Winter Lectures 2012/2013
We also have a Summer Programme
Free admission to Members. Visitors are most welcome. We ask £1 per visitor to help with the costs.
''Your Country Calls'' a national canal history
Venue: The Society of Friends Meeting House, Warwick Place, off Portland Street, Cheltenham at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Our speaker is Tony Conder whose working life was in museums, the centre piece of which was as British Waterways Curator and in developing the National Waterways Museum in Gloucester as an independent trust. His talk is a wide ranging history looking at waterways as part of the national scene.
Annual General Meeting & GSIA Videos
Venue: Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Longford, Gloucester at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Following the close of the formal business of the AGM we will have the screening of two videos made by the late Alan Garnett who was one of our members. The first was made in 1990 at Fromebridge Mill, Whitminster after the feed milling business had finished and before it was converted into a pub and restuarant. The second video was made at the Lewis & Hole Foundry at Dudbridge, Stroud, just three weeks before it closed in 1996 and the site cleared to become the Sainsburys supermarket.
The Quarry industry from Painswick to Nailsworth
Venue: Rodborough Community Hall, Butterow West at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
GSIA member, Arthur Price is well known to fellow members for both his talks on the quarry industry and for leading some truly memorable trips underground to visit long abandomed workings at Whittington near Cheltenham and in the Minchinhampton area. This talk will look at the Stroud District and the different types of stone and how it was quarried and the uses it was put to.
Mining Remains in Andalusia
Venue: Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Longford, Gloucester at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Our speaker, Dr. Rob Vernon, originally worked as a geologist in the coal industry (deep mines), but with the industry's demise, he changed career and gain a doctorate on the archaeological prospection of British smelting sites. His interest in Spanish mining began before 1978 when he made the first of many visits to Andalucia and saw the extent of its rich mining heritage. He has since written various papers and given talks at International Conferences on the subject. He is also an honorary member of the Colectivo proyecto arrayanes, a mining heritage organisation based at Linares, Spain. His talk will examine various Andalucian mining landscapes where a British mining presence is sometimes well represented by extensive industrial remains, which includes the second largest grouping of Cornish type beam pumping engine houses in the world.
Lost railways west of the River Severn
Venue: The Society of Friends Meeting House, Warwick Place, off Portland Street, Cheltenham at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
This talk is a follow-up to one given four years ago by our speaker, David Aldred. This time the focus is on the railways of the Forest of Dean and surrounding district. Starting from Gloucester we shall travel to Lydney and then along the freight-only lines to Coleford and Cinderford. We shall then follow the line from Grange Court to Hereford through Ross with a diversion to Lydbrook Junction, before returning and taking the Midland mainline to the Upton on Severn branch. The photographs were all taken between 1961 and 1965. The talk will bring back memories for some and show others what they have missed!
Lionel Hook and Sons Ltd. An Innovative Stroud Engineering Company, 1903-1974
Venue: Rodborough Community Hall, Butterow West at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
Our speaker, Barry Harrison, joined Lionel Hook as a design engineer in 1965 and between 1971 and 1973 was technical sales director. He has been very involved in the development of dip-coating (an economic method of coating wood and metal) both with Lionel Hook and now with his own company Diptech UK. The story of Lionel Hook is very much a social history as well as an engineering history and we look forward to hearing about this little known Stroud company.
The River Severn: My Working Life on the Oil Tankers and Grain Barges
Venue: Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Longford, Gloucester at 7.30 p.m. (Directions)
We are very fortunate to have Chris Witts, who has extensive experience of working on the River Severn, as our speaker. Chris started in 1960 as a teenage deckhand on one of John Harker Ltd tanker barges. He was on the river on 25 October 1960 at the time of the tragic accident when two other barges collided with the Severn Railway Bridge. After a long period with the Gloucestershire Fire Service he worked on the Tirley and Chacely, two grain barges, supplying Healings Mill at Tewkesbury.
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.