History of the Longbow Thursday 25 April

The last talk of the season will be 'History of the Longbow' by Bernard Dennis.

Tiverton Village Hall 7:30. All welcome.

A scholarly account

Roger Wickson captivated the Society last Thursday with a scholarly account of the Fourth Crusade. Roger told a tale of human endeavour and failings, commercial rivalry, religious fervour, intrigue and bad luck. This was a tale of how crusader knights started out to recover the Holy Land for Christianity and ended up sacking Christian Constantinople.

Roger produced a handout giving more details and references; see Handout
For those wishing to find out more, see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Crusade

The fall of Constantinople and the link to modern times Thursday 28 March

This week's talk will be given by Roger Wickson.
Usual place: Tiverton Village Hall. Usual time 7:30 pm.
All welcome. Let's hope the snow doesn't return.

An Olympic Journey

On Thursday, David Cummings shared his enthusiasm for sport and the Olympics. Backed by a kaleidoscope of slides, David traced the history of the Olympic movement from ancient Greece, through the Victorian initiatives in Much Wenlock, through the modern revival in Athens in 1896, to London 2012. David's talk contrasted the ruins of the original site in Olympia with the spectacle of London's Olympics and Paralympics.

For those wishing to learn more about the Olympics, follow the link to Wikipedia.

The Olympics Ancient to Modern via Much Wenlock Thursday 28 February.

David Cummings Chairman of Christleton Local History Group explores the history of the Olympic Movement from the first games at Olympia & Delphi in Ancient Greece, to the modern Olympic Games inspired by the work of Dr William Penny Brookes a G.P. at Much Wenlock, Shropshire in the 1850's. The modern International Olympic Movement was formed by Baron Pierre de Coubertain after a visit to Wenlock in 1890, and during his talk we visit Athens and the site of the first modern Games in 1896. He then brings the story up to date with pictures and accounts of many of the sports and venues from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including the main Olympic Park at Stratford.

Usual time and place - 7:30 pm at the Tiverton Village Hall. All are welcome.

A story well told

Those of us who braved the ice on Thursday had a rare treat. We were entertained by a story teller, Idris Evans. Shunning the modern trappings of laptop, projector and software, the only artefacts Idris used to illustrate his talk were a 1787 Anglesey penny and a pair of cow shoes. But what a picture he painted of the art of droving cattle from North Wales to London; an art that developed from about 800 AD to the arrival of the railways in the mid 1800s.

Idris took us from Anglesey, on a journey across the Menai Straits, through the Vale of Clwyd and on to the outskirts of London, in the company of cattle, pigs and geese. This was a journey peppered with stories of armed riders, highwaymen, cock-fighting, promissory notes, Welsh émigrés and much more beside.

The interest in the talk was high-lighted by the brisk sale of Idris' book 'Hard Road to London'. For those who missed the talk, borrow a copy from another member. For a brief glimpse of Idris follow the link to a BBC programme clip http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010frsp

The Drovers' Road Thursday 24 January

The next talk is by Welsh author Idris Evans. 

His talk is based on his book 'Hard Road To London'. This is a story of the cattle drovers who walked their animals over three hundred miles to the markets in London. A trade that had gone on for over one thousand years but it was through discovering coins with a metal detector that he discovered a world that had been forgotten.
This led to a feature on Country File with Adam Henson and a series on BBC 2 called 'British Foods'




Usual time and place - 7:30 pm at the Tiverton Village Hall. All are welcome.