exploits of Roger’s uncle, Phillip “Tubby” Gaunt, as a WWII bomber pilot. Paul Gaunt has written a book about his father’s career, from training to a crash landing in Croatia. You will have to come on Friday to hear the end of that story …..
We were looking forward to visiting this World Heritage Site, a cradle of the industrial revolution, which includes Blists Hill Victorian Town, the iconic bridge itself and other historic industrial sites in Ironbridge Gorge, and it did not disappoint. The drizzle which greeted us at Blists Hill quickly evaporated, helped by a quick coffee and visits to the Bank, the grocers, the carpenters shop, the haberdashers (under 40s won’t know what that is!) and other nostalgic delights (eg fish and chips). A highlight for some was the steam locomotive, constructed to Trevithick’s 1802 designs by GKN Sankey apprentices in 1989, puffing up and down its short track, proving its practicality decades before Stephenson’s “Rocket”.
The shire horses also demonstrated that heavy haulage was still mainly horse powered. The extent of the 18th and 19th century enterprise here was clear from the ruins of the blast furnaces at the bottom of the town, and the sundry bits of iron machinery set up on the roadside, together with pigs and chickens to show that there was a domestic dimension to all this industry.
reminded a few of us of their own school days, although we had inkwells not slates. Various craftworkers demonstrated their skills such as woodcarving, and bread making. We moved on to see the iconic bridge, surprisingly high above the Severn, and now in a settlement whose existence is entirely due to its presence.
Ice cream was needed before our third and final stop at the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, re-opened in 2017, full of new exhibits explaining the development of ironworking and the history of the Coalbrookdale industrial complex. It is approached through an example of the wonderful brickwork achieved by Victorian engineers and builders – one of a series of skewed brick arches supporting a railway viaduct – although it proves an awkward access for today’s coaches. The museum’s objects and displays chart the increasing sophistication of ironworking technology, which was not always matched by a correspondingly sophisticated taste.
of “campa denu” – valley with cultivated fields – which had become a village by the time of the Domesday survey. The “chipping” – market – was added by Hugh de Gondeville in 1185, who also laid out the plan of the new town with regular burgage plots running back from the wide market street, still clearly visible in the town’s plan.
that survives are the banqueting houses and stables. The later 17th century was a period of construction, as evidenced by the many date stones proudly displayed on buildings, either newly built or added to in this period. 
The town’s later decline was arrested in the early 20th century by the revival of the arts and craft traditions, specifically CR Ashbee’s decision to move the Guild of Handicraft to Campden in 1902. The silversmithing operation set up by the Guild is still run by David Hart, 
the grandson of George Hart who joined Ashbee 1901. The workshop in Sheep Street is fascinating, with the traditional tools around the walls and on benches, and bunches of old invoices hanging from the ceiling like wasps nests (also made of paper!)
Our route
Pre Chipping Campden : Cotswold Stone, Chipping Camden 1
and Woolstaplers House
All sites have disabled access except for the upper floor of the Toll House near the bridge
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.
emphasise or comment on the action, like the diminishing status of the fanfares and flourishes introducing King Lear’s entrances as his own standing declined. And in the same play the healing property ascribed to string music is used to treat Lear after the battle scene. We still use the phrase “If music be the food of love…” The music and sound in a dramatic production must contribute to the director’s vision, although Ilona acknowledged that actually when writing she believes that the music is, obviously, the most important element of the production! Considerable ingenuity might be required, for instance to accommodate non-singing actors who have songs in their roles, or alternatively, to write new material for accomplished singers, while enhancing the purpose of the production. Ilona illustrated some of the innovative ways she has made sounds, particularly the “prepared piano” when objects are laid on the strings or the strings are abused in various ways to produce new sounds (a Wigmore Hall piano may still contain a steel ball-bearing lost in one such session!). Her own experience as a violinist sometimes influenced her solutions: using an unplugged electric violin to give a thin and tremulous tone in the film Solomon and Gaynor, or a re-tuned three-quarter violin, used by Tony Sher like a ukele as the fool in King Lear. Ilona left us wanting to know more as she tantalisingly skipped through a dozen or so fascinating-looking slides without comment, except that she was running out of time, perhaps appropriately for a talk with metronome in the title. Gill Ashley-Smith led the vote of thanks for Ilona’s insights into a successful professional career, pointing out how little, sometimes, one knows about familiar people in our own community.
The forthcoming K&DLHG meeting is on 15th February when our member Ilona Sekacz will give us a talk entitled The Pit and the Metronome: writing music for Shakespeare. Ilona will draw on over 35 years of experience writing music for the theatre, TV, public events and films, concentrating on her long association with the RSC and the changes she has seen (and heard), caused in part by technological advances. She will describe her experience of working with innovative directors and actors, and the role of music and sound in shaping their visions of Shakespeare’s dramas. Ilona has seen many changes, from composing with pencil on manuscript paper and cutting and splicing magnetic tape, to computers which access virtually endless resources and manipulations. We look forward to hearing, literally, how our local national theatre company has approached the use of music in Shakespeare productions.
Arc
remembered in Kineton not only through his last residence “Admiral’s House” in Bridge Street, but also his solemn funeral through Kineton in 1956. He saw action in the Royal Navy fairly continuously from the late 1880s, including in the Boer War, WWI, and in interwar duties around the Baltic, and then in WWII, in his 70s, with the commandos. We look forward to hearing from David more about our most illustrious military hero, whose banner still hangs in St Peter’s Church.
Camp. This had been a PoW camp during the war (Camp 31) and a stone has been found inscribed “2 PoW Camp 31 1943 Andernach” built into a local farmyard. George put the experience of some of the Polish fighters and their families in the aftermath of WWII into context. The pictures of the camp and the interiors of the nissen huts and temporary buildings vividly showed the way families made the most of the conditions. In the camps Polish national dress and language were fostered, and George demonstrated that he still spoke Polish. It was a surprise to hear that there is still a resettlement camp with inhabitants who have not intergrated into the British community. Peter Waters followed, with reminiscences of his family’s Chislehurst bookselling business dating back to the mid 19th century. After a brief genealogical survey Peter donned a variety of hats to enact a series of apparently real dialogues between customers and 
booksellers. These ranged from being asked to act as a creche, to being berated for not selling things other than books. I enjoyed the idea that signed copies of Shakespeare or even the Bible might be available. If only! Peter’s fine performance caught the absurdity of some bookshop conversations.
execute himself before he can execute anybody else. Bob gave us a moving rendition of “Tit willow, tit willow, tit willow”. Having reduced us to tears, he stiffened our sinews with The Yeoman of the Guard. Gilbert’s lyrics satirising the politics and mores of the late 19th century seemed strangely relevant to our contemporary situation, with many a sage head nodding as parliament, and peers of the realm, got the Gilbert treatment in Bob’s fine and individual account of the songs.