Winter Lectures 2011/2012
We also have a Summer Programme
Free admission to Members. Visitors are most welcome. We ask £1 per visitor to help with the costs.
Robert Mushet of Coleford
Venue: Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Longford, Gloucester at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Our speaker, Ian Standing, is a member and former chairman of GSIA. He has lived in the Forest of Dean and been researching its industrial history for many years. It is especially fitting that his talk is on the Mushets as 2011 is the 200th anniverary of the birth of Robert Mushet, the metallurgist who made a significant contribution to the perfection of the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel.
Annual General Meeting & Talk
Venue: The Society of Friends Meeting House, Warwick Place, off Portland Street, Cheltenhamat 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Following the close of the formal business of the AGM we will have a screening of an colour film entitled Robert Reid Reports on British Waterways. This excellent 30 minute film was made in 1960 and covers the region between Avonmouth and Worcester. It extolls the virtues of using the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and River Severn for commercial traffic.
Braithwaites, 100 Years of Engineering
Venue: Rodborough Community Hall, Butterow West at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Robin Williams is a past chairman of the Oxford House Industrial History Group based at Risca in South Wales. GSIA have enjoyed a number of visits to that area with him and his colleagues as our guide. He was employed at one time by the Newport engineering firm of Braithwaites whose procducts went all over the world. They are particularly known for their prefabicated tanks but there is much more to their facinating history.
The History of Aviation in Gloucestershire
Venue: The Society of Friends Meeting House, Warwick Place, off Portland Street, Cheltenhamat 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Barry Simon is retired Wing Commander and current Private Pilot. His illustrated talk will consist of a history of aviation in Gloucester starting with the earliest balloon flights and ending in the 1960s. If there is time it will end with aerial photographs of some of the wartime airfields in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire to show their current state.
Road Travel and Transport in Georgian Gloucestershire: The Turnpikes and the Improvement of the Roads
Venue: Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Longford, Gloucester at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Our speaker, Dr Nick Herbert is a former editor of the Victoria History of Gloucestershire and the author of a book on the subect of his talk. His talk will look at how the turnpikes came into being and were run and will include numerous illustrations
The Cotswold Canals - A History and the Restoration Project
Venue: Rodborough Community Hall, Butterow West at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Bruce Hall MBE, is a former Chairman of the the Cotswold Canals Trust and has a great knowledge of both the history of the canals and the current restoration project. His fully illustrated talk will take us the full length from Saul Junction to Lechlade bring us fully up to date on the project which as GSIA members will be aware has now achieved the momentum needed to ensure the project will be a sucess.
Cheltenham's Ornamental Ironwork
Venue: The Society of Friends Meeting House, Warwick Place, off Portland Street, Cheltenhamat 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Geoff and Elaine North are members of GSIA and Cheltenham Local History Society and have been studying Cheltenham's ornamental ironwork, encouraged by Miss Amina Chatwin our President and the original authority on this subject. They have noted considerable changes (which sadly are mainly the loss of some of the ironwork since Miss Chatwin's book on the subject was published 35 years ago. However, there is still much for Geoff North to show us in his fully illustrated talk along with an account of the different materials used and where the iron work came from.
All meetings are from 7.30 To 9.00pm. For further details (or advice on Directions) contact: Ray Wilson(01453 860595)
Directions to Venues
Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Longford,Gloucester (GL2 9EB) SO 838200 (Map)
At the roundabout at the junction of Estcourt Road, St Ostwolds Road and Tewkwsbury Road (A38) take the Tewkwsbury RoadA38 north towards Longford. After about 400 yard turn right into Fairmile Gardens. Follow signs to the Gala club which is at the end of the cul-de-sac and has its own free parking on site.
The Society of Friends Meeting House, Warwick Place, off Portland Street, Cheltenham, GL52 2NP. SO 951226 (Map)
The Cheltenham Friends Meeting House is on the north side of the dual-carriageway Fairview Road / St Margaret's Road. The Meeting House entrance is in Warwick Place (east off Portland Street), a small cul-de-sac. Please note the Portland Street and North Place car parks are pay-and-display until 8pm (£1-50).
Rodborough Community Hall, Butterow West, Rodborough, Stroud GL5 3TZ, SO 847044 (Map)
To reach the Rodborough Community Hall from Stroud (the bus station at Merrywalks on the A46 road) take the A46 south towards Nailsworth. After about a third of a Hill. This is immediately before the Clothiers Arms pub which lies on the left hand side of the A46. After climbing a third of a mile turn left at the crossroads into Butterow West leaving the Prince Albert pub on your right. Continue for about 150 yards and keep a sharp lookout on the left for the entrance to the Rodborough Community Hall car park (Note there is small sign at ground level). The hall has free parking on site.