NOVEMBER 19th - 2 events

Following on from a busy Friday night (November 18th) when we launched our latest publication: 'From Mummer's Booth to Silver Screen: the Life and Times of the Haggar Family', Society Chairman, Linda Asman was asked to lead a walk along the Town Trail as part of the Hands Around the Town Walls event.  

That evening members of the Society and Museums were invited to attend the Rotary Club Raffle draw, in which we participate. It is a great scheme, the Rotary put up generous money prizes for the community raffle which means that we can sell them to visitors to the museum as well as at events.  In all, we sold & £429 worth of tickets which the Society divided between the Museum and the Henry VII statue appeal. Also at that event, an enjoyable social evening at St John's Community Hall Pembroke Dock, committee members of the Henry VII Statue Appeal were presented with a cheque for £1000 from Rotary Chairman Emyr Williams.

About to embark on the Town Trail

Rotary Club Chairman Emyr William (right) presents the cheque to
members of the Henry VII Statue Committee

OUR HAGGAR BOOK LAUNCH NOVEMBER 18TH - A HUGE SUCCESS

The Book Cover

The Haggar Family  - 4th Generation - Sue, John, Vicki, Dinah and Tony

'Full House' at The Town Hall to watch 'A Penny For Your Dreams' at the Book Launch

Display in the shop window next to Brown's Fish & Chip Cafe - courtesy of the Brown Family

The Book Launch of 'From Mummer's Booth to Silver Screen: a History of the Haggar Family' proved a big success and we sold 70 books on that first night!  This has been a big success too for the Pembroke & Monkton Local History Society which has now set itself up as a book publisher using its own funds for what, we hope, will be a sustainable enterprise to generate income for the publication of books and leaflets of local interest.  The Haggar book, whilst having great local appeal, also has a national appeal forming as it does an important chapter in the history of cinema in this country.  We are having great problems getting this on Amazon but if anyone wishes to buy a copy by post, please make cheques payable to

Pembroke&Monkton Local History Society, 28 Rocky Park, Pembroke SA71 4NY for £12.50 (incl P&P)

It is available locally from Pembroke Town Hall (Museum), Castle shop, Robinsons (Londis),St Govans Bookshop Pembroke Dock.

The National Library Wales has already show an interest and we have visited Aberystwyth to deposit copies of the book which will also be sold in the Library shop.

Hazel Thomas of NLW People's Collection with Vicki Haggar in the NLW's bookshop

                                                                              Vicki outside the NLW

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.