Another successful Members’ Evening was held at The Pub in a Club.  Val Harman began the evening by bringing along a case full of memorabilia relating to her ancestors in Badsey and Wickhamford.  Amongst the items was a Flower Show certificate and art-work done by her uncle.  We hope that, at future meetings, members will bring along items for a “Show and Tell” session.

The evening began with three short talks about various aspects of photography – how to keep and preserve your photographs, how a family photograph album led to a fascinating detective story, and what we do with any photographs shared and donated to the Society.  Earlier this year, some fascinating photos and sketches came to light, donated by Paul Brazier following the death of his mother.

At the 18th AGM of the Society, the same Committee was re-elected.  Mrs Barbara Jerram presented the Tony Jerram Award.  This year the award was made to a husband and wife team, Keith & Sheila Taylor, for their work in keeping the memorial fountain in the High Street looking tidy and colourful all year round.  

Richard Bradley, Project Officer for Worcestershire Archaeology, spoke about the exciting results of the big dig at Broadway.  This was conducted prior to the work done on the Badsey Brook flood alleviation scheme, which officially opened a week earlier.  The talk was well attended with around 45 people in attendance.  Excavation and watching-brief work by Worcestershire Archaeology, undertaken on behalf of the Environment Agency, uncovered a large multi-period site with at least 8000 years of activity.

ALL FUTURE EVENTS FOR THE BADSEY SOCIETY HAVE NOW BEEN POSTPONED FOLLOWING THE GOVERNMENT'S GUIDELINES.

WHEN WE HAVE A MORE STABLE SITUATION WE WILL ADVISE EVERYONE OF THE NEW DATES.

KEEP WELL.

During the night of 25th October 1960 two river craft collided resulting in a massive explosion.  Alan Tutton described this event and also talked about the ship wrecks that can be seen along the lower reaches of the River Severn.

Many thanks to Alan for putting himself forward to give the first Badsey Society lecture via Zoom.  As a result of the talk, several members have been to Purton to see the wrecks for themselves.

The first Council houses to be built in Badsey were those on the west side of Synehurst, beginning to be occupied from July 1920 onwards.  Maureen Spinks invited people to take a trip down memory lane as she described some of the first people to live there, many of whom were the families of returning soldiers. 

A good number of the original tenants remained living there for the rest of their lives, and some houses saw long associations with the same family, with tenancies being taken on by children and grandchildren.  

Alan Tutton gave an introduction to decoding and transcribing old handwritten documents.

Sarah Moody of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission gave a fascinating talk about the history and work of the Commission which works across the globe to ensure that the 1.7 million men and women from the Commonwealth who lost their lives in the two World Wars are not forgotten. Sarah concluded her talk with photos of the cemeteries where some of our WWII soldiers are buried.

David Ella began his fascinating talk by looking at the earliest records of roads around Badsey from parish boundaries described in Saxon Abbey Charters.  He showed us some of the maps from the 16th-18th centuries which first featured Badsey and the roads around the village, including the map used by both sides in the English Civil War.  Two historic routes from Worcester to London passed close to Badsey; these changed direction over time.  A third unexpected route also passed through Badsey.