Welcome to our 2014/2015 season and a special welcome to those members who joined us during last season; Mr A Killman, Mr J W Ray, Mrs E Wakeley, Mr S Porter and Mr P Barnes.

In August we heard the very sad news that one of our members, Mrs Pam Schneidau, had passed away and we send her family and friends our sincere condolences.

We are pleased to present our programme for the coming season:

THURSDAY, 2TH OCTOBER: WOLVERTON (RAILWAY) WORKS AND THE ROYAL TRAIN, A BRIEF HISTORY

Speaker: Phil Marsh

Phil Marsh joined the railways as a booking clerk in September 1973 for 6 months and still works on them today, 41 years later! During that time he has enjoyed many memorable moments including fireman on the ‘Hogwarts Express’, Harry Potter filming, the Olympic Torch relay and volunteering on various preserved railways as well as finding time to write books and is the Chief Correspondent for The Railway Magazine. His presentation gives an illustrated inside and in-depth look at the 175 years of Wolverton Railway Works and The Royal Train. It includes many previously long-forgotten images dating from the 1830s to 2014 - many from behind the scenes.

He will bring for sale his book ‘The Full Works’ costing £6.95. Proceeds from the sale of the book are going towards a War Memorial for the fallen from Wolverton Works.

THURSDAY, 6TH NOVEMBER: THROUGH THE LENS: A GLIMPSE OF THE HISTORY OF MILTON KEYNES IN MOVING IMAGES

Speaker: Roger Kitchen

A welcome return visit from Roger Kitchen, the co-founder of the Living Archive, Milton Keynes. This one hour film looks at the way film-makers, both amateur and professional, have recorded the history of the Milton Keynes area. It starts with footage of a VE Day party in Wolverton in 1945 and includes the building of the M1, the early development of Milton Keynes, to the last car to come off the Aston Martin production line - with lots in between! This film has received excellent reviews and is sure to jog some memories.

THURSDAY, 4ND DECEMBER: MAGIOVINIUM METAL DETECTORS

You will remember that this presentation was cancelled at very short notice in January so we are keeping fingers crossed that nothing will go wrong this time. Two local Metal Detectors will display a large selection of found metal items and they will be glad to talk and answer questions about their finds. They will also be happy to try and identify metal items which members bring along.

THURSDAY, 8TH JANUARY (Please note the date): JOINED AT THE HIPPO

Speaker: Kevin Varty

This presentation by Kevin Varty promises to be on a lighter note than his previous presentation. It looks at the music and lives of Flanders and Swann, a much loved duo from the late 1950s and early 1960s. It will be a gnight of gnostalgia and gnus.

REPORTS

VISIT TO MILTON KEYNES VILLAGE

The evening we chose for this outing was perfect and we were lucky to have as our guides local historians Geoff and Joy Dawe. We were told about the long history of this well preserved village in the middle of the town that has taken its name and saw many of its historic sites including the mediaeval fish pond, the reputed site of the old moated manor house, the second manor house still inhabited, the many old houses which are end on to the road, the bus shelter which was once the blacksmith's forge and the interesting church.

EVENTS

ROMAN MOSAIC AT WADDESDON***

The Lydda or Lod Mosaic is at present on show in the Stables at Waddesdon Manor. It is one of the finest Sue and Peter Jarvis have ever seen and is well worth a special journey to see it. It is on show daily until the beginning of November and this will be it only showing in Britain. It has lions, leopards, a giraffe, rhinoceros, aurochs, whale, dolphins, sharks, fish of all kinds and mostly identifiable and two boats. It is dated about 300AD, no indications of any religion at all. If you are into Roman mosaics at all, this is of the first class.

EXHIBITION THE GREAT WAR REMEMBERED, GROUND FLOOR, MILTON KEYNES CENTRAL LIBRARY

7TH AUGUST - 30TH OCTOBER

This Exhibition features many unusual and unique artefacts from a local collector as well as the opportunity to listen to personal accounts of the time, taken from the Living Archive Oral History Collection. Entry is free.

HERITAGE OPEN DAYS 11TH - 14TH SEPTEMBER

Milton Keynes Council has produced a brochure detailing free events in and around Milton Keynes which is available from libraries and more information can be found at www.mkheritageopendays.com

CLASP PUBLIC MEETING

MONDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER 7.30 pm

A public meeting follows the CLASP AGM with two speakers, Andy Chapman 'Northampton Castle Excavation' and Stephen Young 'Recent Field Walking'. In April Stephen Young spoke to us about Whitehall Roman Villa and it is another chance to hear this interesting and knowledgeable speaker. The meeting is being held at Harpole Bowls Club, Larkhall Lane, Harpole, Northampton NN7 4DP. Admission is free. Full details can be found at www.claspweb.org.uk.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LOCAL HISTORY NETWORK ANNUAL MEETING

SATURDAY 27th SEPTEMBER 10.00am - 4.00pm

DEFINING BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

This annual conference is being held close to home this year at the Royal Latin School in Buckingham. There are 5 talks with the first starting at 10.0am. There are excellent speakers and interesting topics including 'The Origins of Buckinghamshire', 'The County Maps C16 - C18' and 'The Great War at Home'. Tickets cost £10 or £16 with lunch. Full details and a booking form can be found at www.bucksas.org.uk or contact Diana Kesterton.

COUNCIL FOR BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY: SOUTH MIDLANDS

INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY DAY

SATURDAY 11TH OCTOBER 10.00am - 5.00pm

Another interesting day conference taking place in Clophill Village Hall, Clophill, Bedfordshire with a wide range of topics including the Hat Industry of Luton, the Conservation and Management of the Buildings of the Boot and Shoe Industry and Bodgers to Bow Benders: Chair-making in High Wycombe. Tickets cost £15 including lunch and must be booked by 4th October.

