Churchdown Local History Society

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Churchdown Local History Society A local group which meets once a month to learn about various county-wide historical topics. Based at Churchdown Community Centre. Visitors always welcome! :-)

08/10/2026

Sadly, our speaker for this evening’s meeting has gone down with the flu and has had to cancel, but in his stead, we have managed to get hold of Paul Barnett to talk about the Severn Bridge Disaster in 1960 which promises to be very interesting. We hope to rebook the talk on Gloucester’s Isolation Hospitals in the near future.

Just to remind you, 7.30 pm, Churchdown Community Centre, Parton Road, Visitors £5.00, Members free.

05/10/2026

The speaker at this month’s meeting of CLHS will be Toby Thacker who will be telling us all about Gloucester’s Isolation Hospitals: From Dickensian Horrors to the NHS. Sounds riveting so all are very welcome to join us in the Green Room at Churchdown Community Centre, Parton Road at 7.30 pm, this Thursday 8 October. Same as ever, tea/coffee to follow, visitors £5, members free. Look forward to seeing you!

29/09/2026

The Society has received an enquiry from a French gentleman living in Brittany. In 1976/77 when he was around 12 years of age, he met a young English girl called Jennifer (Jenny) Blackerman. She lived with her family at Evergreen Farm, Buttermilk Lane, Churchdown. They exchanged letters for six or seven years but eventually lost touch. After almost 50 years he would love to reconnect with her.

He is asking that if anyone does know/remember Jenny or the family, would they pass on this message to her. The Society has all his details and would happily pass them onto Jenny for her to decide whether or not to contact him. Please be reassured, in no circumstances would we pass on Jenny’s details to him first.

If you have any information, please PM the Society. Thank you!

(CLHS: his memory may be playing tricks, and the name may be Blakeman not Blakerman …)

12/09/2026

We have received this enquiry from a gentleman in Scotland and wonder whether anyone out there can help him. As far as we know, Coventry Close used to be off Pirton Lane - but over to you! We’ll happily pass on anything anyone can add!

“I was born in Cambridge in 1946 and lived with grandparents, their sons and daughters and their children so 11 of us in total in a 3 bed house!

My Dad managed to get us a Nissan hut on a disused camp in Churchdown and I wonder if you know where it was and if you have any photos you can share? When I was old enough I started school in a lovely old school building that I seem to remember walking to along the top of an embankment with trees.

Later we moved to a new prefab in a road called Coventry Close but I can’t find it on any map of Churchdown - I guess they have all been knocked down and redeveloped? Do you know where Coventry Close was please, and any photos of the old prefabs you could share?

My reason for asking for your help is because I’m 80 and thought it would be handy for my 4 children to have a bit of depth to my life story so I’m writing my autobiography with a few pictures, maps and so included. Any help or news you can share would be most welcome.

Many thanks.”

We have received the following from an Italian lady together with some wonderful photographs. Does anyone recognise a ...
22/07/2026

We have received the following from an Italian lady together with some wonderful photographs. Does anyone recognise a face from long ago?

“Good afternoon, I am the daughter of an Italian 'Co-operator' prisoner of war who was held at Camp 554 (Woodfield Farm Camp) in Churchdown. My father was a Medical Sub-Lieutenant, and his name was Vincenzo Milella.I would like to share with you a series of rare photographs taken between May 1944 and May 1946. I am sending several photos from a picnic featuring Italian and British officers alongside some young women, whom I believe were from the local area. I am also including a few later photographs taken shortly before their repatriation, in front of a Nissen Hut; one of these features a model of an ocean liner, which was evidently built by the prisoners and appears to be a replica of the Italian liner Rex. It would be wonderful if anyone could recognize them, or if you had relatives who remembered an Italian doctor at the camp. Please feel free to use these photographs for your association's historical records. For reference, my father is the first on the far left in the photograph with the boat. Thank you very much for your time and attention. Best regards, Marina Milella.”

10/06/2026

Better late than never! Tomorrow (Thursday 11 June) will usher in the first meeting of the new CLHS year after our AGM last month. What better time for our new Chairman, Richard Goddard, to take over with a flourish as he introduces himself as the speaker for the evening and gives us an Armchair Tour of Tewkesbury Abbey. Anyone who has heard Richard speak before, particularly on topics such as the Tewkesbury Battlefield and Berkeley Castle, will know we shall be in for a good and informative evening. The visitor fee remains at £5 to include refreshments, and the annual subscription, now due, is £30.

Be assured of a warm welcome tomorrow, 11 June, at 7.30 pm in the Green Room at Churchdown Community Centre, Parton Road. We look forward to meeting you!

06/04/2026

The next meeting of CLHS on Thursday 9 April sees the welcome return of one of our most popular speakers, Dr Gillian White, who is coming to enlighten us on the life and times of Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII’s six wives. Those of us lucky enough to have heard Gill speak before will know that enlighten us she certainly will, leaving no stone unturned! Venue as always, the Green Room at Churchdown Community Centre, 7.30 pm, doors open at 7.00 pm. Visitors £5, members free, to include tea, coffee and biscuits. We look forward to seeing you.

10/03/2026

The next meeting of the Society is this coming Thursday, 12 March, and will feature Tony Condor, an expert on all things to do with Gloucester Docks, talking about the restoration of the schooner, Kathleen, which is presently taking place in the Docks. The Kathleen is apparently a national treasure so like all Tony’s talks, this one looks especially promising. The doors are open at the Green Room of the Churchdown Community Centre in Parton Road at 7.00 pm ready for a prompt 7.30 pm start. Tea, coffee and biscuits available afterwards. Members free, visitors £5. