Programme and Talks for 2025

We have an exciting programme of talks, events, courses and specialist group meetings – watch this space for updates. Talks are held at the Conquest theatre in Bromyard unless otherwise specified – everyone is welcome welcome, members free, guests £6.00. Tea, coffee, snacks and a full bar are always available together with a raffle – a good social evening with an interesting talk. It would be helpful if you can pre-book before the event through the theatre booking system. This saves queuing at the box office before the start of the talk. Even though there is no charge for members, a complete list of those attending is required for fire safety reasons. Members will receive an email with a password allowing free booking. Book online:  https://conquest-theatre.co.uk   or Tel: 01885 488575 – Saturday and Wednesday mornings.

Date Speaker History Society Events 2025 Comment
1st March Rob Walker ‘Stained Glass in Bromyard and the Surrounding Village Churches’  by Rob Walker – tea, coffee and biscuits will be served at half time. £10.00 per person, booking essential before 14th February. Book Here Local Family and History Centre, Sherford St 14:00 – 16:00
12th March Chris Wilkinson

The Hill & Evans Vinegar Line and the Worcester Gas Works – the industrial history of the Shrub Hill area, now designated as a regeneration zone. Two chemists founded the world’s largest vinegar works in 1830, later producing 2 million gallons of malt vinegar annually. To aid distribution, in 1872 a railway track linked the Great Filling Hall to Shrub Hill station sidings, crossing Pheasant Street and the canal. This illustrated talk will chart the line from Worcester’s motive power depot to the vinegar works at Lowesmoor with many then & now images and humorous anecdotes scattered throughout the talk. Book Here

 Conquest Theatre – 19.30hrs
3rd of April Jayne Bradley Food Stories of Bromyard, a project by the society will be officially launched on the 3rd of April, between 5 and 8pm in the Oak Room at the Falcon Hotel in Bromyard. As refreshments will be served we would appreciate that you email Jayne at jayne@foodscapes.co.uk letting her know you will be attending by 27th March. See more about Food Stories here 

Oak Room at the Falcon Hotel

5pm – 8pm
9th April Will Motley Wenlock Abbey/Priory

This talk will explore the history of Wenlock Abbey, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, from the earliest foundation of Wenlock Priory up the end of the 20th Century, with new information about the Milnes Gaskell family at Wenlock Abbey in the 19th century and their visitors such as Henry James, Thomas Hardy and many others. The talk will discuss this rare architectural gem and show pictures of the interior of the Prior’s Lodgings.
Will Motley was born in Much Wenlock and grew up at the Abbey, which was owned by members of his family from the 1540s to the 1980s.

 Conquest Theatre – 19.30hrs
10th – 18th May Summer Programme Herefordshire Histories Festival – county wide events – for more information visit the HHF site  
14th May James Wright Historic Building Mythbusting – Go to any ancient building and there will be interesting, exciting, and romantic stories presented to the visitor. They are commonly believed and widely repeated – but are they really true? These stories include those of secret passages linking ancient buildings, spiral staircases in castles giving advantage to right-handed defenders, ship timbers used in the construction of buildings on land, blocked doors in churches which are thought to keep the Devil out and claims to be the oldest pub in the city. James will explain the development of such myths and investigate the underlying truths behind them. Sometimes the realities hiding behind the stories are even more interesting, romantic, and exciting than the myth itself… Conquest Theatre – 19.30hrs
11th June Summer programme Wenlock Priory –Visit to the Priory with guided tour, plus town museum  – learn about the modern Olympics, which started in the town and visit the magnificent Guildhall. Car sharing. Meet 9.00am Conquest car park
9th July Summer programme Lord Leyster’s Hospital – Nine hundred years ago the chapel was built. Then in the 1300s the Guilds built a half-timbered building – some of the most important examples of intact medieval architecture in Europe. Guided tour and lunch Car sharing. Meet 9.00am Conquest car park
13th August Summer programme Violette Svabo Museum – Provisional TBA
10th September Richard Willmott Thomas Traherne, Herefordshire’s greatest writer? An Introduction. – Thomas Traherne lived in Hereford as a boy during the sieges of the Civil War. After studying at Oxford, he became rector of Credenhill and an extraordinarily prolific writer and poet. Only a small amount of his work was published in his lifetime (he died aged 37) and the story of the gradual identification and publication of his work between the 1890s and 1990s is a remarkable one: one work was rescued from a bonfire at a rubbish tip and identified many years later in Canada! The aim of the talk will be to introduce Traherne within his seventeenth-century context and hopefully encourage some of you to delve deeper into his writings. Conquest Theatre – 19.30hrs
6th – 12th September Summer programme Gloucester History Festival – Heritage Day. Dozens of events, talks and walks in medieval Gloucester. More information from GHF  
8th October Philip Hart Great Lakes steamers – provisional Conquest Theatre – 19.30hrs
10th November AGM AGM at the Falcon Hotel – Oak Room. Members will receive agenda and supporting documents by email prior to this. Falcon Hotel
19:00
12th November Mike Thexton
Pan Am flight 73 hostage learns from hijacker why life was spared 
 Conquest Theatre – 19.30hrs