NOTES FROM THE CHAIR – OCTOBER 2019
1919 Finances
The CHS committee met two weeks ago and we were in a position to review the income and expenditure arising out of the 1919 centenary activities. We raised just over £500 for the church at the concert on 5th October which has already been passed on. We are able to increase this to a total of £1,000 in recognition of the considerable amount of time we made use of the church for the exhibition and other events. We have also given a further £500 to John Fieldhouse, the graphic designer who converted the material we gave him into the exhibition. This still doesn’t fully compensate him for the many hours he spent on producing this and the Guide to the Auction booklet. Copies of the latter are still being sold in the shop and in the Royal Oak at a price of £5 but stocks are beginning to run low. We still have around 150 copies which were badly assembled and stapled after printing which has resulted in the pages being misaligned. They are readable and all the content is still there so we will sell them at a reduced price. The printer has given us a refund for these but didn’t want the copies back.
Better Late Than Never
In the January edition of the Dorset Life magazine, there will be a feature article about the 1919 sale and our exhibition written by Roger Guttridge who came to see me a few weeks ago. He is a regular contributor to this magazine and has written other books and articles about Dorset having lived and worked in Dorset all his life. To be fair, the magazine did carry a trailer for the exhibition, which was in the October issue, published before the end of September.
Sherborne Museum
I have recently received a message from Nicola Berry, Chair of Sherborne Museum who had the following message: Sherborne Museum is looking for keen history enthusiasts to join our very friendly team of stewards and I thought your society might be a good place to start. I was therefore wondering whether you could pass this message on to your members and if anyone is interested ask them to contact either myself at
chair@sherbornemuseum.co.uk or the Curator, Elizabeth Bledsoe at info@sherbornemuseum.co.uk
November talk
We end the year on a sombre note with an account of the Black Death in Dorset. As we know, the disease entered Britain through Weymouth in June 1348, so Dorset was the first county to be hit by the disease. Our speaker, Mark Forrest is the archivist at Dorset History Centre. He will reflect on the crisis of 1348-1349 and how this and later outbreaks of the plague changed the economy and landscape of the country.
Annual General Meeting
The AGM will be held on Thursday 23rd January at 7.30pm. The formal business of the evening will briefly review this year’s activities and will look forward to 2020 The new committee will be elected, and we are always looking for people to become involved in our activities, either on the committee or in other ways.
Mike Clark, Chair CHS
You can get in touch with Mike via the Contact Us form on this site.
Talk 24th October
There is life after all the 1919 activities and this resumes when Steve White gives a talk on the White Horse at Osmington in the usual village hall venue. Steve writes: “As far as the White Horse is concerned, I started to compile an article for Dorset Life in 2008 as this was exactly 200 years after it was carved. Whilst researching, it transpired that a group was being formed to restore the monument and I was recruited as the research historian.”
1919 Centenary
It’s all over now and time to draw breath. We had 1,520 visitors to the exhibition which exceeded expectations and sold over 700 of the Guide booklets. The modest special exhibition price of the Guides has come to an end and further copies can now be bought from Cerne Abbas Stores for £5. The reaction to the exhibition and to all the events has been very positive. Referring to the exhibition, even Dave Fox was moved to write, ‘not bad at all.’ High praise indeed. There will be further feedback in due course when the organisers have re-charged their batteries.
Archaeological Dowsing
Some of you will have attended a talk by Peter Emery as part of the Giant Festival earlier this year. On 30th October at 7.30pm in the village hall, Peter will be giving a slide presentation on his quest to locate the Cerne Benedictine Abbey Church and associated buildings. Using archaeological dowsing techniques, Peter has produced a plan to show the location of all the Abbey complex. The exact location of this has hitherto been difficult to confirm so it will be intriguing to listen to what Peter has to say. He has made his own arrangements for this talk as it is not a Historical Society event. Admission is £4 on the door and all proceeds will go to the Little Hearts Matter charity.
Mike Clark, Chair CHS
You can get in touch with Mike via the Contact Us form on this site.