Amblecote History Society

The meeting started with Andrew Lound setting the scene with futuristic animation and sound effects of a Ministry of Education training course "cerebral download" to students in the 24th Century classroom. The audience then had to use a vivid imagination against a context of the World War III having destroyed historical artefacts and archives of the 21st Century to contemplate how today might be perceived 300 years into the future.

Andrew, adopting a thought provoking approach, claimed that much of the 21st Century history was an illusion, referring to the "Year 2000 threat" as an example. He moved through the emergence of China as a world power, the influence of politics, economics and the terrorist acts which blighted the world at that time, only to be countered by great of acts of humanity as mankind and the human spirit ultimately overcame that adversity.

On a lighter hearted note he mused that football - perhaps a religion, a social movement or a political movement consisted of teams of millionaires kicking a leather ball around with tribal colours, rituals and crowd songs urging them on towards the goal. Naturally today’s global leaders were portrayed in an equally satirical manner as were X-Factor judges and other ‘celebrities’ whose achievements were difficult to uncover and determine in any available historical records.

It was a challenging scenario to imagine but one which was most amusing at times and as always delivered in Andrew’s passionate, enthusiastic and inimitable style.