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Guided Walk – Mill Street History – 7:30 pm Tuesday 24th June 2025, led by PVHG

Packington Village History Group PVHG offers a FREE guided history walk of our village’s Mill Street, starting at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 24th June 2025 (weather permitting – and it looks like it most certainly will be!)

Our starting point is over there, on the “Severn-Trent Corner” of Babelake Street, at the Junction with Bridge Street, across the road from Mill Street – meet before the 7:30 pm start.

The guided walk will be led by PVHG chair Robin Boucher, whose reputation as a fount of knowledge of both Packington and History is well-deserved.

Mill Street has been described as “The Jewel in The Crown” of Packington, containing some of the most beautiful and historic aspects of our village. Do come along and hear about the foundation of the school, Packington’s three vicarages, the mill, the Honeybush Inn, the Baptist Chapel and other items of interest.

However – it hasn’t always been known as “Mill Street”..

It’s 72 years since the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II – do you know where to find this reminder?

This wall, above, is over 200 years old already. Do you know where on Mill Street it is to be found?

The ancient Mill Street steps above are over 180 years old. Do you know where they are, and where do – or did – they lead?

Answers to many more of our – and your – questions should be available from our Walk Leader, Robin Boucher, on Tuesday 24th June 2025, starting from the top end of Babelake Street at 7:30 pm. PVHG hope to see you there.

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Chair’s Report to PVHG Annual General Meeting, 28th January 2025

The Group has pursued two main projects during 2024.

Firstly, following a proposal from Adrian Mongredien, we set out to list the date of construction of all the buildings in the village. This generated a lot of interest and a substantial number of villagers came forward with information. There will of course always remain uncertainty about the village’s older properties, but we now have dates for well over half of the village. This will continue as an ongoing project for 2025 and we will aim to publicise the results in due course.

Our second project concerned the writings of Thomas Oakey about Holy Rood Church. I undertook to convert his manuscripts from the early 1900’s into publishable form, with an introduction and explanatory notes. Group members contributed to the process around the year and I was able to contact one of Thomas’s grandsons who provided valuable information. The project reached a successful conclusion at the end of the year with the publication of “Changing Scenes.” Following a launch event and other publicity, sales have already approached half of the print run of 100 copies. Our thanks go to the Parish Council for a grant from the Solar Fund and to Context for their publishing expertise.

Group meetings around the year have been well-attended with lively discussions. In late autumn we heard a fascinating account by Adrian Mongredien about his French ancestors and their role in a royalist rebellion in the 1790’s following the French Revolution.

Towards the end of the year another village group unexpectedly made a grant of £300 to our funds, giving an indication of the Group’s reputation in the village.

I would like to thank all Group members for their contributions around the year. Sue Brown has again minuted our meetings and provided information on all kinds of aspects of Packington history. Robert Dilworth has kept our website in good shape and again represented us on the Memorial Hall Committee. Doug Pratt has astonished us with his memories of events from up to 60 years ago. Yvonne Eaton has kept the Group’s finances in good shape.

We approach 2025 in a positive spirit!

Robin Boucher
4th January 2025

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PVHG Book Launch and Signing – Saturday 30th November 2024 – 10am to 1pm at Memorial Hall Meeting Room

Our Packington Village History Group PVHG has published a new book, about life more than a whole century ago, right here in our village.

The new book was launched on Saturday 30th November 2024, at the Memorial Hall meeting room, from 10 am to 1 pm.

PVHG chair and editor Robin Boucher personally signed first-day copies there. DO come and get YOURS!

Synopsis

It is the year 1900. A young Packington man observes village life.  He is “very fond of scribbling”.  He writes in an endearingly fluent hand of significant changes around him during his twenty-five years of life so far.

Soon, in 1901, two more stark changes. Early in the year after 63 years on the throne, the great Queen and Empress will die. The whole country is bereft.  Then, just prior to Christmas that year, a leading light of the village, the revered church vicar, will die suddenly.  The whole community is bereft. 

Changing Scenes indeed.  Thomas OAKEY writes again about his changed village and church life.

After a few more years, a third essay relates yet more changes under way.   

Latent till now in the archive of Packington Village History Group PVHG, his three handwritten manuscripts are reproduced here for YOU. 

Thomas gives us a unique insight into village life.  As he describes ordinary village folk reacting to change, we gain an endearing glimpse into our village and our country at the dawn of the twentieth century.

“Changing Scenes” indeed !

The book was launched on Saturday, 30th November, and editor Robin Boucher, chair of PVHG, was at the launch to sign YOUR first-day cover of the book.

