Hagley Historical and Field Society

It is recorded that in the 1300s there was a ferry service already established in Worcester to take ‘monks, milkmaids and herdsmen’ from the riverside by the Cathedral to their daily work on the monastic meadows on the other side of the river. As you might imagine, in 2015 there is not much call for this service from its original users, but the ferry service still exists. If you happen to be in Worcester on a summer Saturday or Sunday after 12.30pm, for the price of 40p you can follow the course of the monks, milkmaids and herdsmen and be rowed across the river by an enthusiastic volunteer oarsman in a boat named ‘Doris’.

Worcester Cathedral Ferry

Our speaker this month was Dr. Sue Jennings. Her topic for the evening was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson whom we were told was an astonishing women for her time. She had to battle against obstinate resistance from a male dominated profession to be able to study and then become a Medical Doctor in the 1860s. Eventually, she taught herself French and earned her degree in Paris. She was appointed dean of the London School of Medicine for Women, which she had helped to found and eventually retired to Aldeburgh in Suffolk where she became the first female mayor in England.

Our meeting on Tuesday 2^nd June at 8pm in St. Saviour’s Church Hall sees a presentation by Gillian Ellis of the Bournville Village Trust on ‘Selly Manor and Bournville’. Visitors are most welcome at all our events – see hhfs.org.uk for details and contacts.