The Bromsgrove Society - Pride, Preservation, Progress

Support for Three Local Charities

At the January meeting of the Bromsgrove Society Executive Team the members voted in favour of granting funds to three local charities.

The Bromsgrove Festival was awarded a grant of £1000 towards the operational costs of Bromsgrove’s vibrant festival which will run from Thursday 21st June to Sunday 22nd July in 2018. The Festival begins at Artrix with an opening concert and concludes in St John’s Church with the Orchestra of St John’s Festival of Music.

The second recipient is Avoncroft Museum, which will receive a £2500 grant to fund the restoration of a 1930s fireplace in the rebuilt nailor's cottage.

Thirdly, Hereford & Worcester County Scouts was awarded a grant of £1000 to help support preparations for eleven Scouts from the Bromsgrove District, aged 14 to 17, who have been selected to attend the World Scouting Jamboree in North America in 2019.

Worcestershire in WW1

The third episode of this fascinating series, developed by History West Midlands and the University of Worcester, looks at letters sent home from the front during the First World War to families and loved ones in Worcestershire.

Throughout the First World War men and women from Worcestershire exchanged thousands of letters, postcards and parcels every month. Their words offer often poignant insights into their daily lives; revealing their daily worries and fears, their yearnings for each other and the quiet fields of home as well as their dreams for the post-war world.

Watch the film

The Bromsgrove Summer School 2017

The Bromsgrove Summer School was held at Bromsgrove School 11-13 July. Over 100 students took part, several attending for all three days. All courses were held in Bromsgrove School’s Learning Resources Centre, those with the most students being accommodated in the Lecture Theatre, whilst those with fewer students used one of the newly-refurbished teaching rooms in the same building. In the foyer, John Weston laid out five tables of books on Bromsgrove and district and did a brisk trade.

The Bromsgrove Lecture 2017

The 2017 Bromsgrove Lecture was given by Rob Hedge, Community Project Officer at Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, on Tuesday, 11th April at The Memorial Chapel, Bromsgrove School. The title was Beneath Your Feet, Behind the Façade: Bromsgrove's Archaeological Heritage.

A full report of the Lecture will be posted here shortly.

Rob is pictured opposite at the Annual Lecture with (from left to right): Bromsgrove Society Vice-Chairs Jo Slade and Chris Nesbitt, President John Weston, and Chair Pat Tansell.

Rob has a blog: https://incurablearchaeologist.wordpress.com/ and is on Twitter @robhedge.

Plaques unveiled at Bromsgrove Station

The Bromsgrove Society, together with the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, has sponsored plaques to commemorate the lives and achievements of the renowned engineers James Edward McConnell and William Scarth Moorsom. The plaques were unveiled at a ceremony at Bromsgrove Railway Station on Friday 11th November 2016.

Click below to see more pictures from the event.

AGM 2016

The Bromsgrove Society held its Annual General Meeting on 6th July 2016 at Avoncroft Museum when the retiring officers presented their reports for the year.

John Rowlands, the retiring Treasurer, was thanked by the President John Weston and presented with a gift to mark his exemplary work for the Society over a period of 17 years (shown left), which made John the longest serving officer in the Society’s history.

The meeting then looked to the future and elected a new group of officers to serve for the coming year. Pat Tansell, the Vice Chairman, was elected as Chairman; both Chris Nesbit, the current Secretary and Jo Slade are to be Vice Chairmen. Also a new Treasurer, Richard Aust, was placed in office. The Executive Committee was re-elected.