VISITS: We have had a very active programme of visits by coach this summer that included, Birmingham's Barber Institute and Bournville, Bletchley Park, Kelmscott Manor, Buscot Park and Boscobel House. The most recent was on Saturday, 21st October to Tetbury and the National Arboretum at Westonbirt. We had a party of 29 of our members led by ex Chairman,
Dudley Brook and spent a very interesting day visiting Tetbury in the morning and Westonbirt Arboretum in the afternoon.
We were most fortunate with the weather and were able to take full advantage of the historic buildings and shops in Tetbury. A special treat was the visit to the Georgian Parish Church which was being decorated in preparation for a 250th Commemoration Weekend of a Concert on the Saturday evening and a visit by the Bishop of Gloucester on the Sunday. Even the mediaeval altar silver was in place.
After lunch we went to the Arboretum and were taken round the woods by Dudley who described the many varieties and some of the idiosyncrasies of tree lore. We were only half way round when we ran out of time. On our return journey we drove through a torrential rainstorm and were able to reflect on our good fortune!
TALKS: Our programme of talks has been equally varied beginning with our President informing us about one of England's neglected heroes, Admiral Benbow and including the visit of Mary Stopes-Roe, the daughter of Barnes Wallis. Two outstanding talks were those given by Maureen Harrison on the Barber Institute's Art Collection and that by Mark Baldwin on Enigma and the Codebreakers. Quite frankly they were all very good including the surprise visit of Ian Rowat, our very able and energetic Director of the Malvern Hills Conservators. Our two most recent speakers have had a distinctly literary flavour. First, there was Linda Hart giving us a mouth watering account of the Dymock poets and the wonderful countryside that we have the good fortune to share with their memory.
While on November 10th along came Michael Hall to tell us about Birmingham born writer Francis Brett Young and his long love affair with Worcestershire. Altogether, a superb programme organized by our Activities Sub-Committee.
TRAIN FOR MALVERN HILLS? The Malvern Hills Conservators have drafted a consultation document designed to assist in drawing up a strategy for managing the hills and commons over the next ten years. (See our Spring Newsletter) Included in the proposals was the idea of having a tractor type train with carriages able to take visitors from Great Malvern up to St Ann's Well and possibly beyond. This idea has met with a very mixed reaction ranging from outright rejection to at best a cautious welcome on the grounds that it would assist the infirm or elderly. So you can imagine that we were interested to see a similar train of sorts at Balmoral earlier this year.
Tractor Train at Balmoral
We took a ride at the end of our visit and got well and truly drenched. As the rain slanted in under the roof canopy, I had time to reflect that had we been walking we would at least have been able to seek shelter!