LAUNCH OF OUR NEW PUBLICATION NOVEMBER 18TH

Creepy Tales of old Pembroke

An evening of ghost stories for Halloween included some old well known ghostly stories - the haunted Monkton Old Hall, the white lady of Lamphey, the phantom Ape of Carew Castle, the Haunting of HMS Asp and many others plus some personal encounters from the audience.

We are collecting these old tales and binding them into a book which will be deposited in Pembroke Museum.

Happy Halloween! 

 Last week  museum volunteers made a visit to our County Museum at Scolton Manor and were most impressed at what has been achieved with this lovely old manor house. They were shown shown around by Mark Lewis, the County Museum's Officer who is the driving force behind the walled gardens project and Katrina Hilditch who gave a guided tour of the house as well as an insight into  methods of curating and cataloguing.  

Next Event - an evening of Ghost Stories in Monkton Priory Church Hall

Battle of Hastings October 14th 1066

Bayeux Tapestry depicting the death of Harold

The Battlefield looking up toward Battle Abbey, Senlac Hill

Site of the High Altar of the Abbey Church which marked the spot where Harold fell

Memorial to King Harold

The Battlefield Abbey

 

950 years ago on this day, October 14th 1066, King Harold the last Saxon King was defeated in the Battle of Hastings and our history changed forever.  William the Conqueror founded the Battle Abbey in 1070 as a memorial and as an act of atonement for the bloodshed.  The High Altar marked the spot where King Alfred had been killed.

Our Tudor Morning attracted huge interest!

Over one hundred people attended our Tudor Morning in Pembroke Town Hall.  Opened by Pembroke Mayor Cllr Dennis Evans, proceedings began with an update of the Henry VII Statue by Society Chairman Linda Asman who said she was delighted with the overwhelming community support for the project.  So much is being achieved to promote our heritage with Town Council and History Society working together and thanks were extended to the Mayor and Councillors for their support.

It  was an eventful morning with two excellent speakers.  First, Rev. Luke Holden spoke about herbs and healing in Tudor times.  Luke, who lives in Llanelli, has a background in Ancient and Medieval History, Art History and Archaeology.   As well as being a Greek Orthodox Priest, he has enjoyed a varied career which included teaching and running a farm small holding from which grew his interest in plants.  Luke regularly takes part in Tudor re-enactments assuming the character of Welsh Tudor Herbalist Luke ap Pagrig.

Second guest speaker was Tudor author Tony Riches, who took part in the Henry VII Statue consultation last October and subsequently became involved in the Statue Committee.  The first book of his Tudor Trilogy, OWEN, explored the life of Owen Tudor, grandfather of Henry from whom the Tudor dynasty descended.  It topped the Amazon historical fiction charts in the UK and US – and reached number one in Australia. Since then JASPER has also become an international best-seller and Tony is now writing the final book, HENRY. Tony kindly denoted a copy of OWEN to the Raffle.

Between speakers, the audience were able to sample some Tudor baking as the committee had been studying appropriate recipes to go with the theme.  The event was free at entry but funds were raised on sales of coffee and raffle - in all £226 was raised and this will be given to the Henry VII Statue appeal.

Join us at our Tudor Morning on October 1st

Sponsored by Pembroke Town Council.  Free entry and all proceeds from the sale of coffee and raffle will be donated to the Statue Fund.

Training with the People's Collection, NLW

Hazel Thomas from NLW came down to Monkton Community Hall to give us some training on accessing and uploading to the People's Collection, scanning and museum procedures. An enjoyable day with a good teacher - we gained a lot and hope to build on this in the coming months.

At the Dyfed Family History & Genealogy Fair

Yesterday, September 17th we took Henry to Carmarthen to promote the statue campaign. The Dyfed Family History & Genealogy Fair takes place annually at St Peter's Civic Hall in Carmarthen and is very popular.  Our Henry macquette certainly created much interest and we were able to draw attention to the other Pembroke Town Council projects the History Society is involved in - the Museum, Town Trail and joint events to promote Pembroke's history.

Quiz Night, Friday 16th September

Winners of our Quiz Night with an exceptionally high score were Pru Pattison, Meg Burrell, Alison Johns, Pam Evans, Mel Phillips with Quiz Master Chris Lankshear.

Out and about with Henry this summer

The Henry VII macquette

At the Pembroke River Rally

At the Pembroke Show

At the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre

 

We've commissioned a lightweight macquette of the Henry VII statue to help promote the Statue Project and have been displaying him at events. We took him as far as Bosworth for the annual re-enactment of the battle's anniversary on the weekend prior to  August 22nd.  An amazing event - hope we can repeat the experience next year!

Friday's Quiz Night July 22nd

Winners of this month's Quiz were Gaynor and Peter Thomas, Brian (holding the trophy) and Gilly Jones - pictured here with Quiz-master Pauline Waters

                                                 O
Pleased to be in the losing team (as they won the booby prize of a packet of lollipops!) were Mia and Caian Burgin pictured here with Rachel and Pauline.

Quiz Night on July 22nd

Taking our Henry maquette to Raglan

The History Society commissioned a Henry VII maquette made of fibreglass which we can take around events this summer starting with the Tudor Weekend at Raglan Castle.    

Quiz Night in Monkton

The winners: Michele Carter, Wendy George, Michael Howlett, Graham George,
Pauline Waters (Quiz Master) Lottie Howlett , Abby John

And last but not least: Ann & Chris Lankshear, Diana Williams,
Susan Clague with Pauline Waters

Friday's Quiz proved very popular with 45 people attending.  We raised £198 and all of this money is to be put towards the production of another maquette of the Henry VII statue so that we can take it around this summer to the various events we attend.

Museum volunteers visit Tenby Museum

Here we all are at Tenby Museum

Coffee first of course!

Pauline trying on hats

Rachel also

      

Peter and George looking thoughtful

Lovely exhibition of marine art in the gallery

Just up David's street - a Tudor gun 

Chips for lunch with the Tenby gulls

Saturday April 30th - Talk by Angela Jones

Angela Jones with the Henry VII maquette

Linda and Angela in front of our Society banner

The P & M is keeping up its fundraising for the Henry VII statue and organised a coffee morning in Pembroke Town Hall to accompany a talk by Angela Jones 'Tenby Tudor Merchant's House: a survivor through time',  This is a really interesting talk on the social history of the times and the amazing way this house survived intact as a Tudor House when Tenby's medieval and Tudor buildings were lost in the modernisation of the 19th Century as Tenby emerged as a fair and fashionable resort.  

Talk by Chris Woodward 'Turnpike Trust in Pembrokeshire' on Friday 22nd April

Queen's birthday - and museum volunteers win a Civic Award

The Welsh Guards at Pembroke Town Council's Civic Awards Evening

The Corps of the Drums of the Welsh Guards visited Pembroke yesterday (April 21st) to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Queen.  In the morning, the Mayor Cllr Pauline Waters took the salute outside the Town Hall as the Welsh Guards marched towards the Castle whilst hundreds cheered them on.  In the evening, the Guards performed in a crowded Town Hall Pembroke where Pembroke Town Council was holding  its Civic Awards evening.  This annual event gives recognition to the considerable voluntary contribution individuals and groups make to the community. 

The winners with Pembroke Mayor Cllr Pauline Waters

I am pleased to report that our Museum volunteers received an award for their commitment  to the museum which is open throughout the year and provides a much needed facility for the town and for visitors.