Summer Social Event 2011

The summer social event was held at Dudley Castle on the evening of 26 July, and was blessed with excellent weather. There was a good turn out of members and their guests, and a good time was had by all - the supply of food and drink exceeded the capacity of those present!

PLEASE NOTE CHANGES OF DATES AND SPEAKERS AT UPCOMING MEETINGS

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING MEETING CHANGES:
Thursday 10th February - John Chappel speaking on an, as yet, unknown subject - White House
Saturday, 5th March 2011 - re-arranged Coach Trip to Liverpool
Thursday 10th March - Sarah Chubb on Chances Glass - White House
Thursday 14th April - AGM. Peter Suddock on an update of Zoo activities. Location: Undercroft, Dudley Castle
Tuesday, 10th May - Irene Deboo speaking on Weoley Castle - Undercroft
Tuesday 14th June: Graham Worton to take us on a geological tour around the Wrens Nest site

Bad weather cancellations

Due to snow, ice and bad roads the Christmas Dinner (due on Wednesday, 1st December 2010) at The Fiddlers has been postponed until Wednesday 5th January 2011. Reservations will stand for the new date!

Second, the Coach Trip to Liverpool was also postponed from Saturday, 4th December 2010 and will now run on Saturday, 5th March - again, reservations for tickets will be retained, unless you can no longer make that date in which case please contact the organiser to talk about a refund.

October Meeting

The talk by David Beeston at the meeting of the Friends on 19th October will be "Behind the Scenes at Dudley Zoo". PLEASE NOTE that the meeting will be held at The White House in Ednam Road, and NOT at the Castle as shown on the web site previously.

Heritage Day 11 September

There was a Heritage Day at Dudley Council House on Saturday 11th September, and Alan Harvey put on a fine display of armour, weapons etc. There were quite a reasonable number of visitors, and Alan put on a fine show to keep them entertained.

Guild event at the Castle on 11 September cancelled

We are sorry to report that the Guild event at Dudley Castle scheduled for 11th of September has had to be cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control (filming will be taking part around the Castle). Please accept our apologies for this, and the short notice.

SPECIAL SOCIAL EVENT 29 JULY

An additional summer social event has been organised at Dudley Castle on the evening of Thursday 29th July. This is in honour of visitors from Dudley's twin town Bremen, but all members are welcome again. Entry is via the Fellows Gate from 7:00-7:30pm - bring a bite and a bottle. If you attended our event in June we are sure you will want to repeat the experience, and if you missed that event, this is an opportunity to repair the omission.

Summer Social Event, 15 June 2010

Today's summer social event was very successful - perfect weather, and excellent company and food and drink. Many thanks to all the organisers and participants for a most enjoyable evening.

Cluniac Celebrations 14-15th May

The exhibition at Dudley Museum & Art Gallery marking the 1100th anniversary of the Cluniac Order will have an evening opening at 6pm on Friday 14th May, followed (weather permitting, presumably) by a visit to Dudley Priory.

On Saturday 15th there will be re-enactments and other events at the Priory, including a service at 3pm.

Important news for members re access to Dudley Castle

We are sorry to report that Dudley Zoo has withdrawn the privilege of free access to Dudley Castle from the members of The Friends of Dudley Castle. A letter explaining the situation has now been sent to all members.

Exhibition at Dudley Museum & Art Gallery

There is currently an exhibition at Dudley Museum & Art Gallery relating to Dudley Priory and the Cluniac monks. It is a fairly small exhibition, in a room on the ground floor, but well worth a visit. The exhibition will be on until 3rd July.
There will be a special event on Friday 14th May, in the form of a special evening opening of the museum at 6.00 with a guided tour of the Priory Exhibition at about 6.30. At just after 7.00 there will be a departure from the museum for the Priory for a guided tour of the ruins. There may also be some sort of event, including a re-enactment, on 15th as well - more information will follow.
Apologies for the quality of the photos below - taken with a mobile phone!

Ramparts

The May 2010 issue of Ramparts (Volume 21 No 1) has now been sent to all members.

AGM 2010

The AGM of The Friends of Dudley Castle was held in the Undercroft at Dudley Castle on the evening of 15th April. There have been a number of changes in the Committee, and these are listed on the Friends section of the web site, and in the latest issue of Ramparts.

