Alcester History Society marks its golden anniversary

IT’S an historic year for the Alcester and District Local History Society as it marks its golden anniversary.

Started in 1974 following a first meeting organised by Edward Saville, the society was set up with the specific aims of researching the history of the area and publishing its findings.

It was also the intention to safeguard local historical material and establish a museum, something which was achieved in 2004 with the founding of the Alcester Roman Heritage Centre in the old magistrates’ court building.

Sadly, Edward did not live to see its opening.

Over the years the society has put on monthly history lectures as well as the occasional visit to places of historical interest.

A spokesperson for the society said: “In the last 50 years the society has published more than 50 occasional papers, ten longer histories, including the 240-page Alcester – A History by Edward Saville, and a 12-part listing of local graveyard memorial inscriptions.

“Our photographic archive contains over 4,000 items, and one of our member involvement projects was to index the Alcester Chronicle from 1864 to 1900.”

And the projects continue – this year members took over the management of the Alcester Heritage Network, a community archive project.

Chairman Alan Godfrey said: “Alcester and the surrounding district has over 2,000 years of history from the Romans up to the present day and there is a great deal of interest from the local community in learning more about the town’s heritage.

“We are proud that the society has done much to research and promote this history over the last 50 years and make the information accessible, in a variety of forms, to everyone with an interest in our local history.”

To celebrate its golden anniversary, the society invited Prof Alice Roberts, the academic, author and TV presenter, to give a lecture, and on 2nd November held a History Festival at Alcester Town Hall which included an exhibition of photographs and documents from its archives.

The anniversary year also included a talk on Life in Roman Alcester, by Mr Godfrey, which explained how the archaeology of the town revealed so much about everyday life in Roman Alcester, and a talk on Old Pubs and Hostelries Around Alcester by Dr Richard Churchley.