The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.48 No.1 | June 2021

Local Group Programmes

(April) A History of Hampshire through 10 objects – Tony Cross Our international members were guided through 100 million years of Hampshire history in an evening! Tony’s talk was illustrated with many images and was accompanied with a very comprehensive narrative. We gained knowledge of the geology of our county and how our ancestors built buildings using the flint and chalk deposits. Our journey then took us to the Roman era and to Silchester and its walls and amphitheatre. The Anglo Saxon period looked at the discovery of the cemetery and the very fine crafted ‘Alton buckle’ made of silver gilt. Tony then discussed the Normans talking about the Rufus Stone in the New Forest and the 12th century fonts made of Tournai marble which can be found in four churches in Hampshire - some members had seen them. There was a leap of several hundred years and we had arrived at the Crimean War. We were told about the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley that had opened in 1863 and the life of Florence Nightingale. Tony then spoke about the terrible sinking of the Titanic, many of the crew had come from Southampton and had been buried there, however there were 340 bodies who were interred at the Fairview cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia. To commemorate the fallen in the Great War Tony showed the various different forms that war memorials can take within the county. To complete the talk we followed the evolution of telephone kiosk from the original design named ‘K1’ through to the final KX series. The new uses of the telephone box was then discussed, these include using them as a library, a tourist information booth to a defib outlet. The evening ended with a lively discussion of what we had heard. Forthcoming Meetings:

Note the times change to suit differing areas of the world. 5th June 5 10:00 am

Royal Flying Corps and Hampshire Colonel Paul Beaver via Zoom

20 million bricks: The history of Bursledon Brickworks

4th August 8:00 pm

and 7th August at 10am Carolyn Haynes via Zoom The history of England's last remaining Victorian steam-driven brickworks. How a Quaker family from Middlesex set up the business and created one of the first brickmaking factories.

Executive Meetings are normally held at the HGS Office in Cosham on the fourth Wednesday of alternate months, beginning at 7.15 pm. Development Forum Meetings are normally held at Twyford Village Hall three times a year on Sunday at 2.15 pm (Group Organisers) and 3.15 pm. Executive Committee and Development Forum Meetings

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