In the News

The Tenby Observer reported our last visit to the Flying Boat Centre - click to enlarge if you want to read it!

Programme of Events January to May 2010

Mrs Connie Brown MBE 1907-2010

Most of Pembroke turned out this afternoon to pay last respects to Connie Brown, whose fame as the oldest working lady in the country is legendary. Brown's Fish and Chips is part of Pembroke, part of our history.
I had the good fortune to interview Connie. She told me that the proudest moment in her long life was meeting the Queen in 1998 to receive the MBE -but she was a very modest lady who "couldn't understand what all the fuss was about".
"I'll always work" she said and so she did right up to the end, at the amazing age of 102. Pembroke won't quite be the same without her, I think we all feel her loss.

Group News

Yesterday a group representing Monkton and Pembroke members met in the Monkton Community Centre to learn about drawing up a consitution for our group. Vanessa John from PAVS came to talk to us and we were able to agree on a constitution which everyone signed up to so we are now official!!
Stuart was elected Treasurer (he's the only one who can do sums) and today he opened up a bank account with Lloyds TSB. A lovely lady, Jacky Birthistle ( who is officially our tea and coffee maker) made a generous donation to start off our account. The aim is to raise enough money to buy a dedicated laptop and presentation equipment for the Group.

Miss Joyce Colley

I attended the funeral today of Joyce Colley, 93 of Treleet, Pembroke. I got to know her well over the past couple of years as she was a great help to me in my research into the history of Pembroke. She had a sharp mind and an amazing memory and I shall always remember the happy hours we spent talking about the old days. Recently I organised a digital story workshop in the Community Centre as part of the Pembroke Story Heritage Project and she took part. "Are you sure it won't be too much for you?""No, I'll come if I'm able"she insisted. She loved to take part . We made a lovely little film about life in Pembroke in her parent's day when there was great poverty : her parents, the Colley family, were the big employers in Pembroke and were local benefactors. Joyce was a lovely lady and will be missed by so many.

Flying Boat Centre Visit

Yesterday's visit to the Flying Boat Centre, Pembroke Dock attracted a lot of interest with 26 attending. Peter Hurlow-Jones gave us an introduction to the work of the Centre and the volunteers answered all our questions. We were all impressed by the dedication and enthusiasm of the volunteers - such painstaking work needed to restore the engines. A real labour of love. Peter suggested that we make a return visit to see the presentation of the project at Sunderland House - we surely will.

And our thanks also to Felicity Hurlow-Jones for the much appreciated coffee and biscuits!

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

We have a really interesting programme planned over the next few months:
Friday, February 12 - Ted Goddard is coming to talk to us on "Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks" at Foundry House Community Centre 7.30 pm.
Friday, March 12 - Frank Harries will be talking about his fascinating life experiences "Through the Years" again at Foundry House 7.30 pm.
Saturday, April 10th - we will meet at St Mary's Church at 10.30 am. Linda Gray will be giving us its history. Lunch afterwards at the King's Arms might be a nice idea.
Saturday, May 8th - we will set out from the castle at 10.30 am with Terry John on a Civil War walk. Castle cafe afterwards perhaps and a look at the new Poyer exhibition.

NEXT MEETING - SATURDAY JANUARY 16TH

Gwen has made a poster for next week's meeting which will take place on Saturday January 16th at the Flying Boat Centre, Pembroke Dock at 10.30 am. Come along to find out about this impressive project and view exhibits.
Directions: we will meet at the Centre which is situated down Fort Road, through Gate 4 where there is car parking. There is no charge for the visit but a donation to the Sunderland Trust would be welcomed.
Any queries or if you need a lift please phone Linda on 01646 622428 - hope to see you there.

For more information about the Sunderland Trust, visit www.pdst.co.uk

St Anne's Mystery

We have not walked along the Coast Path for some time - then we noticed something was missing. The old derelict house, St Anne's, has been totally demolished! This is an important historical site, built as it was upon the previous mediaeval chapel of St Anne's.

Does anyone know anything about it?

A Walk along the Pembroke River

From St Anne's we descended to the River and walked along the shoreline - the ice made walking on the previously very muddy surface possible. Pembroke River is a fascinating place - here are the relics of our industrial past: jetties, quarrying, shipbuilding at Jacob's Pill and the ferry at Bentlass. If Natural History is more your thing, the river abounds in bird life - we saw redwings, dunlins, oyster catchers, turnstones, lapwings and lots more. even a pair of spoonbills!
When the weather is more clement (following a prolonged dry spell) we could organise a group walk along here.

HAPPY SNOWY NEW YEAR

2010 has already made quite an impression and made history as one of the coldest in recent times - particularly in Pembroke where snow is something of a rarity! On New Year's Day we had our first heavy fall. Stuart had a bad fall whilst out running and we went to Withybush Hospital that afternoon, setting out in brilliant sunshine. The return journey was a different story - caught in the blizzard we were lucky to get back. Then on Tuesday we went out for a walk in the sun and again got caught in the snow. Took these pics. Very pretty the next morning and all of this week the Castle Pond has been frozen over.

Carew Cheriton Control Tower

A visit to Carew Control Tower proved very popular with 23 attending. John Brock and fellow volunteers gave us a warm welcome with a tour of the site and an entertaining talk which involved dressing up in wartime gear! The visit finished with a sing song in the air raid shelter concluding with "we'll meet again". I'm sure we shall as there is so much to see here and we were all amazed at the amount of work that has gone into this fantastic voluntary community effort.

Visit their website www.carewcheritoncontroltower.co.uk for more information.

West Wales Maritime Heritage Society

David James braved a stormy night on November 13th to talk about the international work of the West Wales Maritime Heritage Society. A good turn out in spite of the weather which saw considerable flooding in the area!

For more information on the WWales Maritime Heritage Society see their website http://www.wwmhs.org.uk/

FIRST MEETING

The first meeting of the Pembroke and Monkton Local History Society took place on Friday October 16th at the Foundry House Community Centre. Acting Chairman Brian Griffiths opened the meeting and Linda Asman talked about the Pembroke Story Project (now nearing completion) taking the audience on a tour around her website www.pembrokestory.org.uk

Anyone interested in joining us please phone Linda on 01646 622428.