Tag: history

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St Mary’s – Royal Arms, Havard and Art

Bluebells Pre-School contributions to the Exhibition

Bluebells Pre-School contributions to the Exhibition

St Mary’s – Royal Arms, Havard and Art

Peter Noakes’ recent talk about St Mary’s Through Time, focussing on the Royal Arms and Rev Havard, was very well supported. (Read more below). Progress in setting up the Art Exhibition is well underway but more works would be much appreciated.  The Friends of St Mary’s report as follows:

Art In The Old Church

The Friends have had a lot of interest in their forthcoming art exhibition.  This takes place over the weekend of 15th-16th June but so far only about 20 people have submitted forms.  They welcome budding Continue reading “St Mary’s – Royal Arms, Havard and Art”

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St Mary’s Through Time

The talk on St Mary's Through Time will discuss the interior of St Mary's featuring the Royal Coat of Arms that will be a subject in
The Royal Coat of Arms

St Mary’s Through Time

Local Historian Peter Noakes will be talking about St Mary’s Through Time on Saturday 18th of May.  He will answer puzzles such as:

  • who was the Rector at St Mary’s for an amazing 48 years, and
  • why is there a Royal Coat of Arms on the wall?

The talk, which is being held in the Old Church, will start at 2:30 pm.  Entry is free and accompanied Continue reading “St Mary’s Through Time”

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Mapping our History – Literally

Mapping our History

Peter Noakes, a local historian & Chairman of the Local History Group, shares his first thoughts on using a new mapping tool offered by the National Library of Scotland (yes you read that right, Scotland), to explore West Bergholt.  Also, a quick reminder about a talk Peter will give on 18th May.

Peter’s Thoughts

First of all, thanks to Tom Stevenson for finding this very useful website.  You can use it to access Continue reading “Mapping our History – Literally”

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Buses, Hospitals, Working Life and an AGM

Buses, Hospitals, Working Life and an AGM

This has been, and is, the schedule of the Local History Group.  Buses in January, Military Hospital in February and now AGM and Working Life on March 13th.  First, a brief heads up on the first two, very good, talks:

Colchester bus circa 1960Transport of Delight

The was the first meeting of the New Year with Alan Skinner talking about Colchester Buses – a century of service. Alan stated that he was no expert on the subject of local transport, but he certainly was very knowledgeable about the history of the buses in Colchester and the surrounding villages; he gave a well-illustrated presentation and welcomed additional information from audience members. This was Alan’s second visit to the history group his first subject was the history of “Greyfriars”.

Military Hospital

In February Paul Byrne spoke about the history and origins of the Military Hospital in Colchester.  He explained how it developed to play a major role in helping soldiers from the Boer War and later WW1 men with mental illness now recognised as PTSD. The hospital was also used for civilian patients’ in later years when the Essex County Hospital was no longer large enough to cater for the growing population. An interesting insight into the part that Colchester played over the years helping all military personnel.

Working life in various forms, agricultural, industrial and clerical.AGM

The Local History Group’s AGM starts at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 13th March in the Orpen Hall.

Peter Jones will introduce some archive films about Working Life after the AGM.

Members are asked to get in contact if they are willing to stand for the committee or help with refreshments.  Subscriptions for 2019/20 are now due – great value at just £10.

For further information please contact Gill Poole on 01206 240512 or email [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”].

 

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Transport of Delight

Transport to Delight?

Early BusTransport to Delight?Transport of Delight

Transport 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”

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Four Footpaths Named in Honour of the Fallen

Rhys Lloyd at Memorial Way
Rhys Lloyd, whose idea it was, at Memorial Way

Four Footpaths Named in Honour of the Fallen

The Local History Group is proud to announce that, after 6 months of discussion and planning, four footpaths have been named with a ‘Memorial’ sign at each end of the paths.  Each of the signs includes the word MEMORIAL.  They mark the commemoration of the centenary of the end of the Great War; in particular the fact that over 170 villagers joined the British Forces of which at least 27 made the ultimate sacrifice. Continue reading “Four Footpaths Named in Honour of the Fallen”

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Colchester & the Armistice

Colchester celebrating the WW1 Armistice

Colchester celebrating the WW1 ArmisticeColchester & the Armistice

Andrew 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”

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History of Spoken English

Charlie HaylockHistory 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 influencesTribal influences

This 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.

Progression of vowelsAbundance of Vowels

The 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.

OUGHOUGH?

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.

Book cover "In a manner of speaking - the story of spoken english"In a Manner of Speaking

Everyone 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.

Next Meeting

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.

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