Beacons of the Past was an exciting 4.5 year Lottery funded project designed to conserve and discover more about the hillforts of the Chilterns landscape.

It accomplished a great deal more than this and laid the foundation for a new archaeological focus for the National Landscape. Dr Wendy Morrison will report on the final years of the project and what comes next for archaeology in the Chilterns.

Children and War
Experiences of the Second World War in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire escaped major bombing during World War II, but the county’s inhabitants were, nonetheless, heavily affected by the War. Preparations for possible attack and invasion altered the familiar landscape, and everyday life in towns and villages was disrupted. Thousands of evacuees found refuge here and became part of residents’ homes and schools.

This talk looks at how the lives of Oxfordshire children – both those born in the county and those evacuated here – were affected by World War II.

It will likely prompt older listeners to recall and share their wartime experiences, whether from Oxfordshire or elsewhere. The talk is based on work done for the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Trust, whose major 2011-13 exhibition, Children and War, examined wartime evacuation, boy soldiers, war toys and commemoration, from the Boer War to the present day.

VE Day – Walks and Talks: Exploring Henley during the Second World War

Walks and Talks: Exploring Henley during the Second World War

There will be an all morning Seminar as part of the Town’s celebration of the 80^th Anniversary of VE Day on Saturday 10 May, followed in the afternoon by guided walks of the town.

Seminar

Start Time: The seminar, opened by Henley’s Mayor, Rory Hunt, will start at 9.30, and end at 1pm.

Venue: The Thames Room at the River and Rowing Museum

Programme: Members of subgroup of HA&HG will present the results of their research over the morning, as follows (subject to change):

1. Setting the scene: A small town at war
2. Getting ready – how Henley prepared for war
3. The initial shock of the war – the arrival of evacuees, the loss and capture of many local men at Dunkirk, and the start of the Blitz on London.
4. Social life in the town during the war – black out, food rationing, social organisation, and the mechanisation of farming

Coffee break

5. Stuart Turner: war production in the town
6. American troops, war workers, the British Restaurant, and fire-watching: the second half of the war.
7. Preparing for peace – celebrations of the end of the war, switching the lights on again, closing down the hostels, returning soldiers, a bigger town,  prefab housing, a public library and a bus station

Guided walks

In the afternoon, members of the Group will provide guided walks of the town themed around the war, to see the sites which played a particular part, and offering greater understanding of what life in the town was like.

The walks will be for all ages, and commence every hour from 2.30 at the bottom end of Market Place until 5.30.

Tickets

Tickets for the seminar and walks will go on sale from 1 April. The price of tickets is £10.

Please send any enquires to HA&HG’s e-mail address: HenArchAndHistGrp@gmail.com

A brief history of the Post Office and Royal Mail