Haggar's Night at Llangwm Community Hall

On February 11th Llangwm History Society invited us to a Haggar's Night - Vicki Haggar addressed a large audience, the hall was packed out!  It was an enjoyable evening and the films were accompanied by the piano - it all went brilliantly.  Above, Vicki is pictured with Jeff James and Chairman Liz.

Dyfed Archaeology WW1 Project Febraury 9th

Society members Stuart Asman, Vicki Haggar, Mary Dewhirst 

with Alice Pyper and Ed Davies (Centre) of Dyfed Archaeology

Last Saturday, 9^th February, Dyfed Archaeological Trust along with Planed held an open meeting at the Picton Centre, Haverfordwest to discuss the Great War in Pembrokeshire and to launch an appeal for information: WW1 and its aftermath have been little studied in Pembrokeshire. There was much interest and a large number turned up for the event.

 Dyfed Archaeological Trust’s Project

Ed Davies of Dyfed Archaeology opened proceedings.   He stated that CADW has funded a scoping project to assess the impact of the war in this region. It is an attempt to find out what remains are still visible, the location of the camps, the impact on our agriculture and industry.  Dyfed Archaeology is looking at the physical remains while the NLW is collecting documentary evidence.  Planed is coordinating events.

This is a project that we in the Pembroke &Monkton Local History Society are becoming involved in, hoping that if any of you can supply information you will get in touch with us.  I am hoping too that Dyfed Archaeology will stage an event here in Pembroke which will give you the opportunity to discover more and contribute. 

Coffee Morning and Exhibition February 2nd

The subject of our exhibition at Saturday’s Local History coffee morning was ‘Pembrokeshire’s contribution to early aviation history’. We usually make up an exhibition on different themes to accompany the coffee mornings (which are held on the first Saturday morning of the month at Monkton Priory Church Hall) and this involves a fair bit of work.  So, for a change, we borrowed an exhibition from the Pembrokeshire Museum’s Service. 

 From Pembrokeshire to Ireland

Did you know that the first successful flight across St George’s Channel to Ireland took off from Goodwick?  Well, this exhibition tells the story of that remarkable flight one hundred years ago when Denys Corbett Wilson flew his Blériot aircraft from Goodwick to Crane, near Enniscorthy, a journey of 65 miles which took one hour and forty minutes.  

Talking to Pembroke Dock Civic Society

On Wednesday January 30th we were invited to talk to the Pembroke Dock Civic Society at the Pater Hall. Stuart and I gave a presentation about our project 'Through My Eyes: a community history of Pembroke and Monkton" which seemed to go down well and create much interest.  Well, ... they've asked us if we can come back to talk to them later in the year.

February Events

We have two events this month - 

Saturday, February 2^nd – Coffee morning and Exhibition, 10.30 – 1.00.  This time we are being loaned an exhibition by Pembrokeshire Museums Service – the history of early flight in Pembrokeshire, commemorating the 100^th Anniversary of the first successful flight from Britain to Ireland in 1912. 

Friday, February 15th 7.30pm - AGM and Talk by Simon Hancock 'The Last Man Hanged in Pembrokeshire'.

Both events at Monkton Priory Church Hall.

Quiz Night - January 18th

Last Friday was bitterly cold, and although we escaped the snow we still endured icy rain.  We didn’t think anyone would come to our Quiz Night but got prepared just in case some brave souls decided to venture out on the freezing January night.  As it turned out, we were really amazed that so many did!  A  good crowd turned out for what proved a very enjoyable evening – it really was worth the effort.  Thanks go to Ann Lankshear and Liz Jenkins for organising the usual superb buffet – and thanks to all who contributed to the feast.  And, of course, a big thank you to our Quiz Master Pauline Waters.  Congratulations go to our winners (in the photograph left to right): Amanda and Bob Schopp, Quizmaster Pauline Waters, Peter and Gaynor Thomas, this month’s Monkton Masterminds

Happy New Year

The New Year got off to a good start with a well attended first meeting of the year.  Good to meet up with friends and make some new ones as well.  Some of the Committee of the newly formed Llangwm History Society also joined us - it is good to make links with other heritage groups and we will be attending their meeting on February 11th , the subject being the Haggar films. 
Saturday's Coffee Morning featured an exhibition I had been working on with Terry John for over a year now - the Story of Pembroke.  The idea was to present our history in a series of interpretation panels which hopefully ,one day, can be used in a permanent museum display.  Altogether, 14 boards trace the story of Pembroke from 10.000 BC to modern times - quite an undertaking really.  Very difficult too to distil it into 14 boards - we had originally intended 10.  Pembroke has an amazing history, so many of the great and famous are associated with it - it may be just a small town in the south west corner of Wales but it has certainly played a big part in our nation's history. It really is a crime that we have no museum!