Saturday February 1st

Saturday’s meeting proved very popular. As usual the morning began with a Coffee Morning and an opportunity to look at the museum. Then we all assembled in the main hall to listen to this month’s Talk, which drew a large audience. Our speaker was Maggie Goodall and she is Volunteer Coordinator of the Friends of Friendless Churches, an organisation dedicated to the work of saving redundant (closed) historic places of worship in England and Wales from demolition, decay and unsympathetic conversion. Maggie introduced us to the work of the Friends of Friendless Churches, which cares for more than 60 buildings of architectural and historic importance across Wales and England. Examples of restoration work were shown and a look at Pembrokeshire churches which the Friends care for including nearby Castlemartin, Rhoscrowther and St Lawrence’s Gumfreston, which is currently under restoration. Our next meeting is on Saturday March 1st when we will be celebrating St David’s Day with a Talk on ‘the Welsh Princes and the Evolution of Wales’.

Pembroke Museum awarded full accreditation!

We've done it! Pembroke Museum has been awarded full accreditation status by the Welsh Government and we now have the certificate to prove it! To qualify for the award,we had to meet national standards on our organisation, on the services we offer and how we manage our collections. A decade ago we started the museum from scratch, just a local history exhibition of display boards of photographs and stories. But we soon began to attract artefacts and the museum grew and grew. We have been blessed with generous donations from the community with which we have been able to develop some very interesting and important collections relevant to the history of our town. It is to the credit of our dedicated volunteers that we have now met nationally agreed standards for UK museums and that we are recognised at the same level as Wales’ larger and professionally staffed museums. It's meant a great deal of work but well worth it! In the photograph Museum volunteers (left to right) Ron Rees, Stuart Asman, Mary Busby, Linda Asman, George Palmer, Rose Blackburn, Roy Smith.

OUR NEXT TALK -

Quiz Night January 17th

Good to see so many brave the cold January night to come to our Quiz Night and buffet in Pembroke Town Hall. An enjoyable evening with lots of lovely food as usual! 😊

It was good to see so many people turn out for our first meeting of 2025 on Saturday - a very cold, January morning but nice and warm in the Town Hall!! Chairman of Pembroke & Monkton Local History Society, Linda Asman, welcomed all present and spoke about the Society's aims and projects for the forthcoming year. The talk for the morning was 'Sir Rhys ap Thomas and the Great Tournament'. Following a short presentation about Sir Rhys - the man who is accredited with the killing of Richard III - a film was shown of the 2007 re-enactment of that great event which was made by John and Maxine Rolls of Video Magic. It was a major undertaking for a small community but the people of Carew were concerned that the National Park, which runs Carew Castle, had no real plans in place to mark the 500th anniversary of the Great Tournament of 1507 - the last great tournament to be held in Britain and a hugely important event in the history of the village. So a meeting was held in the village hall and the community took on responsibility for organising a full scale re-enactment of the tournament. It was a huge event taking place over three days of the early May bank holiday, involving re-enactment companies, professional jousting teams and medieval musicians from all over the country. And it also involved local performers, including La Volta and Pembroke's own East End Flyover Company. The local school got involved, Carew WI made costumes, the Pony Club took part, there was a special church service - it was a real community effort. The first day featured a re-enactment of the cavalcade from Carew Castle to Lamphey Palace for a blessing from the Bishop of St Davids. Then there were two days of jousting and other activities in a field overlooking Carew Castle, attended by thousands of people.

Quiz NIght on Friday!

Our next event Saturday January 11th Pembroke Town Hall

Join us for our first meeting of 2025 on Saturday morning, January 11th in Pembroke Town Hall. Doors open at 10am for coffee and an opportunity to visit the Museum and Council Chamber, which are situated on the first floor of the Town Hall – a lift is available for disabled access. Then, at 11am assemble in the George Lewis Hall for our talk which, this month, will focus on Carew Castle, once the home of a very important character in our Tudor history. This was Sir Rhys ap Thomas, who is famously credited with killing King Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth when the victorious Henry Tudor was crowned King Henry VII. Rhys was knighted for his services and was appointed Governor of South Wales.  Rhys remained a close ally and trusted friend to Henry and, in recognition for his loyalty, he was made a Knight of the Garter in 1505. To celebrate this honour Sir Rhys held a great tournament at Carew Castle in April 1507, the last tournament to be held in this country and on a scale never before seen in Wales. To mark the 500th anniversary of this great tournament, in 2007 Pembrokeshire Coast National Park staged a re-enactment event at Carew with an array of medieval entertainments, attracting thousands to enjoy the colourful spectacle. There will be an opportunity to watch a film made of the event.

Pembroke Castle Christmas Market

Great weekend at Pembroke Castle's Christmas Market! As always thousands descended on Pembroke for the event and lovely to meet so many at our stall. We were able to raise funds for our museum with the sale of books and merchandise - the star attraction was our magnificent Christmas hamper for which we sold many tickets. The raffle took place in Pembroke Town Hall on the Monday morning and was drawn by our Town Crier, Cllr Gareth Jones. The winning ticket was 251 on the green and the lucky winner was Mrs Elizabeth Hurley of East Williamston. Congratulations!