The AGM was followed by a talk from Anna Kingsley-Curry about the Woodcote Diamond Jubilee Project at the March meeting in Chaddesley Village Hall.

The book and map have been available for some time (proceeds to Air Ambulance) but the talk provided insight into how the project had grown from its inception at a Jubilee party to the final publication.

Information from a wide range of sources took the story of Woodcote from the ancient to the present day. Residents pooled local knowledge, with house sales particulars, auction listings and saved newspaper articles.

Old lawsuits were investigated and old wills looked into to enrich investigations that the team conducted into the archives of Worcestershire, adding in handwritten accounts of love stories, ghost stories and the newspaper columns of a naturalist.

Maps overlaid with each other build up a picture of the area’s development and the census gave an overview of how local people worked. Bank manager, bee keeper and rag and bone man were a few professions of Woodcote’s former inhabitants.

The talk will hopefully encourage others to look into history on their doorstep.

Paula Kovacs will give a talk on the Museum of Carpet in Kidderminster at the meeting on Wednesday, April 17. It will be held in Chaddesley Corbett Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Everyone will be welcome. Admission is £2.50 for members and £3.50 for non-members.

For more information, contact Rob Blakeway on 01562 777679.