Thatcham Historical Society

Our members were give a talk tonight (18th May 2009) by Malcolm Langford, a local metal detectorist and historian. Malcolm, who is an enthusiastic speaker and historian, wanted to highlight the importance of Thatcham through the items that he and his colleagues have discovered. It was noted that there have been at least 8 attempts to colonise this country through the millennia. These started back in the Ice Age when people travelled ice. Distances travelled were huge. For example it is known that people moved from France, over the ice to America.

A large audience gathered for tonight’s meeting (27th April 2009) to listen to a talk given by local historian John Trigg on the topic of “Squires of West Berkshire and their Estates.”

Mr Trigg noted that localism is what made the squires and that the coming of the railway disrupted this. However, many Squires such as James Blyth of Woolhampton and Ben Buck Green of Midgham embraced the new opportunities that became available.

There was a large audience gathered for tonight’s meeting (30th March 2009) to listen to a talk given by Brian Eighteen on the ”Pictures of Rural Life.”

Mr Eighteen started by showing photographs and postcards of life prior to the Second World War noting that farming was a family occupation and used horse and sometime oxen power. Some fantastic paintings of this period, by Nora Drummond, were shown. These showed the people within the landscape, the types of horses used and other rural scenes.

Due to low numbers, the trip has been cancelled. The society will have it annual full day outing on the 12th July 2009. Exact details to be confirmed, destination is Oxford City. You can find out more about what you can see and do there by visiting their website, www.visitoxford.org.

A large audience gathered for tonight’s meeting (23rd February 2009) to listen to a talk given by Ted Fox on the ”Art of the Wheelwright”

Mr Fox described himself as “A country peasant that makes tea for his wife”. The talk he presented showed that his skills and knowledge far exceed this description. Mr Fox taught agriculture at Berkshire College of Agriculture and set-up as a Wheelwright after being made redundant at 50 from the college.