The Bromsgrove Society - Pride, Preservation, Progress

Society Review 2023-24

The Bromsgrove Society’s AGM was held at Avoncroft Museum on Wednesday 3rd July 2024 at 7.30pm. Twenty-eight members attended.

The Chairman, Jo Slade, read her review of the year, thanking the committees and society members for their work and support in what had been another successful year. John Gerner gave a review on environment matters and Chris Nesbitt delivered her final review as chair of the Local History Group. Chris was thanked for all her contributions and was given a token of appreciation. The reports are  available here. Members agreed to give the Executive Committee authority to sign off the Annual Accounts which were still to be finalised. They will be made available on the website.

Members re-elected the officers and committee members: Chairman Jo Slade, Vice-Chairman Pat Tansell, Treasurer Julian Dyer, Secretary Sue Beaumont, Membership Secretary Sue Skidmore, Executive Committee John Gerner, Julian Hunt, Alastair Moseley and Mike Sharpe. Mike agreed to chair the Local History Group.

After the meeting Helen Voyle gave a very interesting talk about her work in cataloguing boxes of documents relating to the Court Leet going back to the 1700s. She related fascinating anecdotes taken from letters, which gave some idea of the people involved, their attitudes and activities in days gone by.

Summer School Success

At the Summer School three speakers gave interesting and informative talks. Tony Condor spoke on ‘The Canal World’ and led a rainy afternoon visit to Tardebigge. On day two Pat Tansell looked at Benjamin Sanders and button making in Bromsgrove with a visit to sites associated with the Sanders family and their legacy. On the final day Julian Hunt and Jenny Townshend spoke about ‘The Inns and Public Houses of Bromsgrove’ with a visit to sites occupied by inns and pubs past and present.

Everyone involved was delighted to receive very positive notes of thanks. One person said “Another brilliant Summer School! Well planned, delivered, and universally enjoyed! My favourite time of the year!” Another said “Thank you very much for organising a super Summer School this year. I thoroughly enjoyed each of the three days and learnt so much - even about subjects that I thought I already knew a lot about! The hospitality was good too and I thought the lunches were excellent.”

Thank you to Chris Nesbitt for ensuring the Summer School ran smoothly; to everyone who assisted with practical tasks; to Bromsgrove School for accommodating us so well; to the speakers for all their hard work in preparing and delivering their subjects; and to Julian Hunt for arranging the programme.