Summer Programme 2011
Welcome to another Summer Programme, which we hope you will support and enjoy. Our success as a Society has brought us problems as we have difficulties getting all our members to the visits, we have discussed this situation at length and return to the option of 'first come first served'. Visits with restricted numbers will require a reply slip to be completed and returned. Where payment is required in advance please submit individual cheques for each event. If you wish to receive confirmation that you have been allocated a place please enclose a stamped addressed envelope for your reply. If you wish to join us, book your place early.
Some events have a charge to cover the cost of guides, admission etc. Friends and non-members are always welcome where room allows but we do have a surcharge of £1 for them. It would help our treasurer if members were responsible for collecting this fee from their guests.
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If Interested
Contact: Christine Silvester tel. 01905 354 679 |
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Meet at
6pm
at Pheasant
Street
entrance,
Worcester
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Meet before 8.45am [to collect group tickets] at Shrub Hill Station for the 9’oclock train to Oxford – due to arrive about 10.30am There are a myriad of opportunities in Oxford, from the recently acclaimed revamp and extension to the Ashmolean Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum, the Town Museum or Botanic Gardens.
For those that wish, a guided walk by Mike H will cover some of the
industrial heritage remains, aspects of the former Midlands Railway station,
the canal and its former basins and buildings, the last working boatyard on
the Oxford canal [if it is still there and not yet housing] the former
Lucy’s metal works in Jericho [mostly housing], then the sites of the Saxon
wall finishing at the Norman Castle, which now includes the very interesting
Oxford Prison ‘story’ museum, which also gives [entrance cost not included]
the paying public access to a medieval castle wall tower and its roof views,
as well as access to the Norman mott. There is a cafe beside the ticket
office and an Italian restaurant adjacent to the hotel entrance. The hotel
is the conversion of the prison, which sound very interesting to see, but
unfortunately not open to the general [non-resident] public |
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It is some years since the society has arranged a group visit to this local industrial museum; a lot has changed! We will be met for a short introduction, opportunity for coffee in the cafe and, for those that wish, the coal mine ‘underground experience’. In the afternoon at about 2:30pm (confirmed on arrival) we will have a short 45min canal trip into the Dudley mine caverns with the Dudley Canal Trusts’ electric narrow boats. There are several opportunities for lunch; apart from the entrance cafe there is the Canalside Cafe, the Fish & Chip Shop [recent] and the Bottle & Glass Inn. The bakery has cakes for sale! Recent new exhibits include; Gentlemen’s outfitters, Workers Institute, Black Country Motor Company Ltd, Broome’s Garage, plus the Newcomen steam engine, nailmaking, brass foundry, working horses, lime kilns, village crafts, rural cottages, the High Street and canal boat displays.
We shall leave at 4.45pm |
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40th
Anniversary Dinner for the Society
at Boughton
Golf Club] |
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We
are given an introductory talk on the history of the theatre followed by a
backstage visit. |
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Worcester University City Campus The number of places are not limited but please let Christine [01905 345679] know if you are intending to go. |
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The number of
places are not limited but please let Christine [01905
345679] know if you are intending to go to arrange lift and meeting
place, probably the Bull car park. |
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One of Brian’s unique style journeys into Wales to visit the feeder reservoirs, dam and route of the Elan Aqueduct. We stop in Hereford to get coffee/toilets/visit cathedral, etc. We follow the Wye Valley to Hay-on-Wye for a lunch stop (There are plenty of eateries in the town plus 35 second hand bookshops!). After lunch we will head for Rhayader and do a circuit of the reservoirs. We may be able get a tour into Pen-y-garreg dam [extra charge], but this is subject to their operational requirements. After a tour of the dams we will return to Rhayader for tea/toilet stop before returning home.
We should be back in Worcester just after
7pm. |
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The number of places are not limited but please let
Christine [01905 345679] know if you are intending to go to arrange
lift and meeting place, probably |
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Peopleton [grid ref: 938,504] church at 3.30pm Mike Wall will give his usual introduction to the glories of these two churches on arrival. There will be guide books available in each church [£2.50-£3] by Mike Wall.
