At our Christmas Coffee Morning we held our annual charity auction, the members present voted on which charity we should support with any money raised and as it was close to Christmas it seemed appropriate to nominate the Salvation Army. On Christmas Eve, Diane, Trevor and myself paid a visit to Cannock Citadel and met Lydia Bartlett who was a captain within the organisation, we spent some time talking about the movement and duly presented her with a cheque for £200, naturally she thanked us on behalf of the Salvation Army, and we was happy to know it was going to be used in the local area, so thanks to all who came to the Christmas party and donated to a worthy cause.

We had a great morning on the 19th December..

Mince pies and cakes were handed round, together with either sherry, prosecco, tea or coffee.

Fred and Alf, once again, dressed up for the occasion. Tony did a great job getting money out of us poor pensioners.

Once again we must put out a plea for stories for the magazine. How did you come to live on the village? Have your family always lived in this area?

Our new book ‘History in the Making’ is now on sale price £10. A good read for these dark and dismal days.

A short message from our leader!

A JOB WELL DONE

At our Christmas Coffee Morning we held our annual charity auction, the members present voted on which charity we should support with any money raised and as it was close to Christmas it seemed appropriate to nominate the Salvation Army. On Christmas Eve, Diane, Trevor and myself paid a visit to Cannock Citadel and met Lydia Bartlett who was a captain within the organisation, we spent some time talking about the movement and duly presented her with a cheque for £200, naturally she thanked us on behalf of the Salvation Army, and we was happy to know it was going to be used in the local area, so thanks to all who came to the Christmas party and donated to a worthy cause.

2020
January 16th – Scandalous Women Janis Lomas
February 20th – History of Lichfield
March 19th – Dukes & Duchesses of Sutherland Steve Booth
April 16th – Nostalgic Films John Coley
May 21st – History of the Co-op Ned Williams
June 18th – AGM and John Palmer
July 16th – Food glorious food Kath Reynolds

We had a very interesting talk from Phil Griffiths on the history of coins. Coins are found from ancient times and from many countries, including India, China, Greece and, of course, the Roman Empire.

The Byzantine Empire minted many coins including those of Justinian 11, see below

Bridgtown’s Open day has been postponed until the New Year. Don’t have a date yet but will keep you posted.
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The Memorial Stone will be unveiled on 8th April, more details to follow.
————————————————————————————————————— The centre will not be open on the fourth Thursday in December. Hope to see you next year.
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We had a good day at our Annual Event on the 16th, Bridgtown and Cheslyn Hay History Societies were in attendance also The Museum of Cannock Chase.

Members of the Committee holding copies of our new book, sitting on the big deck chair loaned by ICON, for which we thank them.

Our friends from the Museum with Mr Punch.

Mr Punch was made and kindly loaned to us by John Palmer

Future Speakers

December 19th – Christmas Social

2020
January 16th – Scandalous Women Janis Lomas
February 20th – History of Lichfield
March 19th – Dukes & Duchesses of Sutherland Steve Booth
April 16th – Nostalgic Films John Coley
May 21st – History of the Co-op Ned Williams
June 18th – AGM and John Palmer
July 16th – Food glorious food Kath Reynolds

We had a very interesting talk from Mary Bodfish who told us about Edward V11 and his many lady friends.
These included Lillie Langtry, Lady Randolf Churchill, Daisy Greville, and Alice Kepple to name a few.
Despite his playboy image Edward proved to be a greater success as monarch than expected. He was the first constitutional British sovereign, and the last to wield effective political power.

We have received a letter from the C.H.A.P.S National Mining Memorial Committee, telling us of their project to provide a national permanent memorial to commemorate the men, women and children who worked in the mining industry. The cost is an astonishing £100,000, which is to be raised nationally.

We attended Cheslyn Hay’s Annual Exhibition, it was a very impressive event, and it was great to see many of our members braving foreign lands! Well done Chesso’s!

Two more “unknowns”, can anyone put names to
these holiday makers?

Future Speakers

December 19th – Christmas Social

2020
January 16th – Scandalous Women Janis Lomas
February 20th – History of Lichfield
March 19th – Dukes & Duchesses of Sutherland Steve Booth
April 16th – To be arranged
May 21st – History of the Co-op Ned Williams
July 16th – Food glorious food Kath Reynolds

It is with regret that we have to announce the death of Bob Quarmby, on 10th November. He was a member of the committee for a short time, until his illness. He will be sadly missed by all his family and friends.