BUCKINGHAM SIGNS UP: AN EXHIBITION COMMEMORATING THE START OF THE GREAT WAR

29TH AUGUST - 12TH NOVEMBER

This Exhibition is being held in Buckingham Old Gaol, Buckingham. It is free and is open Monday to Saturday between 10.00am and 4.00pm. It is well worth a visit if you are in Buckingham. Full details can be found at www.buckinghamoldgaol.org.uk.

WATER EATON GREAT WAR ROLL OF HONOUR

REMEMBRANCE DAY 9TH NOVEMBER

The Water Eaton Great War Roll of Honour will be received by Water Eaton Church Centre on Sunday 9th November. This document lists the names of all those from Water Eaton who served in the Great War. The time of the ceremony will be advised nearer the date.

REPORTS

BUCKINGHAMHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REVIEW

27TH APRIL 2014

Justine Smith attended this review and has kindly written the following report.

I attended the Review held at Bradwell Abbey Cruck Barn on the 27th April. It was quite well attended with a variety of speakers.

First Sharon Hogan, Council for British Archaeology Unit. She spoke about the prehistoric landscape uncovered when the Unit excavated prior to gravel extraction at Manor Farm, Old Wolverton. The findings were generally similar to what has been found of the busy life that seems to have gone on up and down the Ouse Valley over the years.

Stuart Foreman from Oxford Archaeology. Again an excavation funded by developers ahead of major building at Quarendon. Sadly the development was just short of a known Roman settlement that now lies under a school playing field and waits for another day. However they did uncover the start of a road that formed a junction with Akeman Street and may be the one that linked Aylesbury with Watling Street. Also they uncovered a large pond at the side of the road that seemed to have some ritual meaning as several interesting items were found including, amazingly, the remains of a basket with two eggs in it which had been carefully deposited.

Yvonne Edwards from Chess Valley Archaeological and Historical Society. This is a very enthusiastic large local group who have been trying to determine the source of a large number of Roman finds from the bottom of a steep sided valley which have obviously been washed down from a villa site. Unfortunately as much of the land is being used as an equestrian centre they are only able to dig in carefully selected areas, but they seem to be having great fun looking. They are also able to call on support from student archaeologists so it is quite a professional operation.

Amy Bruce from Border Archaeology. They have been contracted to excavate ahead of the western expansion. This started off with high hopes as a Saxon cemetery had been found next to Watling Street some years ago and was thought to be of quite a large extent, but they found only a few more graves. Then to prove that sometimes you can look but not find, there was very little else uncovered, a couple of nondescript wells and a slightly more interesting irrigation system that may have been associated with a high class crop such as grapevines. They also uncovered a lot of modern field drains and part of the quarry that was probably used for Calverton Church. But they still have some more to do and who knows what they may still come across as, in the last few days before the talk, something more interesting seemed to be turning up.

After an excellent lunch, David Green from Buckinghamshire County Council with the Buckinghamshire Historic Towns Project. The Council are trying to determine all the historically important buildings in Bucks towns which will help to determine future conservation areas. Their findings can be seen at www.buckscc.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/archaeology/buckinghamshirehistorictowns.

Rob Atkins from Archaeology East. He spoke about the exciting excavations at Broughton and Brooklands. This has uncovered one of the largest Roman-British cemeteries in the country and is covered in a large new publication; Broughton, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The Evolution of a South Midlands Landscape. This book comes in at an eye watering price but we were assured that it would be available from local libraries, if you feel like a little light reading.

Martin Cuthbert from the Wing Heritage Group. He talked about the various test pits dug last summer throughout the village to determine the extent of the Saxon village that must have existed, but they seem to have found mainly medieval items. However, this summer they hope to dig some more and have permission to dig into part of the castle mound to see if any more light can be thrown on this interesting site. There are also opportunities to join in field walking.

Lastly Andy Chapman, Mola Northampton. He gave an update on the Gayhurst Barrow Cemetery. You may remember Andy spoke to our Society some years ago on this fascinating burial mound where several layers of burials took place and was surrounded by a huge amount of cattle bones. Following the testing of the bones of the Amesbury Archer, it was found that he came from central Europe. The bones of the main burial from Gayhurst were similarly tested but these proved that he was a local lad but some of the cattle had come from quite different parts of the country. Perhaps they knew even then that to improve stock the genes had to be well mixed. Or perhaps a bit of cattle rustling had been going on.

This wrapped up a very interesting day.

MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS

It is with regret that at our AGM in May we announced an increase in membership subscriptions. This was necessary because of a small drop in membership, the rising cost of lecturers and an increase in the hall rental charge. Individual and Concessions have risen by £1 and Couples by £2. The cost for non members remains the same and students are still free. We would remind members that subscriptions are due on 1st October.

£9 per annum Individual
£7 per annum concessions
£12 per annum for a couple
£3 per lecture for non members

FINALLY

Members who have supplied us with email addresses are sent this Newsletter by email. If you receive a copy by post but would be happy in future to receive the Newsletter and other communications by email please let us have your email address. If you change your email address could you also please let us know. To confirm, your email address will be for the sole use of the Society to distribute Society notices.

For further information and details on any item in this Newsletter please contact Mrs Diana Kesterton (Secretary), 4 Woburn Sands Road, Bow Brickhill, Milton Keynes, MK17 9LA. Tel: 01908 372434 or email diana.kesterton@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you on 2nd October from 7.30pm with the presentation starting at 8.00pm.