Committee Meeting - 13th February 2026
Our first meeting of the year is always an opportunity to review plans for our annual programme of events and progress on our projects. Walks are traditionally quiet (especially given the bad weather), but we are looking ahead to our anniversary walk from Tredington to Tewkesbury on 3 May. This year’s will be complemented by a pair of talks on Friday and Saturday at the Old Baptist Chapel: Claudia Zimmerman on George Duke of Clarence and Dr Michael Jones on Edmund, Duke of Somerset.
May will also see our popular banner choosing days in the Town Hall, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, 8 and 9 May. This will follow a display of banners in the Abbey from 27 April to 6 May. On Saturday 19 June, we’ll be at the Elizabeth Wyatt House in Barton Street, putting the banners on their poles and on Sunday 20 June we’ll be taking to the streets to hang them. Volunteers are very welcome for either or both sessions – the more we get the quicker those banners will be up and beautifying our town.
We’re also taking part in a couple of local events showcasing the breadth of Tewkesbury’s volunteer organisations and the town’s heritage. On 13 June, we’ll be taking part in This is Tewkesbury in the Abbey, and on 21 June, we’ll be conducting a battlefield tour as part of the weekend’s Tewkesbury History Festival.
Those will lead us nicely up to the Medieval Festival on 11 and 12 July, where once again we will be sponsoring the exhibition tent to provide display space for other heritage non-profit organisations, and for a display by artist Graham Turner who continues to lend his talents to both the Society and Festival.
Our other projects continue in the background. Work is ongoing on the statue of Queen Margaret of Anjou planned for erection in the grounds of the Abbey, and we’re in the process of applying for grants to help meet the costs. Once we can judge our success on that front, we’ll consider a crowdfunding campaign to top up what’s needed, though we also plan to reduce costs as much as possible by digging out the foundations ourselves (under suitable archaeological supervision, of course, given that we’re in the grounds of a scheduled ancient monument).
As always, there’s room for more Society volunteers, whether that’s as keen historian, banner painter, or just to play your part in the preservation and promotion of the heritage on our doorsteps. We’d love to hear from you…