Only 100 copies have been printed – this is YOUR opportunity to own this heart-warming treasure for an investment of just £5.

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PVHG Displays on Open Gardens Day 26th August 2024

Open Gardens Display

On the Bank Holiday Monday afternoon, 26th August 2024, our village History Group PVHG provided, in the Memorial Hall meeting room, some background information in a display about the Open Gardens history of our village:

The Full Display – Individual panels are shown below

House Dating Project Display

n addition, a brief summary display was shown, giving details of the project to record build date information, provided by villagers, of when their homes were built.

In mid-August 2024 we have dated 216 buildings, which we believe to be just under 60% of the total built environment of over 400 dwellings.

You can still contribute to this project by easily and quickly giving us your house date, using the form here on this website

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PVHG Members 2024

At our June 2024 meeting in Packington’s Memorial Hall Meeting Room, PVHG members agreed to having photographic images of themselves made available for posterity,

There were Eleven members present – here they are:

Yvonne Eaton – Treasurer
Robert Dilworth
Doug Pratt
Alan Ford
Dot Heath
Robin Boucher – Chair
Brian WIlliams
Ian Scruton
John Newbold
Adrian Mongredien
Nev Bray
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Chair’s Report to Annual General Meeting, 23 January 2024

At the start of 2023 we looked forward to progressing work on Packington’s carnivals and to cooperating with the Parochial Church Council to provide boards displaying the history of Holy Rood Church. For various reasons we have not been able to develop these projects during the year; however we hope to achieve more on both in 2024.

In March we heard from Ian Scruton about his work transcribing wills and inventories of Packington people in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Recent comments among historians have highlighted the significance of wills left by “ordinary people” as a key source of information about their lives – Ian’s work bears testimony to this and his information was warmly received.

In June I led a walk up High Street, with a good attendance despite uncertain weather. The walk was complemented by a display of photographs and light refreshments and the evening was enjoyed by all who attended.

Over the summer we worked with other organisations on a couple of projects.

The Horticultural Society celebrated its 80th year of shows and I contributed an article for the Society’s brochure/programme.

Then in September, under the nationwide Heritage Open Day scheme, Holy Rood Church opened to the public on what proved to be the hottest day of the year. Sue Brown had provided an excellent display of photos and documents on the history of the church, while I gave a talk about items inside the church which link to Packingtonians from times past. This event attracted a lot of interest.

In the autumn we looked at writings by local farmer Thomas Oakey about Holy Rood Church in and soon after the year 1900.

John Newbold gave us some information about a couple of village families dating back to the 1700’s.

Adrian Mongredien proposed a new project to identify the construction dates of properties in Packington which we look forward to pursuing in 2024.

Thanks to all who have taken part in our meetings – the Group continues to have wide-ranging discussions. Particular thanks go to Sue Brown for taking meeting minutes, contributing to displays and for her efforts in restructuring our archive; to Robert Dilworth for developing our website and for representing us on the Memorial Hall Committee; and to Yvonne Eaton for once more keeping our finances on an even keel.

Robin Boucher
5th January 2024

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Guided Tour – High Street History Walk – 7:30pm Tuesday 27th June 2023, led by PVHG

Packington Village History Group PVHG offers a FREE guided history walk of our village High Street, taking place at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 27th June 2023 (weather permitting!).

Meeting point: just across the road from the Bull and Lion.

The guided walk will be led by PVHG chair Robin Boucher, whose reputation as a fount of knowledge of Packington History is well -deserved.

The meeting point is the location a century ago of Packington’s Reading Room building, now the service road of Heather Lane

Robin will describe historic features of our High Street, some of which are more evident than others:

Perhaps you have seen this odd-shaped stone at the High Street entrance to Hall Lane – do you know what it is called, or what it is for?

There is a story behind many of the historic buildings and features of our High Street, and we who can walk blithely past today may never have realised the way things were in times of yore.

Do come along and join us for this informative event, (did we mention it is FREE?) which leads at its end to refreshments in our Memorial Hall Meeting Room, where a display of High Street information will be available.

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Chair’s Report to Annual General Meeting, January 2023

Robin Boucher, chair of PVHG, prepared the following report of 2022 activities to the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 24th January 2023:

After the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic, it was a relief to be able to resume our normal pattern of face-to-face meetings in 2022.

During the first months we were planning our participation in Packington’s celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. When the time came this went well; the Platinum Poem was well-received and we presented a display and book stall at the cream tea event. Thanks to everyone who contributed over the weekend.

