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On Wed 8th November, Dr Roger Rolls will be speaking on Eighteenth-Century Life in the Bath General Hospital – a Virtual Tour.
This public hospital, later known the Royal Mineral Water Hospital, offered care for “poor persons from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland who are suffering from complaints for which the Bath Mineral Waters are a remedy”. All this some 200 years before the welfare state!
This talk is in Combe Down Primary School hall; the entrance is on Summer Lane, BA2 5JX. The doors are open from 7 p.m. and the talk starts, as usual, at 7.30pm. CDHS Members £1, Visitors £3. All tickets on the door.
All talks are held at the Combe Down Primary School Hall in Summer Lane, BA2 5JX. Events start at 7.30pm. CDHS Members £1, Visitors £3. All tickets on the door.
| Month | Date | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | 13th | Sally Theresa Helvey | Cleveland Pools – the oldest outdoor public swimming pool in the UK. |
| October | 11th | Jonathan Main | The History of Combe Grove |
| November | 8th | Dr Roger Rolls | Eighteenth Century life in the Bath General Hospital – a virtual tour |
| December | 13th | – | Christmas quiz and Wassail |
We will be conducting a guided walk to see the WW2 Anti-Invasion Defences at Hog Wood, Hinton Charterhouse. This will take place on 9 August.
In 1940, construction of massive defensive works was initiated across the country to hinder the anticipated Nazi attack. Hog Wood has one of the most complete sections of anti-tank ditch, slit trenches and pillbox remains still existing.
The walk is flat over about 2 miles and will take about 2 hours. Wear footwear suitable for rough footpaths, and wear or bring clothing according to the weather forecast.
We will meet on Wednesday 9th August at 2pm at Freshford Football Club, opposite the entrance to Homewood Hotel on Abbey Lane, Freshford BA2 7TB. No pre-booking required – just turn up (and bring a friend if you wish!). Parking available in the Club car park. Please contact events@combedownheritage.org.uk if you need a lift.
Price £5 per person, cash on the day.
Your Society’s committee contains a veritable wealth of talent! One of our members, Dave Bishop, has been inspired by Colin Maggs’ talk in September to pen a poem celebrating the famous rail route, the “Pines Express”. He writes:
The origin of the poem is born out of my passion for local railways, esp. the Somerset & Dorset.
My father was very keen on steam trains, and would take me down to Midford station where we were quite often invited up into the signal box.
The recent talk by Colin Maggs plus the commemoration of the Last Pines in the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust’s recent magazine inspired me to start putting the words together. I have tried to do the Bath area justice with a line-by-line description of a southbound summer holiday express trip.
Dave’s poem is to be found as one of the items on the Combe Down top menu.
On Wednesday the 9th November, we have the next in our regular talk series: Pyronaut and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant. This depiction of the historic boats in Bristol Harbour will be given by Clive Brain of the M Shed, Bristol.
The talk will be in Combe Down Primary School hall as usual, whose entrance is on Summer Lane, BA2 5JX. The talk starts at 7.30pm; doors open at 7pm. CDHS Members £1, Visitors £3. All tickets on the door.
On Saturday 4 June, Firs Field will be transformed for Combe Down’s celebration of Her Majesty’s 70 years on the British throne. Your heritage society will be there too! come rain or shine. Please drop in and visit us under the shelter of the green gazebo (you can’t miss it!).
There will be a fascinating display of photographs from Combe Down’s past, and an opportunity to enter our new Cookery Competition!
All talks are held at the Combe Down Primary School Hall in Summer Lane, BA2 5JX. Events start at 7.30pm. CDHS Members £1, Visitors £3. All tickets on the door.
| Month | Date | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | 6th | Courtney Fleming (chair) | Panel Discussion to mark World Heritage 50th Anniversary, with Prof Barry Gilbertson, Sarah, Simmonds and Paul Simmons |
| May | 11th | CDHS Annual General Meeting (to immediately precede the talk) | |
| May | 11th | Dan Merrett | Rare Flora and Fauna on Bath Skyline |
| June | 8th | Trevor Osborne | Building Development on Heritage Sites |
| September | 14th | Colin Maggs | Steam Trains: the Pines Express |
Monday 8 November saw a webinar on local wartime history. This fascinating evening brought two stories of how America’s racial relations and civil rights movement came to the West Country during the Second World War. Although not organised by CDHS, we are sure that these talks will be of interest to our members.
To begin, Professor Mary Louise Roberts from the University of Wisconsin, USA, related the amazing story of Leroy Henry, an African-American soldier who was saved from a hanging after an incident in Combe Down.
This was followed by Kate Werran, who talked about the dramatic ‘wild west’ shoot-out that took place in Launceston, Cornwall between black American GIs and military police.
Thanks to Tanya Parker of the South West TUC, we can now post the recording of these two talks on our website.
More details of the Leroy Henry case can be found on the website of Robert Walsh, a freelance writer based in Cornwall.
On May 6th this year, Dick Irving gave a talk via Zoom to the Chepstow Archaeological Society: “A Brief History of the Stone Mines and Quarries at Combe Down, near Bath”. Thanks to Colin Harris, the Chairman of that society, and to Miranda Litchfield, Chief Executive of our sister organisation the Museum of Bath Stone, we can now make this available here on our own website.
The talk proper begins at 1:50 and lasts until 59:00, after which there are questions.