CHAIRMAN Pauline Roberts, welcomed members to the meeting, also welcoming two new members who had come to join us.

Two notices were given, one that the annual luncheon was booked at The Granary on April 15 and the cost will be £17.50. The second notice was to say an outing had been arranged for June 10 and was to be the National Trust property Tyntsfield; the coach will be £14 and admission £11.80 for non-members of the trust, the coach will leave at 9.30am.

The speaker for the evening was Anthony Collis, whose subject was the history of inn signs. Mr Collis is the chairman of the Inn Sign Society and has written books on the subject. The society’s purpose is to photograph all pub signs in the UK for historical records.

As pubs close we are losing their relevance to ancient history.

The Roman were the ones who started signs for ale houses as they decreed all ale houses were to have a sign. The sign was to be an evergreen bush, such as holly or yew, which means, therefore, the oldest name for an inn is the bush.

Mr Collis ended the talk by telling us what certain pub names meant.

The Gigmill relates to machinery lifting the nap on cloth, the Crabmill was to indicate home-made cider was available, The Stourbridge Lion is named after the engine made by Foster and Rastrick.

The Crispin is named after St Crispin, the patron saint of shoemakers.

Mrs Roberts gave a vote of thanks for an interesting and entertaining talk.

The competition for an unusual drinking vessel was won by Jean Braddock.