We Had a successful stall at the Fayre on Saturday (3rd July 2010).
Thanks to all who supported us.
Winners of the prize draw for boxes of groceries
1. K. Aukland
2. B. Picken
3. B. Wright
Outing on 14th to Llangollen - trip and meal at Britannia Inn afterwards
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We have a stall at the Summer Fayre - Pictures of Days Gone By and a Raffle for groceries.
Next meeting on 7th July at Cedar Close (the community room) 7:30 to discuss results of Fayre and finalise details for-
Our outing which will be on 14 July to Llangollen
Trip on the Railway booked for 3:00 also booked a meal at the Britannia Inn for 6:00
Contact - Elise Young 772537
Special Meeting
At St Martins Centre
Entrance for this will be £2.50 to include light refreshments.
St Martins Historians
We meet on the first Wednesday of each month at 7.30pm in the Community Room in Cedar Close.
All are welcome and we ask for a contribution of £1 per person towards the rent of the room.
Speaker Evening November 4th The Battle of Crogen
This was an excellent evening led by three very committed characters who demonstrated a passionate love of this particular history in the Cerriog valley.
Derryn Poppitt opened the evening with an explanation of how they had been investigating the battle for most of their lives, having been enticed into it by family stories. He described how they research the history of the battle by searching for both the written word and the memories which have been handed down. In turn they pass the knowledge on to groups such as ours and to the younger generation via the schools.
They have already achieved much. They are raising the profile and have installed a plaque on the Castle Mill Bridge at Bronygarth with support from Cadburys. They are arranging interpretation boards to be installed and are receiving significant other local support. They are seeking lottery support to further enhance the battlefield area with a sculpture.
Mark Wlliams gave us passionate and exciting blow by blow account of how Henry the second and his Anglo-Norman forces advanced into the Cerriog Valley and were met by a small Welsh force led by Owain Gwynedd and Grutfudd Maelor. The Story unfolded and it was fascinating to understand how the Welsh placenames in the valley described the various stages of the running battle.
The final member of the team was Gareth Lacon, who is a memeber of The House of Black Star Re-enactment Society. He gave us an insight into the arms and tactics which would have been used in the 12th and 13th centuries. The message was very clear. It was grim and brutal. Thankfully our friend who helped Gareth out, by donning the garb of the english knight, escaped without a scratch.
Neil expressed the Society's thanks and Elsie expressed her thanks to all three of the team individually and congratated them on keeping history alive through the next generation.
Speaker Evening 16th September Bletchley Park and The Enigma Machine.
Mr Bernard Raftery entertained the audience with tales of his personal experience of Bletchley Park during WW2 and more recently in resurrecting the code breaking machines which now form part of The Bletchley Park Trust exibition.
We heard of the work done to find the Bismark battleship in Brest,and the story behind the bombing of Coventry. We learnt how the development of the Enigma machine had consequences in the Battle of the Atlantic, how our advantage in breaking the code was nearly lost in North Africa.
There were stories of RAF personnel, civilians and Wrens, all working togethet and sharing the secrecy.
The mathematicians and engineers involved eventually constructed what was to be the forerunner of our modern computer.
It was a most enjoyable evening and we were all quite slow to realise that, since Mr Raftery had told us he was 19 years of age when he was recruited in 1941, that he must now be approaching 87. He must have taken questions for 45 minutes at the end of his presentation! We thank him and wish him well.