At our meeting at The Volunteer, 7.30 pm Tuesday March 7 (today!) we’ll firm up the spring programme. We have exciting ideas for another of our popular Mills walk, a quiz, a Rotherwas Serpent walk and talk, Bathing Station picnic and a paddle!

Come along for updates on our finances and website plans and look at Naomi’s wartime article/appeal. 
Bring and share any interesting objects, photos and so on. Everyone welcome.

You may already know that The Friends of Castle Green is delighted to have been awarded a grant by The Big Lottery Fund Awards for All to carry out a year long city-wide consultation process to determine the future of Castle Green and the surrounding area.
 
The Friends would like to invite members of the History Group and a friend to a World Cafe Event to have their say on 'Planning the Future: Castle Green in the 21st Century'. They hope to bring together a good cross section of people to facilitate a discussion on what people want to happen to the area and how we go about achieving these objectives.

There will be a series of events throughout the year, and there are currently spaces on the evenings of 8th March and 22nd March. The evening will begin at 7.30pm at The Pavilion on Castle Green with food provided, but please bring your own drinks.

The Friends are limited on numbers so if interested you need to RSVP using the attached form as soon as possible and no later than 24th February. The only stipulation is an open mind and plenty of ideas!

For more information contact: - 

Katie Bott
Operations Manager
Friends of Castle Green
07939 261640
operations@friendsofcastlegreen.org.uk

Hereford's leading architectural historian, David Whitehead, will report on the rich heritage of Victorian buildings and gardens still surviving and disappeared at an event organised by Hereford Civic Society on Thursday 19th this week.

There were many historic mills in the Bartonsham area, and traces of some of them still remain in street names and buildings.

Discover more in a fascinating illustrated article which follows on from our guided history walk over New Year. You may be surprised!

Information about some historical wassailing in January, down Rotherwas way!

You are invited to a History Film Night on 6th December at Left Bank SpeakEasy Bar from 7pm. Come and see clips from Hereford Market and the old city gates, to Leominster in the 1950s, plus extracts from Catcher Media archives, Rural Media and Jason Hodges. All welcome - spread the word!

Our monthly catch up at The Volley was well attended last night.

Thanks were given to Liz Pitman for her St John's Parish talk and Huw for the Rotherwas Chapel ride. Both events helped our funds and £15 went to the Friends of Rotherwas Chapel. (BHG have 2 allocated places at their Carol Service: get in touch if you’d like to go along.)

Up and coming events

• Tuesday Dec 6, Left Bank, 7.30: History Film Night – a review of locally made film from Five Years in the 1950s and Godwin Tiles to Chewing The Cud
• Wednesday December 28: Mill Walk – from the old bone mill and Scutts Mill to Eign Mill and Mill Street
• Tuesday January 10, 7.30 at The Barrels: David Clarke on Hereford’s great social reformer, the Revd John Venn.

Plans are afoot for a Wells Visit (Huw), a walk/talk on The Serpent (Huw) and BHG Quiz Night (Bill & Ami). And as Naomi’s investigation into the wartime relationship between St James and Chilvers Coton goes online we hope to add articles on local shops (David), schools (Rosi), Bartonsham Dairy (Bill), World War 1 (Bill) and the river (Christine & Linda).  

Ami is preparing a Listed Buildings list for the area; Bill will drop off the Local History gazette back copies with Naomi and Bill and Rob will look at interviewing local resident Clem Clements and his wife. 

December’s monthly meeting will be at The Left Bank film night.