Exhibition at Dudley Archive

There is an exhibition of the work of The Friends of Dudley Castle at Dudley Archive (in Mount Pleasant Street, Coseley) at present. It is based on the one which we had at the Museum and Art Gallery last year, so if you missed that, you should try to get along to this one. On the other hand, if you did go to the previous exhibition, you will find some additional display boards (though only a few objects on display).

Note that the Arhive is only open on Tuesdays from 09:00 to 17:00, Thursdays from 09:30 to 19:00, Fridays from 09:00 to 17:00, and the first and third Saturdays of the month from 09:30 to 12:30 by appointment.

Thanks once again to Alan Harvey for setting up the exhibition.

Filming at Dudley Castle

The Friends, and more particularly the Guild, were involved in the filming of a dream sequence for 'Handle With Care' by Chatback Productions today at the Castle. Our role was fairly minor, providing some props and acting as extras in the background in one scene, though it still meant we spent the whole day there. The snow on the ground made conditions uncomfortable, though it wasn't really a problem from the point of view of the story as this was a dream sequence.

You can see some stills recording the event HERE - these are just a record of the event, not publicity shots, and not part of the filming sequence. The images should be updated with improved versions in the next few days.

I was very impressed by the Red camera used by the production team, and hence embarrassed to be using my modest camera in such company.

2010 Calendar

Season's Greetings to all our members - we hope you all have a very happy new year.

Our 2010 calendar is now available in pdf format for download - you can view it and/or print it for your own use, but copyright is retained by The Friends of Dudley Castle and the photographer. To view the calendar (assuming you have a pdf file reader such as Adobe Reader installed), please CLICK HERE. You can probably save or print from the reader, or right clicking on the link will probably give you the option of saving the file for viewing or printing later.

We hope to see you at some of the evening meetings and other events in 2010. We hope to send out further details of forthcoming meetings early in January (the first meeting of 2010 will be at The White House in mid February. The 'Events' page will also be updated when we have more information.

Towers and Tectons

Above: Professor Carl Chinn with author Jill Hitchman (other major contributors to the book include Dr David Beeston, Ian Hughes and Phil Riley)
The new book with that title (in the form 'towersandtectons' on the cover, but 'tectonsandtowers' on the spine!) was launched at the Zoo this afternoon. Actually, it is two books - if you turn it over and start reading from the other end it is 'conservationandresearch' at Dudley Zoo. This is a GREAT book (IMHO). There are some absolutely superb photos, especially of animals, and the old black and white photographs which show the enormous crowds that used to visit the zoo are also interesting. In the conservation half of the book it is interesting to find out just how much work the zoo does in conserving native species.
The general style and presentation of the book seems aimed at the general public, rather than enthusiasts. However, it also seems to be a blunt report of the current state of the site, at least in terms of the text - problems are quite explicitly stated, and in some respects it reads more like an annual report or a proposal seeking funding than a book. The content on the Castle is as you might suspect from the title(s) a bit limited as far as most members of The Friends of Dudley Castle are concerned, but overall the book is certainly of interest and well worth buying.
The launch went very well and included a typically inspirational address from Professor Carl Chinn (my thanks to him for the plug for John Hemingway's latest book on Dudley!!).
With Christmas fast approaching, this book would make a good gift for yourself or friends.

Membership Renewal for 2009/2010

Most members will need to renew their subscriptions soon for the membership year 1 September 2009 to 31 August 2010. If you have not received a renewal notice and you need to renew (the renewal date is shown on your membership card), please contact us.

Local History Day

The Friends had a stand at the Local History Day on 6th June at Dudley Archives and Local History Services in Coseley. This was part of the Discover Dudley Weekend.

Exhibition extended

Our exhibition at Dudley Museum & Art Gallery has now been extended until 4th July 2009. Also, for one day only on 6th June, we will be taking part in a local history exhibition at the Dudley Archive in Coseley.

Ramparts May 2009

Volume 20, Number 1 of Ramparts, dated May 2009, has now been published and should have reached all members. We have also added Volume 18 No 1 to the back numbers available on the web site. As usual the quality of reproduction on the web pages is greatly inferior to the printed version, despite the size of the PDF file exceeding 5M. Due to the size of the file we would not recommend trying to access it on the web if you do not have a broadband connection!

