News & Reports
December 31, 2024|Reports
“Ministering Angel” – Jane Glennie
The joint Christmas meeting of the Wickham Society and the History Society saw us welcome actress and historian Jane Glennie in character as Netley Hospital’s Nursing Superintendent Shaw, a good friend and colleague of Florence Nightingale, to hear why she left Netley Hospital in disgrace. In typically forthright way Superintendent Shaw addressed her audience of…
Find Out More »November 30, 2024|Reports
“Op Overlord: Preparing for the D-Day Landings” – Jeremy Prescott
This presentation was developed to commemorate the 80th Anniversary, in 2024, of Op Overlord. We heard about the context and time leading up to the invasion, the senior commanders of the involved nations, the plan, deceptions, rehearsals, logistics (Mulberry Harbour, Pluto pipe), the invasion and its aftermath. The Woodford Room was packed to hear Jeremy…
Find Out More »October 31, 2024|Reports
“Lost Souls: a WW1 Story” – Brenda Margetts
Sixty eight members of Wickham History Society heard Brenda Margetts talk on Tuesday 22nd October about the traumatic and lasting impact of the First World War on a rural family. It made a nice change to have a talk without PowerPoint and lots of facts, but focussing instead on the people, the family and the…
Find Out More »September 30, 2024|Reports
“The Manor of Wickham – Part 2”
Fittingly for a talk on the Manor of Wickham our first meeting of the autumn season of Wickham History Society talks took place at Rookesbury House by kind permission of the Rookesbury estate. Just under a hundred Wickham History Society members and Carpenter Garnier family descendants attended on September 24th to hear Geoff Phillpotts complete…
Find Out More »May 31, 2024|News | Reports
Wickham History Society: Annual Report 2023 – 2024
Chair’s Introduction Firstly, I should like to express our sorrow at the death of Margaret Edgworth. Margaret had joined the Committee relatively recently but had already become very involved in our oral history work. We all miss her enthusiasm and dedication. It is very encouraging that our membership continues to grow – reflecting the care…
Find Out More »May 31, 2024|Reports
“Southampton: Water, Slaughter And Trade” – Andrew Negus
Having completed his four-part history of Portsmouth in the autumn of 2023, Andrew Negus joined us again for the first of a three-part talk on the history of Southampton. Did you know that Southampton has more surviving original stone city walls even than York or that the abbreviation Hants is because our county was originally…
Find Out More »April 30, 2024|Reports
“A Titanic Conspiracy” – Andy Skinner
Our April 23rd speaker, Andy Skinner, works at SeaCity Museum in Southampton and has always been fascinated by the number of conspiracy theories he hears about the ship’s sinking. You would think hitting an iceberg was unusual enough to satisfy the most active imagination but 13 visitors and over 60 members of Wickham History Society…
Find Out More »February 29, 2024|Reports
“The Garniers of Rookesbury: from Charitable Apothecary to Country Squire” – Dr Rosemary Baird Andreae
We were treated to the fascinating talk on the history of the fine Greek Revival house now known as Rookesbury Park in Wickham. As Huguenots, the first members of the Garnier family to come to England proved themselves as diligent professional apothecaries. In the eighteenth century they acquired through marriage a house and fields at…
Find Out More »January 31, 2024|Reports
“Powers behind the Throne: The Women of the First Millennium” – Dr Imogen Cooper
Wickham History Society’s first talk of 2024 was a virtual one. Imogen Corrigan, joining us from Kent, making a welcomed return on January 23rd to talk to 55 members and guests about what is known of powerful women of the first millennium in western Europe. Interestingly before the Norman conquest, Anglo Saxon women had much…
Find Out More »December 31, 2023|Reports
“Stories From The Tower Of London” – Anthony Strafford
Our traditional Christmas joint meeting with the Wickham Society on 12th December was great fun with Anthony Strafford in full Beefeater regalia. Anthony served and lived in the Tower of London and gave us some splendid stories of famous women who had had the misfortune, deserved or underserved, to end up there. He also had…
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