21/10/21 Presentation to David Hickman
We were back again at Stourbridge Town Hall on 21 October for another entertaining historical talk which also saw the return of former secretary David Hickman. As you will remember, after being secretary of the Society for 40 years, David has stepped down for health reasons. To mark his years of service the Society presented David with the gift of a book token and David attended the October meeting to say few words of thanks. David has long had an interest in history and architecture and has volumes of Pevsner’s guides to the buildings of England for local counties. However his collection lacked the volume on Herefordshire which he has now purchased with the Society’s token. We wish David a happy and healthy retirement from the secretary’s role, hope he gets the chance to view some of the buildings in his new volume in due course and very much hope to see him again in the audience for future meetings.
Followed by Dr.Gillian White
We had a hugely entertaining, illustrated talk from Dr Gillian White entitled “The Most Dissolute Man in London – The First Duke of Devonshire and the Building of Chatsworth”. Dr White’s talks are rather more of a dramatic presentation than an ordinary lecture and she certainly brought this colourful character to life. William Cavendish, who became the 1st Duke, certainly lived up to his description. As Dr White informed us, this hot tempered man, quick to draw his sword and challenge to duel was a notorious gambler and womaniser, so much so that Charles II even had to warn Nell Gwynn to steer clear of him. But Dr White told us how his reputation was salvaged by his political career as an opponent of royal authority and strong supporter of the Protestant religion. Cavendish was instrumental in bringing William of Orange to the English throne and was richly rewarded as a result. One legacy of this was the remodelling of the Elizabethan house and gardens at Chatsworth and their gradual development into the grand estate in Derbyshire that so many of us have visited today.
We had an attendance of 44, being 42 members and 2 visitors, down on September, although some apologies were given with some understandably wary of attending gatherings because of the virus, given the media coverage indicating that cases were increasing again. Here’s hoping the news about the virus is kinder all round by the time of our next events.
After the talk our President, Trevor Sidaway, again issued a plea for volunteers to take over the unfilled posts of speaker organiser, outings organiser and someone to keep the website up to date – – please do come forward. We are unlikely to be able to continue providing the full range of activities Society members have been been accustomed to with reduced number of committee members.
Our next event will be on Thursday 18 November at 7.30pm in the Wollaston Room at the Town Hall. Our guest speaker will be Paul Kilbride speaking about “The History of Old Swinford Hospital”.
Dorothea and Brian will be serving tea and coffee again at the November meeting and don’t forget to check your car in at Tesco if you are parking in their car park just in case we go over the two hour limit.
16/09/2021 Julian Hunt
If you were there on 16 September, you will know we had a hugely informative talk from Julian Hunt about Halesowen under the Abbots and the Lytteltons, with some fascinating glimpses of the town in the 1950s and 1960s before the major redevelopments of the town centre. Julian, who also reminisced about his schooldays in the town, was rather scathing about the good men and women who sat on the Halesowen Borough Council and approved the changes which meant the demolition of many old buildings but it was the sixties and we were experiencing Harold Wilson’s white heat of technology and modernity, so you can perhaps understand their reasoning. Julian also gave us the history of Halesowen Abbey going back to its founding in the 13th century at the time of King John, reminding us that it was as a result of the Abbey that Halesowen first became a borough, when the Abbot obtained permission to hold a market. Julian also entertained us with stories about the colourful characters of the Lyttleton family, who since the 16th century have been the owners of Hagley Hall.