20th Anniversary Exhibition

Our 20th Anniversary Exhibition at Dudley Museum & Art Gallery is now running, and was formally opened by the Mayor of Dudley on 1st May. If you have not yet visited it, do try to go before it closes on 13th June 2009. We have now added a page to our web site showing the exhibition and the opening - you can access it via the Photo Gallery section of the site, or you can go straight to the Exhbition page HERE.

Annual General Meeting

The annual General Meeting of The Friends of Dudley Castle will be held in the Undercroft of the Castle at 7:30pm on Tuesday 21 April 2009. Please attend - it is important that enough members are present to ensure that the meeting is valid, and we struggled to achieve this last year. Access to the Castle will be through the Fellows Gate from 7:00pm to 7:30pm. As well as the formal business of the AGM, Peter Suddock, the CEO of Dudley Zoo, will give a talk bringing us up to date on the plans for the Zoo site.

Friends Exhibition at Dudley Museum and Art Gallery

To mark the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the Friends of Dudley Castle, there will be an exhibition of the work of the group in Dudley Museum and Art Gallery from 25th April to 13th June 2009. The Mayor is expected to visit the exhibition on 1st May (time to be confirmed).

2009 Calendar

The Friends calendar for 2009 is now available for downloading HERE - this is a reduced size, low resolution version: if you would like the full size version, please contact us.

Coach Outing to Royal Academy of Arts and Byzantium Exhibition 14 March 2009

Pam Hazlehurst is organising a coach trip to these locations on 14th March 2009. You can find full details on our Events page.

Ramparts Volume 19, number 2

The latest issue of our magazine, Ramparts, (Volume 19 number 2) was posted to members during October, so providing you have renewed your membership for the current year, you should have received your copy by now. Unfortunately page 31 was missed out during printing - it will be available on our web site HERE, and will also be included in with the next issue of Ramparts. We have also released Volume 17 number 2 on the Ramparts back numbers page.

Coach Outing to Leeds 15 November, and Christmas Feast 11 December

We have news from Pam Hazlehurst of a visit to Leeds and The Royal Armouries on 15th November, and also further details about the arrangements for the Christmas Feast at The Fiddlers Arms on 11th December. You can find out more information about both these events, and how to make bookings, on the Events web page.

Guild day at Dudley Castle on 7 September CANCELLED

Due to the really dreadful weather, this event has been cancelled. We apologise for the short notice.

Coach Outing to The British Museum

Following the very successful visit to Halfpenny Green mentioned below, Pam Hazlehurst is planning a coach outing to the British Museum in London, timed to see the Emperor Hadrian Exhibition. The date is 20th September, but Pam needs to know if you wish to visit the exhibition by 25th July at the latest. The cost of the Exhibition entry, at a group rate, is £9.50 per person, in addition to the coach cost of £15.50 per person. For more details and the booking form, CLICK HERE.

Halfpenny Green Vineyard

24 members attended the excellent event at Halfpenny Green Vineyard on the evening of 10th June. The weather was superb, and we enjoyed a conducted tour of the winery and vineyard before a wine tasting session and slideshow, which was only slightly upset by failure of the bulb in the slide projector part of the way through the talk. I enjoyed finding out how Halfpenny Green got its name, as well as sampling the wines, and finding out more about the types of vine they have there.

After the tour and talk we had an excellent meal in the restaurant, and then there was an opportunity to buy wine (and other things) in the shop. I'm a regular visitor, but usually on my bike, so as I was in the car I was able to carry more than usual (as I was driving, I had only sampled two of the wines earlier, but I've bought most of them in the past anyway!)

As well as the vineyard, there are various other small craft businesses on the site - if you were at this event, I'm sure you will want to go back again, and if you could not get there this time, do call in - it is an interesting place, and the wines are good too (he writes, as he enjoys a glass).

If you would like to see a few more pictures from the event, you can see them HERE (click on an image for larger views).

Many thanks to organiser Pam Hazlehurst for this excellent event, and to Halfpenny Green Vineyards for providing such an excellent local attraction.