Repton Village Website
Repton - historic capital of Mercia
REPTON VILLAGE HISTORY GROUP
NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 25 – WINTER 2008-2009
Most of you will know that Colin Kitching sadly passed away in July. He and his late wife Betty were founder members of the Group and Colin had been President for the last few years. Colin was passionately interested in the history of Repton and particularly St. Wystan’s Church. He will be sadly missed. A tribute to Colin by his brother appears on our web site.
Another of our founder members, Bunty Marshall, has accepted an invitation to become President. She has been Vice President for several years and also has a very keen interest in the village.
During the summer, we have had several successful meetings away from the Village Hall. There was the ‘Tea and Talk’ in the cricket pavilion, the tour of St. Wystan’s School, the two visits to Carnfield Hall and the guided tour of Sudbury village. All of these were very well supported and the collection for the Church Heritage Fund taken at the Tea & Talk raised £80.
Alan Thompson is currently researching the history of Burnaston airfield. He will be giving us an illustrated talk about it later on in 2009. If anyone has any photos, information or memories, he would be very pleased to have sight of them. He can be contacted on 01283 701130.
During the summer months John Ward has organised several village walks for outside organisations including the National Forest and the Heritage Open Day event. These were for the benefit of the general public.
In September we opened our winter season of talks with Alan Partington who produced an excellent event about William John Stephenson-Peach and his workshops at Askew House in Repton. These operated in the grounds of Askew House between 1887 and 1914 and produced all types of unusual machines, mostly produced by students. Slides showed cycles, motor-cycles, cars, mowers and many more amazing items. The original Morgan three wheel car was produced here. It was a well attended meeting with one person coming from Essex! Others came from Burton Engineering Society.
Our 2009 programme is almost complete and our full programme through to the summer is published in this newsletter. We feel that we have a full and exciting programme and trust that everyone will enjoy it.
Of particular interest is the December 2008 item which has not appeared in our programme so far. It will take place ON THURSDAY 4TH DECEMBER in the Village Hall. It is a Social Get Together. Please note that it is Thursday. Glenys Shakespeare is organising it and she writes:
This is a new venture this year and we do hope that you will come and enjoy time to chat and make new friends – there is not always time at our regular meetings! There will be food of course, and a seasonal raffle and a quiz or two to test your knowledge but mainly the idea is to have a friendly pleasant evening. There is no charge and the event is open to members and friends but if you wish to come it would help the catering staff to have some idea of numbers. There will be an opportunity to ”enrol” at the October and November meetings or call Glenys on 01283 544085
ALL MEETINGS IN THE VILLAGE HALL, ASKEW GROVE, REPTON COMMENCING AT 7.30 PM PROMPT UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED
Tuesday 21st October 2008 – ‘The Story of an East Coast Resort’. The development of Skegness from a small village to a thriving seaside resort. Illustrated talk by Shirley Horton.
Tuesday 18th November 2008 – ‘The History & Development of Burton’s Brewery Railways’ Illustrated talk by Philip Stanbridge.
THURSDAY 4th December 2008 Social “Get Together” organised by Glenys Shakespeare and company. Put it in the Diary & come and have some fun.
Tuesday 20th January 2009 – ‘Below Stairs – the Life of a Victorian Servant’ by Dr Wendy Freer
Tuesday 17th February 2009 – ‘The Origin of Sayings’ by Ian Hingley
Tuesday 17th March 2009 – A talk about Bonnie Prince Charlie and Swarkestone by Gareth King
Tuesday 21st April 2009 – An open meeting with many of our archives on display including Census Returns, School Logbooks, Maps, photos etc
Tuesday 19th May 2009 – Annual General Meeting followed by ‘The Meaning of Place Names’ by Shelagh Wain
June To be arranged
WEDNESDAY 15th July 2009 – a Guided Tour of neighbouring Etwall
AND MUCH MORE TO FOLLOW – VISITORS WELCOME
A.K. 17.1.09.
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