Last year's garden party was much more activity-based, and this seemed to be generally welcomed, so for the 2003 Garden Party we will be building on this successful formula with more activities and events - and probably a little music as well.

Our two-centre coach trip, to Slimbridge and then to Berkeley Castle, was well attended and the weather was kind to us, allowing us to stroll round Slimbridge (pausing to be mugged by geese, swans and assorted ducks) and to explore the mysteries of Berkeley Castle.  Only one centre this year, but that is the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagan's. 

Our second event jointly with the Royal Geographical Society - "Exploring Bredon Hill" was embarrassingly well attended and we took a party of 60, including presenters, on an exploration of the history, archaeology and geomorphology of the hill with our 'Mobile Brains Trust'.  This year we have planned a similar exploration of Midsummer Hill.  

A new departure this year was the Peter Reynolds Memorial Lecture.  A public lecture with a celebrity lecturer - we had Professor Mick Aston of 'Time Team' - drew in a crowd of 300 (and we had a waiting list) many of whom had probably had never had any contact with the VEHS or the Almonry before.

The Society will be manning stalls and a display based on a pictorial representation of "Evesham Through the Ages" by David Staite, at the Evesham Medieval Fayre on May 31st and June 1st, in the Workman Gardens (next to the "Drunken Monk Tavern"!).  Volunteers to stand a shift (or a round) will be very welcome.

We have also approached the Fairfax Battalia (Civil War Re-enactors) to mount a living history camp at the Almonry this year.

Going back a little further than the civil wars, to 1605 in fact, we are in the early stages of planning our first day-school to which we have given the working title of: "The Local Connections of the Gunpowder Treason", which we propose to stage with the help of lecturers from the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford.  Appropriately we are aiming for the weekend before November 5th.

Our website has been relaunched as www.vehs.org.uk.  At present there are only two pages: a home page and our calendar for the year, but we would welcome your comments and suggestions before we start piling the material on.  You will no doubt recognise the artwork by Michael Barnard (especially his interpretation of our shield and the 'Brother William' figure).

Although our membership numbers have been growing steadily we would welcome more new members and we now have membership forms and hand bills to help to spread the word, and we hope that our web site will make the VEHS into an organisation that is recognised beyond our county. 

We have lost a number of committee members in the past for a variety of reasons but I think that Sophie will be the first one who left their office because of pregnancy!  We give Sophie and Richard our best wishes.

We have had a season of excellent speakers and, you will see from your membership cards, that we have another Autumn and Winter season to look forward to.

As you walk round the Heritage Centre you will notice the effects of the first phases of the new lighting scheme.  This is a continuing campaign (there are several more phases to come) to replace the lighting in the Almonry with something more atmospheric that will direct the visitor's attention to the exhibits on display.   A big helping of thanks to Gerald and Ian who have dedicated themselves to this important work.

The garden seems to go from strength to strength and I must record my thanks to David, Chris and Mike for doing so much work to maintain and improve it.

We continue to work to widen the appeal of the Almonry through our school outreach programme and through our appeal to tourists and visitors.   School outreach is becoming increasingly important and there are plans in hand to provide information packs to schools in the area to tell them what we can do to help with the needs of the curriculum.  It is early days but we hope to forge close links with our local schools and to become an important educational resource for the town.  Tony and his team have been doing a sterling job in widening the appeal of the Almonry to younger visitors (and giving their parents a little peace and quiet to look round).

In the Almonry the town has a first class asset and, through the efforts of members of the society, it gets better and better.  What we need now is to get more visitors through the door to enjoy it.  There are government initiatives, and plans by our town council and by Wychavon, to bring tourists to the area and we will have our part to play in drawing an increasing proportion of those visitors into the Almonry.

We have not had a publishing event of our own for some time although we played a large part in, and partially financed, Maureen Butler's "Lost Abbey of Evesham", and Maureen was kind enough to invite me to read it with her for the Talking Newspaper.  Publication of Malcolm Atkin's "Storm of Fire and Leaden Hail", a history of Evesham during the civil wars, has been delayed several times; every time Malcolm is ready to release he finds out something new and goes back to revise it.  The first part of Mike Hunt's "Windows on Evesham" is nearing completion and this will be followed by another six parts.  We have several other publishing prospects under review; these will be mentioned further during the course of the year.  I would like to draw your attention to one special publishing enterprise: we have the opportunity to sponsor a new edition of May's "History of Evesham" of 1845 and we have circulated details separately. 

Special thanks are due to the Thursday-nighters (they know who they are!), to the volunteers who very kindly prepare our refreshment at our speaker meetings and to everyone who helped with last year's Garden Party.  We can always use a few more Thursday-nighters!

One final thing I need to mention:  since he took over as TIC manager Tony Whiting has given his time, skill, experience and ingenuity to building the Almonry up into a first class heritage centre.  We have worked well with and alongside Tony and he has been a good friend to the Society.  Sadly, this will be the last year in which Tony will be TIC manager as he approaches a well-deserved – though from our point of view premature  - retirement.  As this is the last AGM at which Tony will be the TIC manager I would like to express the Society’s appreciation.   

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