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CURRENT FORECAST OF EVENTS
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VENUE - Plymouth Court, Headless Cross, Redditch, B97 4NR. (Doors Open 7pm for 7.30 start) Mobile number for directions – 07729 277984 |
2012
o January – No meeting
o February 1st – ‘ Victory Harvests’ – Food Production 1939 - 1954’ Member Ron Gallivan
o March 7th – Penda King of Mercia – Member Chris Harris
o April 4th – Discussion Night – Battle for the Falklands
o May 2nd – Kitting Out the 1940 Soldier! – Member Craig Polly
o June 6th - Discussion Night – D Day - The organisation behind the landings!
o July 4th – Bombers over Europe – Family Story – Member Steve Bullock
o August 1st – The Battle for Crete – Member Craig Polly
o September 5th - ‘Athenia’ - Battle of Atlantic Begins - Member Ron Gallivan
o October 3rd - The Development of Military Bridging – Member Gerry Taggart
o November 7th – ‘Three Eagles!’ – Spitfire, Hurricane & Harrier - Member Richard Stark
o December 5th – Christmas Social
2013
o January – No meeting
o February 6th – The Second Sikh War – Final Days of Sikh Empire - Member Ron Gallivan
As we progress, we are able to offer a PDF format download of information on the presentations reported below. These will be available for a £3.50 payment through PayPal. Contact Ron Gallivan by e mail below for detail of content and how to pay.
For details contact Ron Gallivan on 01527 545450 or e-mail ronnieg33b@hotmail.co.uk! or see web pages at http://wwwmilitaryhistoryatmercian.co.uk. OR MMHS page at http://www.thequeensownhussars.co.uk/to
Ron Gallivan is a professional presenter who has a range of personal presentations available for booking at Societies, Clubs and venues in South Birmingham, Worcestershire & Warwickshire. Please contact him direct for more details.
 Member Chris Harris introduced us to Penda King of Merciafrom AD 620 to AD 655 and the rise of the Mercian Kingdom. At the Battle of Deorham or Dyrham in AD 577, the Saxons finally broke through to the ‘western sea’ (Bristol Channel) splitting Britannia into two. It was the end for the Romano Britons who were slowly pushed back into Wales and the West Country of Devon/Cornwall. The Romano – British Celtic State was no more!
By AD 600 the Saxons ruled lowland Britain. They were split into many small Kingdoms, the one we are most interested in being Mercia, whose name meant 'frontier kingdom'. By the early seventh century they were already expanding westwards swallowing up Lindsey in present-day Lincolnshire; the Hwicce in the southwest Midlands; the Middle Angles of modern day Leicestershire and Magonset (Herefordshire & Shropshire). Mercia’s rise to power began with the reign of King Penda. So, who was Penda?
King Penda of Mercia was the last great pagan warrior-king among the Anglo-Saxons. He was born in AD 606 and died on November 15th AD 655 at the Battle of the Winwaed. He was the twelfth son of Pybba, an early King of Mercia. His name may have come from an unrecorded religious, Germanic ‘Old English’ word meaning ‘pledge’, Penda, his father Pybba and his son Peada may have stronger and more obvious roots in the Brythonic language, once more emphasising a mixture of cultures during the previous 300 years. The Mercians had no written history and all we know about Penda was written hundreds of years later or by his enemies, principally the Northumbrians.
In AD 626 he became the 20 year old King of Mercia and remained King for the next 30 years. His life was one of political and dynastic intrigue and struggle as he fought to expand Mercia and increase her power. During this time, he fought four significant battles which were milestones in his story. AD 628 - Battle of Cirencester - He fought the West Saxons for the allegiance of the Hwicce (the tribe that settled Worcestershire); he conquered the lower Severn Valley and captured the City of Cirencester.
AD 633- Battle of Hatfield Chase - In the late 620s or early 630s, Cadwallon ap Cadfan the British (Welsh) king of Gwynedd and Penda became involved in a war with Edwin of Northumbria, the most powerful king in Britain at the time. After a short, sharp and bloody battle in October AD 633 Edwin was dead and his son captured. The victors ravaged Northumbria causing its collapse. Cadwallon stayed on and Penda returned to Mercia. A further battle followed at Heavenfield in AD 634 where the new Northumbrian King, Oswald, defeated Cadwallon and swore vengeance against Penda. AD 642 - Battle of Maserfield – Oswald’s invasion force met Penda’s alliance of Mercian Saxons and Welshmen from Powys near Oswestry in Shropshire. Oswald lost the battle. The battle is remembered for what Penda did to Oswald’s body. Following pagan ritual, he mutilated it; dismembered it and had the he ad, hands, arms and other body parts, hammered into the ground with stakes. This was Penda’s greatest battle, after it he became the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon rulers of his time. AD 655 - Battle of Winwaed – Penda marched on Oswald’s successor, King Oswiu, who he besieged but could not defeat. Oswiu bought him off with gold and as Penda marched back to Mercia, Oswiu stalked the Mercians and caught them unprepared at a river crossing North of Leeds. The Northumbrian army wiped out the Saxons and although a Christian, Oswiu did to Penda’s body what he had done to Oswald. Mercia was occupied by the Northumbrians for some years after but they rose again and that is another story!
More information on an 11 page PDF download available for Penda, King of Mercia.
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'THE VICTORY HARVESTS'
At this meeting member Ron Gallivan introduced us to the food supply problems facing Britain throughout the ‘Rationing Years of 1940 to 1954.’ (Yes 1954 & not 1945!) His presentation explained that there was a fundamental difference between the Ministry of Agriculture (who grew the ‘home grown’ foods and supplied it to the Ministry of Food who combined it with all the other food products it had purchased from across the World and distributed it nationally through the Rationing System. In 1939 we imported 60% of what we ate. (55 million tons per year) Our ‘home grown’ supplies would only last for 120 days at a time. This means we could only feed ourselves from Sunday Breakfast to Tuesday Lunch. After that it was imports or starvation! That meant a heavy reliance on the Merchant  Navy and beating the U-Boat menace. Imported food took up shipping space that we could use for other war materials, therefore we had to increase our ‘home grown’ crops. The Ministry of Agriculture concentrated their efforts on what they termed the three ‘heavy’ harvests. These were wheat, potatoes and sugar beet. These were easy to grow; full of calories and vitamins BUT they were heavy and if we imported them, they would take up valuable shipping space on the merchant ships bringing food in from across the Empire and the World. It was a success story! In 1939 we only had 9 million acres of land under the  plough. By 1945 we had 19 million acres under the plough. That is more than twice the size of Holland and nearly three times the size of Wales. Crop sizes increased by an average of 91% during the period. Wheat for example jumped from 1.685 million to 3.318 million tons, which was one reason why bread was not rationed during the War. All this was down to the County War Agricultural Executive Committees who ruthlessly managed labour and set targets for farmers. We focused on the 80,000 strong Women’s Land Army; their recruitment and training and the effect of the ‘heavy work gangs’ who (amongst other large projects) cleared and drained the East Anglian Fens for the production of food. We saw how civilian volunteer labour, children and army units were all mobilised to help at harvest time through the ‘Lend a Hand on the Land’ and the ‘Harvest Holiday Camps’ and were paid 1/6d per day (8 new pence) Something that few realise was the impact on  wartime agriculture of the 650,000 Italian and German Prisoners of War . In 1945, one fifth of all agricultural workers were PoWs. Finally, we discussed how post war European instability perpetuated the ration system until 1954.
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