April Meeting Report On Monday 13th April Eleanor George returned to present her talk on The Fenwicks of Newcastle and the establishment of Fenwick’s Department store. Its founder John James Fenwick (known as JJ ) was born in Swaledale in 1846. He apprenticed as a tailor, then moved to Newcastle to work for Braggs & Co….
March Meeting Report On Monday 2nd March Mark Stafford and David Smith from the Fusiliers Museum of Northumberland gave a talk on the history of the Northumberland Fusiliers and the part they played in World War I. They were first formed in 1674 to fight in Holland under William of Orange, when they were known as…
February 2026 Meeting Report Bartle Rippon, a lifelong railway enthusiast, was born in Amble where he still lives. As a child and later as a young man he had first hand experience of the comings and goings of cargo on the Amble Branch railway line. The line had closed to passengers in July 1930 but continued for freight…
December 2025 Meeting Report For our December meeting Sue Brown was invited back, this time to talk about the history of Christmas food. Of course mid-winter feasts predate the celebration of Christ’s birth, but from the 4th century Advent became a time of fasting followed by a period of plenty lasting from December 25th until…
November 2025 Meeting Report Dracula! A name familiar to most, having either read the 1897 novel or seen one of the many films of that name. But the author, Bram Stoker, is less familiar. At the November meeting, Neil Storey, author of ‘Bram Stoker: Author of Dracula: An Illustrated Biography,’ set about putting this to rights. Bram…
October 2025 Meeting Report Our 2025/26 season opened with a presentation by playwright Ed Waugh about The Cramlington Train Wreckers who derailed a train on 10th May 1926. Ed set the scene by describing the political and cultural influences that led to the 1926 General Strike which was the biggest rupture in society since the English Civil War. In the half century leading up to the First World War Britain’s share of…
Minutes of the Warkworth History Society AGM 12th May 2025 Apologies: Ian and Esther Hume, Sue Brown, Helen Gray Present: Members and Committee Minutes of the last AGM: Accepted as accurate. Chairman’s Report: It had been a successful year with good attendance and interesting speakers. There had also been several outside visits. (See Chairman’s report for details.) Richard also announced…
May 2025 Meeting Report On Monday 12th May, following a brief AGM, Moira Kilkenny introduced a talk on ‘Angels of the North Volume 2’, a collection of essays on notable women of the north east which she has co-written with Joyce Quin. Joyce then went on to talk in detail about some of these women who,…
April 2025 Meeting Report This month we welcomed Liz Finch, National Trust volunteer, to speak on ‘The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Seaton Delaval Hall’. She explained that the Delavals originated from Normandy. They were gifted their land by William the Conqueror, a reward for their support at the Battle of Hastings. They…
March 2025 Meeting Report Bill Openshaw presented his talk, based on his book ‘To the Call of Bugles – A History of the Percy Tenantry Volunteers 1798 – 1814’, dressed in full Light Infantry regalia! Surely a first for Warkworth History Society. Local tenants of the Percy family, including many volunteers from Warkworth, were called…
February 2025 Meeting Report ‘There’s more to a needle than meets the eye!’ This was the intriguing title of Barry Mead’s talk on Monday 3rd February. Barry was the former curator of the Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch, centre of the needle making industry from the early C17th. Needles and pins of all kinds, from sewing…
January 2025 Meeting Report Our opening speaker for 2025 was local structural engineer Ian Hume. Whilst employed by English Heritage he was involved in the refurbishment and structural renovation of many iconic structures nationwide. He spoke about four in particular, namely the Iron Bridge in Shropshire, the Tunnel under the Thames, the Crystal Palace, and…
