Community, Parish Council & Village
Transport of DelightTransport of Delight is the Local History Group’s first topic of 2019; Alan Skinner will give an illustrated talk about Colchester Buses Century of Service. (Possible spoiler alert below).
The talk takes place at 7:30 pm on 9th January in the Orpen Hall. Entry from 7 pm and only £2 for members, £4 for visitors.
In West Bergholt, the “bus” service operated from 1904 by Mr Darvill using Continue reading “Transport of Delight”
Over 150 people from the village gathered on the evening of 11th November to play their part in a nationwide “Battle’s Over” commemoration. This nationwide event was marking the ending of the 1st World War 100 years ago.
The commemoration saw a common theme being played out in urban and rural areas, towns, villages and cities. Collectively a 1000 buglers were sounding the Last Post, over 1000 beacons of light being ignited; a similar number of Cathedral and Church bells also rung out. Continue reading “Battle’s Over – West Bergholt’s Tribute to the Millions”
Colchester & the ArmisticeAndrew Phillips, a local historian and author, will talk about Colchester & the Armistice in delivering the Annual Bernard Colbron Lecture. Organised by the West Bergholt Local History Group, the talk takes place at 7:30 pm on 14th November in the Orpen Hall. Entry from 7 pm and only £2 for members, £4 for visitors.
With the centenary of the end of the Great War occurring on November 11th 2018, this talk is very appropriate as it follows Continue reading “Colchester & the Armistice”
History of Spoken English“History of Spoken English” was the topic of discussion at the Local History Group’s last meeting on 10th October. An audience of over 40 members and visitors were fascinated by Charlie Haylock’s story of English Language.
Tribal influencesThis proved to be a fascinatingly informative as well as a very entertaining talk. Charlie took us back to post Roman times of the 6th and 7th centuries when the various “tribes” of Europe existed. He talked about their influx and influence on our alphabet and the structure of English. His use of a traditional flip chart and coloured pens enabled him to show us clearly the development of his story.
Abundance of VowelsThe progression from 18 vowels to 6 and then to 5 when Y later became a consonant was intriguing. It was particularly interesting to hear about the impact of the invasion of Scandinavians and the fact that Danelaw removed the use of male and female versions of words well prior to the 1066 invasion by Willian the Conqueror. William himself came from Normandy area of France (Norseman – Viking) and their language had Germanic as well as Scandinavian influence. In practice, the Normans had little subsequent influence on the development of standard English.
OUGH?Charlie highlighted the “OUGH” combination of letters provoking some interesting discussion. The publishing of the King James Bible was a significant influence on the structure and style of English as we know it today. Charlie is a master of speaking in different English dialects and entertained with these throughout with his fascinating stories.
In a Manner of SpeakingEveryone was stimulated by Charlie’s presentation, but I am not sure many of us could remember the details! However, Charlie had that covered because he had brought along some copies of a book entitled “In a Manner of Speaking – The Story of the English Language” which he has jointly authored with Barrie Appleby. As well as a few individual purchases, the Group bought a copy for the WBLHG library which will be available for members to borrow.
The next History Group meeting on the 14th November will be the second Bernard Colbron Lecture. It will feature local historian Andrew Phillips who will discuss “Colchester and the Armistice”. Andrew has written a few books that can be found online. The group will publish further details shortly. All are most welcome.