The popular Bridgwater History Day will take place at the Bridgwater Arts Centre on Saturday 8th November with doors opening from 10am The event will finish at 4pm will feature 8 local historians, a live band and free historical food. Topics this year will include The Monmouth Rebellion, Bridgwater carnival, John Pym, Romani history, World War 2 memories, the towns first waterworks and how to spell Bridg-e-water. Historians include Tom Mayberry, Chris Hocking, Dave Chapple Miles Kerr Peterson, Phil Shepherd, Maggie Smith Bendell, Tony Woolrich and Liz Leavy. Compere will be Brian Smedley, and the event will be opened by Mayor of Bridgwater Kathy Pearce.
Programme
1025 Opening by Mayor Kathy Pearce Compere Brian Smedley
1030-1100 Chris Hocking “The history of Carnival”
1100-1130 Phil Shepherd + Maggie Smith Bendell “Romani Roots”
1130-1200 “Two Short History Films”
Miles Kerr Peterson ‘How to Spell Bridg(e?)water’
Tony Woolrich ‘The Lytle Mill and the Town’s First Waterworks’’
1200-1245 Dave Chapple-King Charles vs King Pym
1245 West Country music making in the early Nineteenth Century THE CHALK NEWTON BAND
1315-1400 Historical lunch ‘Medieval Pottage Stew’ (Eva Kam of Mingle Café, 70-72 St John Street, Bridgwater)
“Mingle Café is a community café situated in St John Street Bridgwater serving food from Tuesday to Saturday 12 noon to 6 pm. Eva says “Stepping forward to those who struggle to step forward themselves. We love people, hate waste and we stand against inequality.”
1400-1430 Instruments of Joy- Outdoor music making through the ages, an illustrated talk from ancient horns to nineteenth century carnival bands with THE CHALK NEWTON BAND
1430-1450 Liz Leavy “My Grandmother’s wartime diary”
1450-1600 Tom Mayberry -“Remembering the Monmouth Rebellion”
BRIDGWATER CARNIVAL
Chris Hocking first became involved in Bridgwater Carnival in 1967 when he joined the Commercial Carnival Club (now known as Marketeers C C. He is now a vice-president of both
Marketeers and Wills Carnival Clubs. In 1984 he joined the Bridgwater Carnival committee, taking on the role of Publicity
Officer, a post he held for 19 years before becoming President from 2004 to 2006. He compered the annual Carnival Concerts for 18 years from 1991. Chris is a Life Member of Bridgwater Carnival with responsibility for special projects,
grant applications and delivering Carnival Day entertainment.
He was the Project Coordinator for Bridgwater Carnival’s entry in Her Majesty the
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant in June 2022.
ROMANI ROOTS
Maggie Smith Bendell 1941 born Romani author Maggie Smith-Bendell will talk about the lives of Travellers in Somerset in the mid- twentieth century. The talk will be introduced by Phil Shepherd from Somerset Film
2 SHORT HISTORY FILMS
There will be 2 short history films made by Miles Kerr Peterson and Tony Woolrich
Miles Kerr Peterson is an independent researcher specialising in
Bridgwater as well as Scotland in the era of Mary Queen of Scots and
James VI. He maintains the Bridgwater Heritage Group website and is
chair of the Friends of the Wembdon Road Cemetery.
Tony Woolrich became involved with the Museum when he retired in 2007, so worked on the refurbishment under Dr Cattermole. He was Deputy Curator until 2012 and Curator until 2018, when he became co-editor of the Bridgwater History Group website with Miles Kerr Peterson. Tony specialises in industrial history and biography, and contributed to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers and Wikipedia. He edits the Blake Museum newsletters — Blake News, and Bridgwater Heritage Newsletter.
KING CHARLES VS KING PYM
Dave Chapple is a Somerset socialist and trades unionist who was born in Clevedon and has lived in Bridgwater-his ‘home from home’- for 38 years. He studied philosophy and history at Sussex University for 18 months. Dave was, from leaving University in 1973, a North Somerset school cleaner for ten years, and a delivery postman for thirty-eight years. He is the author and publisher of nine books of working-class autobiography and biography. He is the Secretary of Bridgwater and District Trades Union Council; the Chair of Bridgwater and District Civic Society, and a veteran vinyl-only black music DJ, with his own Red Shadow Sound System.”
THE CHALK NEWTON BAND
The Chalk Newton Band are Phil Humphries horns and serpent, Colin Thompson – violin and Tim Hill, shawms, clarinets and percussion
Phil Humphries Phil is one of the UK’s leading players of serpent and other early brass. He is a member of The London Serpent Trio and guests regularly with various orchestras and early music ensembles including the New London Consort and The Gabrielli Players. He plays with the Mellstock Band recreating the musical world of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, appearing in film and Television productions Like the Return of the Native, Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Pride and Prejudice.
Colin Thompson Colin is a renowned fiddler, singer and guitarist and performer of Dorset traditional music. He was a member of the New Scorpion Band, regularly performs with singer story-teller Tim Laycock, and is a founder member of Dorset Fiddles. He and Tim reprinted manuscript book of the Eighteenth -Century Dorset fiddler Benjamin Rose. Colin featured in ITV’s film of Thomas Hardy’s “The Mayor of Casterbridge.
Tim Hill Tim is from the music charity The Sound of the Streets, who are creating a band for carnival this year. He plays saxes and other winds in early music through folk to jazz and beyond. He also plays in the Mellstock Band and has appeared in lots of TV and film adaptations
WARTIME MEMORIES
Liz Leavy is a Bridgwater Town Councillor, a former teacher and a former Magistrate. She has lived in the town for many years and was recently the Mayor of Bridgwater.
REMEMBERING THE MONMOUTH REBELLION
Tom Mayberry MBE served as Chief Executive of the South West Heritage Trust after it was established in 2014 until his retirement in 2022. He led the refurbishment of the Somerset Rural Life Museum and previously oversaw the creation of the Somerset Heritage Centre and the Museum of Somerset. From 2004, he was responsible for Heritage Services in Somerset, including museums, archives, and the historic environment, and from 2010 also managed Somerset’s Library Service. Tom is a writer, historian and lecturer with a longstanding interest in the heritage of the West Country.