The £3 collection will be taken on arrival
at Peopleton, to be apportioned to both churches. After Mike Wall’s talk on
Peopleton refreshments will be available in the church. |
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The museum opens at 10am, as does its cafe. The former pewter gallery has been closed but a member of the museum staff will meet us at the café at 10.30am [i.e. arrive earlier if you wish to have a coffee] and guide us on a demonstration of the pewtering process. This will be followed by a walk around Bewdley and Wribbenhall identifying the premises and extent of the trade’s influence on Bewdley. We will finish at lunchtime back at the museum. The
£3 collection will be taken on arrival and is to cover contributions to the
guides and the demonstration [the museum itself is local authority and has
free entry]. |
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Rendezvous at
2pm
in Ombersley on road in from Worcester [OS ref 845,635], on west side [going
north, before the first house on the left]. The quarry is cut into triassic sandstone of 250 million years age, formed when England was near the equator. The stone is a very good building stone, being whitish grey rather than the red sandsone which occurs further north. The quarry is on the fault line between the Keuper marl and Keuper sandstone which tends to follow Hadley brook. The quarry lasted till the end of the nineteenth century, and the method of extraction is clearly shown where they stopped working. Little documented records survive but it is thought that the quarry was worked in the 1600's. Stone was used in the restoration of the cathedral, and in the building of St Stephens church Worcester and St Nicholas church Droitwich. The quarry is now one of the 'champions sites' identified by the Earth Heritage Trust based at the University of Worcester. Tea will be provided afterwards in the house [former manager’s], by the owners. Places are limited on this date but additional dates can be arranged if required.
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Malcolm will lead a morning walk around the town centre, with a break soon after we arrive for a coffee/comfort stop. The route will start by the bus station, then head down Bird Street, once known for its coaching inns (on the London Road), now pedestrianised and the street of cafes! We will finish before lunch in the market square [it is market day!] and adjacent to the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum [free but too small to take a group into] and the Lichfield Heritage Centre in the town church St. Mary’s. After finding lunch, Malcolm will take those that wish on a short guided walk on to and around the Cathedral Close. Backing onto the close is the Erasmus Darwin House (museum), member of the Lunar society (with Johnson) and grandfather of Charles Darwin (own exhibits here as well). As an alternative, at 2.15pm the coach driver will take those that request it to the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, just 5 miles north of Litchfield, with time for tea (good cafe). The coach will leave Alrewas at 4.15pm and Lichfield at 4.45pm
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This is a private house and garden and there is to be no parking at the property. There is no safe parking directly outside the property and the best option is a lay-by on the way down to the river bridge or around the Village Green and pub. The mill is on the Village side of the Avon with Cropthorne Mill at the opposite end of the weir. Although there has been a mill ascribed to Fladbury since Doomsday this building is C17th and C18th, built as a flour mill, converted in 1888 to an electricity generator as a private.
There is much to see here, including the garden if the weather is fine, but
the machinery is in a more confined space, restored and maintained by the
owner. He will explain the operation to small groups at a time. His
researched history leaflet will be available [for about £2]. Tea/coffee |
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The number of places are not
limited but please let Christine [01905 345679] know if you
are intending to go to arrange lift. Meet by the church lychgate, parking
along road. |
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The cafe will open early to serve coffee, with time to look around the museum. At 11.30am we board the 1960’s D9 Midland Red heading for Avoncroft Museum of Buildings, where we stop for lunch. Cost includes entrance to the museum. The Edwardian Cafe serves a selection of meals. You can also order from set menu [£6 each] in the 1st floor function room (see order form). We depart about 2pm for Worcester via the A38. It is hoped to make a short photo stop at Foregate St. Station before returning to Wythall by 5pm.
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Mike
Wall will give his usual introduction to this fascinating church. The £3
collection will be taken on arrival. After Mike Wall’s talk and time to look
around we intend to have tea locally, possibly at the village hall but
currently it is under renovation so may not be completed in time. |
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This booking is now closed and full, and with a waiting list, but contact
Roger if you wish to go on the reserve list. |
PLEASE NOTE - ALL REPLY SLIPS MUST BE RETURNED TO: -
MIKE HAYZELDEN, 38, Beckett Road, Northwick, Worcester, WR3 7NH
ALL ENQUIRIES PLEASE PHONE CHRISTINE SILVESTER ON 01905 354679