The 19th AGM of The Badsey Society was held on Friday 12th February 2021 via Zoom because of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic; 59 members were in attendance, representing over a quarter of the membership.  The same officers were re-elected:  Maureen Spinks as Chairman, Shirley Tutton as Secretary and John Sharp as Treasurer.  The same Committee was re-elected:  Will Dallimore, Ian Gibson, Tom Locke, Jane Neill, Alan Tutton, Gill Woods.

The fifth Richard Phillips Memorial lecture should have taken place in April 2020 but, due to the pandemic, had to be postponed.  Amelia (known as Mia) Bennett gave a talk on DNA and Family History.  This was a subject of great interest to Richard.  He was an early adopter of the use of DNA in family history and 11½ years ago gave a talk to the Society.  In her talk, Mia explained, in simple language, how DNA testing works and how it can be used to answer all sorts of questions about family history.

For thousands of years, ordinary people have worked small plots of land:  for subsistence, for profit, for pride, and for pleasure. The archaeological traces of this activity are scattered through the soil. Rob Hedge of Worcestershire Archives and Archaeology Service explored the history of allotments and household gardens, and gave an introduction to types of archaeological artefacts that are commonly found while tending the land:  what they are, what they tell us, and how they got there.

Nina O’Hare of Worcestershire Archives and Archaeology Service gave a talk on the recent excavation of Roman settlement alongside the Broadway Brook in Offenham.  She explained what the archaeology reveals about who lived there, what was going on nearly 2000 years ago, and how this site fits into the wider landscape.  In September, Nina’s colleague, Jo Pine, who was Director of Excavation, will talk about the actual dig.

Simon Draper, Assistant Editor of the Victoria County History for Oxfordshire, gave a fascinating talk about how boundaries tell us about the history of our landscape.

It was not quite the Flower Show we all know and love but, when it was announced that the 118th Flower Show would go ahead, albeit in a cut-down way and not at the Recreation Ground, we decided to erect our gazebo in the front garden of The Willows, High Street, Badsey.  There was a host of new displays, including a first look at some of the photos taken in the recent photo survey of the village.  A steady flow of visitors came to see us on both afternoons.

Apparently, it’s not just HGV drivers that there’s a shortage of – there’s also a national shortage of archaeologists!  So said Joanna Pine, Director of the excavation at Laurels Road, Offenham.  This was a follow-on from the talk in May by Nina O’Hare about the Roman settlement.  Jo spoke about the archaeological excavation undertaken by Thames Valley Archaeological Services (East Midlands) at the site of Valefresco. The process of the archaeological excavation was explained and Jo presented the results of the fieldwork.

Our second hybrid meeting was attended by 28 people in person and 19 people via Zoom.  Parish Councillor Mike Tennant spoke about the history of the plot of land at Pear Tree Corner where the new Parish Council Burial Ground and allotments are to be located.  In the words of one of our members:  “I thought the talk on Friday excellent:  a very good speaker. Being very much under weather at the time I was most pleased to see the whole episode on Zoom. The whole new setup is much better and came up very clear on my small laptop.”