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.
In the hope and expectation that public meetings in some form or other will be possible in the Autumn, four talks have been scheduled as follows.
| Month | Date | Speaker | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | 8th | Dr. Richard Irving | History of Combe Down mines |
| October | 13th | Dr. Roger Ransome | Horseshoe bat population of the Combe Down mines |
| November | 10th | Dr. Roger Rolls | History of infectious diseases in Bath |
| December | 8th | Michael Howard-Kyan | Riding Africa |
PLEASE WATCH FOR ANY CHANGES DUE TO COVID PANDEMIC
This year’s Annual General Meeting was held successfully online for the first time, using Zoom. It took place at 7.30 p.m. on Friday 16 April.
It was attended by (at least) 23 people, although many kept their video feeds turned off (at our request) so the actual total number of members present may have been larger.
The minutes of the meeting are available here.