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THIS LOCAL HISTORY CLUB was started in 1985 as part of the St Vincent Adult Education
programme. Wendy Thorpe, the Centre Head was facing hard financial cuts. So she cut out the Tutor’s fee for our Researching Local History Class on the 3rd Thursday of every month,
and replaced it with Gosport’s St Vincent Local History Club.
She organised it completely herself, She collected together people from her
other daytime classes. She tempted them in with the prospect of an hour’s talk about new-found aspects of Gosport’s amazing history. This was given by Class tutor, Joan Russell, her
students & others.
Over biscuits and coffee Wendy “chose” the officers... “You, you and
you” – Audrey Brett Chairman, Joyce Kilham Secretary and Pat Marsden Treasurer! Ok? I’m sure you’ll all be wonderful. (AND THEY WERE!) And I’ll rent you a meeting
room, so 8 times a year you can have a lunchtime Local History talk from some of the Class members about Gosport’s fascinating history. And you can all go and chat over
coffee in the lounge afterwards. How about charging £1.50 per meeting for rent and postage and coffee and biscuits?
So, for over 20 years, St Vincent L.H. Club members have met 8 times a year. After 10 years
we were obliged to move from St Vincent to a more central meeting place at 151, Stoke Road. There, Health and Safety regulations restrict us to 50 members. But alas, over the years many a familiar
face has been replaced by a new one, as age has taken its toll. Gradually our knowledge of Gosport’s dramatic past has expanded. We’ve covered many topics, from 10th Century Saxon and
Viking times up to the end of the 20th Century including the making of our 21st C. Millenium Promenade.
OUR AIM NOW IS to summarise the best of 150 odd talks onto this website. Our Class explored
Gosport’s history back centuries at a time. But the nost popular talks have been by our oldest members. Vivid childhood memoriesof growing up in old Gosport-town from 1900-1945, before and during
World War 2 appeal to all ages! So gradually you too can get a feel of Gosport’s long amazing past
Chairman of the FRIENDS OF GOSPORT MUSEUM, Mr Robert Whiteley fights to keep its identity, now it
is inside the new 2005 DISCOVERY CENTRE. Copies of papers donated to the old Gosport Museum Archive, now in store, would enhance OUR Gosport archive.
DETAILS OF GOSPORT’S ST VINCENT LOCAL HISTORY
CLUB 1. Name of Club - Gosport St Vincent Local History
Club 2. Date formed - May 1985 – more than 20 years
ago 3. Charity status - never applied for, but non-profit
making 5. Attendance restricted by Health & Safety to
50
6. Active volunteers vary – at present only 8 or 9 7. No paid personnel 8. Client Group includes:-
- A) Active older people interested in Gosport’s History, free to attend a 2 hour lunchtime meeting on the
3rd Thursday during 8 months a year.
- B) A number of organisations large and small – Church groups, “Friends Groups”. Townswomens
Guilds. Discussion Groups, Luncheon Clubs, Womens’ Institutes, Political Clubs etc. who have asked us for a speaker.
- C) Members of the public who have attended Community-based functions or talks. Or where we have had stands and
exhibitions, or heard our occasional appearances on local radio,
9. The main activity of our group is to provide interesting factual stories about
many aspect of Gosport’s fascinating past. Be it anything from fossils to the Romans and Saxons, from the medieval foundations of Portsmouth and Gosport and Rowner’s Grange Farm
to Gosport’s Millennium Promenade. From the 1642 battle between Royalist Portsmouth and Roundhead-occupied Gosport, to our long rise and fall as a military seaport. EVERYTHING has
a past, and the past is always replaced by the present.
Joan Russell, President Gosport St Vincent Local History Club.
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