Bank Notes 26th October

Bob Welch writes

In his talk which was both informative and amusing Chis Leather told us of the German Nazi Government's plan to try and destabilize the British economy by forging and then releasing millions of pounds worth of British Bank Notes.He explained in detail how they went about organising this, how they recruited people with the relevant skills, including criminal forgers from prisons. He explained the lengths that they had to go to to get the right sort of paper, ink etc. It was not an easy job but in they end they succeeded and many millions of notes were released, manly for the purchase of gold, jewels etc of for payments of bribes to agents and contacts in other countries. By the end of the War most of the participants managed to escape from Nazi control and went on with their lives as before the War. One Officer was executed for War Crimes but the last actual forger didn't die until January 2017. Chris had with him examples of the forged notes which were interesting in themselves. A good talk.

Cheshire Landowners 28th September

Our Chairman Doug Haynes started our new season by giving the first talk on 'Cheshire Landowners through the ages'.

Anderton Lift Boat trip 22nd June

Some 18 members visited a local feat of Victorian engineering, the Anderton Boat Lift. (Lift website) This lift built in 1875, but recently restored, allowed laden canal boats to be moved to and from the River Weaver below and the Trent and Mersey canal above. The river gave good access to the Mersey and Liverpool; the canal gave good access to the Cheshire salt towns and the Potteries. The feedback from members was that this was a very successful and enjoyable outing with lunch, then a river cruise to Northwich, and finally a ride up the lift itself at the end.

 

Pictures Cathy Peel and Paul Bujac

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).