In the second half of the year we have researched the story of the village’s carnivals, 1973 – 2008. We have now gathered substantial information and started a process of interviews with people who took part. We intend to landmark the fiftieth anniversary of the first carnival during the coming year.

We provided a display and bookstall at the Open Gardens event at the end of August.

During the autumn we have provided substantial new material to Wikipedia’s section on Packington’s history and, at the end of the year, started talks with the Parochial Church Council about publicising the history of Holy Rood Church. We have been pleased to see prospective new members joining the group (and former members returning) – meetings have become lively!

My thanks go to all who have taken part during the year, in particular to Sue Brown for taking minutes, for arranging our displays and for excellent work on the 1921 census, to Robert Dilworth for keeping us up-to-date with technology, to Adrian Mongredien and Nev Bray for their contributions to our carnival project, and to Yvonne Eaton for keeping our finances in order..

Robin Boucher
4th January 2023

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Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Tuesday 25th January 2022

Present: Robin Boucher, Yvonne Eaton, Adrian Mongredien, Robert Dilworth, Nev Bray, Sue /Brown.

  1. Chairman’s welcome
  2. Apologies for absence – Ian and Pat Scruton, Marion Wright, David Fill.
  3. Notes from meeting held on Zoom on 23rd February 2021. There were no matters arising but Robin mentioned Yvonne’s long service to the group, having been a founder member and secretary for the past 30 years. He presented her with a pair of crystal glasses as a mark of appreciation from the group.
  4. Chairman’s report
    • During the first half of 2021 we were constrained by Government restrictions on meetings, due to the Covid pandemic. Some of us met on Zoom while others felt unable to do so. In the autumn we were able to meet face-to-face once more. Despite the difficulties, the year was not without some achievements.
    • Following Yvonne Eaton’s retirement form the position of secretary, Sue Brown agreed to take on the role for the next couple of years. Thankyou, Sue, for undertaking this work.
    • While we were unable to meet, Sue Brown and Robert Dilworth worked on production of a list of baptisms and burials which now appears on the Group’s website. 3,286 entries are now available for visitors to examine.
    • In mid-June, I led a walk up Mill Street. The weather for the evening was beautiful and around thirty people turned out, which was close to the permitted attendance for an outdoor event at the time. The walk was well-received – the appearance of a peacock near the starting-point was clearly a good omen!
    • Meanwhile I had also started preparing a publication, based on oral interviews which our predecessors had undertaken from the late 1980’s onwards. Group members helped with proof-reading and supportive feedback and the Parish Council made a grant from its Solar Fund towards production costs. “A Way of Life That Has Gone” was published in December; the PVHG publicity machine rolled into action (thankyou Robert and Sue) and it was launched at a signing session in the Memorial Hall. At the time of writing over half of the print run of 100 copies has been sold.
    • Our autumn meetings included a session looking at the 1735 estate map of Packington and a very interesting presentation by Sue Brown on the Leeson family, prominent in Packington from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. We concluded by starting to plan our contribution to the village’s Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration to be held in June 2022.
    • Ian had been transcribing some of the wills and Robin would discuss with him the way to take this forward.
    • Robin also stated that whilst he was willing to stand as Chairman for the coming year he did not consider that he should continue holding the position for a long time.
  5. Treasurer’s report Yvonne reported that we had a balance of £673.43 in the bank. Income consisted of £105 in membership fees, sale of books £233 and £706 from the Solar Fund grant. Expenditure consisted of £72 for the hire of venue 35 from 2020 to date, and the payment to Context for the printing of “A Way of Life that has Gone” of £814.
  6. Election of officers for 2022
    • Chairman Robin Boucher
    • Vice-Chairman – to be decided by those present as and when the need occurs.
    • Secretary Sue Brown
    • Treasurer Yvonne Eaton
  7. Membership fees for 2022 would remain at £10 for individuals and £15 for couples. The meeting decided that potential new members could attend two meetings before being asked for a subscription.
  8. Dates of meetings for 2022 – Below is a list of proposed dates for meetings in 2022, following the pattern of previous years.
    • 25th January 2022 Tuesday
    • 22nd February
    • 22nd March
    • 26th April
    • 24th May
    • 2nd-5th June Platinum Jubilee Celebrations
    • 28th June
    • No meetings in July or August
    • 27th September
    • 25th October
    • 22nd November
    • No meeting in December
    • (24th January 2023 – Annual General Meeting)

The meeting closed at 8.20