MEMBERS were asked to indicate on the list on the table their choice of meal for the Christmas lunch, and were also reminded that payment should be made at the November meeting. Correspondence - a letter was received from Tupsley Guild who are organizing the carol service this year inviting the Guild to the service in Hereford on December 6. Information was received from the museum of Royal Worcester about a tour by master potter Roger Green. Two tours are on offer.

Section reports - the walk at Upton will last about one and a half hours starting at the Pepperpot at 2pm. Music - now have three bookings. If any members would like to join the group there are three seats available. Sales Table - for November we will have Christmas goodies, but members were asked to take home anything they had brought which was not sold. Everything must go !.

Our speaker this month should have been Julia Steels on The Magistracy but she was unable to attend so fortunately we were able to contact Peter Asquith who was due to give a talk in January and he was able to change dates. Mr Asquith's talk was on the Bevin Boys, of which he himself was one.

At the age of 18 he received call-up papers for the Royal Navy and went for the medical, but then found that he had been balloted to work down the mines. In 1940 there were 760,000 miners but later there were less because some of them had joined the Forces. This meant that more men were needed because of the increased need for coal, so young men aged 18-25 who were eligible for national service were balloted and some were diverted to the mines. They lived in Nissen huts and had to pay for their accommodation, unlike members of the Forces. They were given two 7/6d travel vouchers per year so did not get home very often. They did have a social life however, when they were not working, there was a club where there was dancing.

They worked three shifts a day, and did not go down to the coal face at first, only after they had finished training and had other jobs. When they did go down to the coal face they had to go down in a cage wearing boots, helmet, knee pads, shorts and a vest and also with a lamp. The cage went down very fast. It was 2,400 feet down and it took about three quarters of an hour to get to the coal face. It was of course very hard work.

There were 47,000 Bevin Boys and Mr Asquith was one of them for four years. At first they did not receive any recognition for their work during the war, but have more recently been given a medal for their service and are also now being included in the parade on Armistice Day.

Mr Asquith's talk was very interesting and informative.

Our speaker next month will be Paul Harding on A Medieval Christmas. The Guild meets on the third Thursday of every month at 10.15am at Clarence Park Village hall. Visitors are always welcome.

EDNA O'CONNOR