AGM 25th May

The Society held its AGM on 25th May. Bob Welch was in the chair and some 18 other members attended. Formal minutes will be published later but the main points to note include:

• Anita Langford (Treasurer) noted that income comfortably exceeded expenditure and the Society had some £2015 in the bank account
• Therefore it was decided to hold the membership fee at £10
• Anita is stepping down as Treasurer as she is taking over the treasurer's role for the Tarporley and District U3A. Bob thanked her for all her hard work over the past 2/3 years.
• Unfortunately there had been no volunteers for this treasurer vacancy, so the following were proposed and elected for the committee:
  Doug Haynes Chair
  Bob Welch Treasurer
  Paul Bujac Secretary
• A full programme has been arranged for next year. Thanks to Trish Welch for all her work. (Trish is also standing down).
• The summer outing will be to the Anderton Boat Lift on 22nd June.

The Liverpool Cow Keepers 27th April

David Joy gave us a personal view of a side of life which has now disappeared. He told us about the dairy business in Liverpool, that started in the days before refrigeration, when families kept small herds of cows within the city to provide fresh milk to the local growing population. These family businesses not only looked after the cows but also run the local milk rounds up until the middle of the last century when the large national dairy companies took over. David was a member of one of those family dairies and, through his talks and books, he is keen to keep that history alive. He has a website http://www.davejoy-author.com/ that shows his passion and interest for this past way of life.

The Mersey Gateway project 23rd March

This talk was more about history in the making, rather than past history, when Barrie Davidson, a volunteer with the Mersey Gateway Project told us about the new Mersey bridge. Construction on this bridge, linking Widnes and Runcorn, started in 2014 with completion planned for this autumn. It is a major project with the challenges both of building the bridge structure and of constructing and modifying all the approach roads. More details can be found on http://www.merseygateway.co.uk/

Doris spoils the night 23 February

Storm Doris hit the local area in the afternoon, uprooting trees and taking out the power locally. With no electricity in Tiverton, we unfortunately had to cancel the meeting (Caroline Hamilton's talk on the Hammond School).

The London to Holyhead Mail Coach Route 26th January

Attendance was very good on a cold January night. Bob Welch notes:

During a very entertaining Talk given by David Waller of the Northop Heritage Group he explained how the very earliest "Mail" system started during the reign of Henry V111 to take official documents to various parts of England and Wales over a number of dedicated routes including the London Holyhead route which travelled through Tarporley and Chester on its way to the port of Holyhead. Various Postmasters were appointed a stages along the route who had to supply the horses for the Royal Messenger and a Postboy to show him the way and return the horses from the next staging post. The Post Masters were often Innkeepers. By the time of Charles 1 demand was such from the public that the service was made available to all, or at least those who could afford to pay.

In 1720, one Ralph Allen from Bath saw an opportunity and with the help (influence and money) from his father-in-law set up a nationwide postal service carrying the mail on behalf of the Post Office. He had a very lucrative contract for doing this and by the time of his death in 1764 had made a lot of money.

The next stage of development came with John Palmer, also from Bath, who persuaded the then Chancellor William Pitt that it would be a good idea to carry the Mail by stagecoach. Safer also as the Postboys were always at risk of attack. Although the Post Office were against the idea, Palmer went ahead on his own and developed a network of routes to carry the Mail by specially designed coaches. The London Holyhead route was one such. In 1785 the Post agreed to take over the running of the service. Each Mail coach had priority on the route, paid no Turnpike dues and the Mail was protected by an armed Royal Mail Guard. Mail Coaches left the Swan with Two Necks Inn in London promptly at 8.00pm every evening and arrived at Holyhead 45.5 hours later. Nantwich and Tarporley were stopping points for the team of four horses to be changed as was Chester but there the stop included a meal break. Over time the route was changed to miss out the dangerous crossing of the River Conway and the mountainous North Wales coast to an easier one via Shrewsbury thus the Mail coaches no longer came through Cheshire. It also shortened the journey to about 25 hours.

By the 1840s the Railways had been built and the horsedrawn Mail Coaches were consigned to history.

Christmas meeting 23rd December

As our meeting was so close to Christmas, we had decided not to invite a speaker. Members were however asked to bring an object that was perhaps common place when they were young but perhaps not seen now. It all went surprisingly well with a diverse range of objects from household and farm utensils to treasured family items, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. It was a bit a fun rounded off with a festive quiz from Bob and Trish followed by mince pies, stollen and some excellent millionaire's shortcake.

Sir Thomas Egerton 24th November

Bernard Dennis certainly tells a good story. And what a story he had to tell. Sir Thomas Egerton, born a few miles from Tarporley in Doddleston, was the 'local boy made good'. Born in relatively humble circumstances, Thomas rose to some of the highest posts in the land. including Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and Lord Chancellor. He served both Queen Elizabeth and King James in a time of significant changes. A fascinating man.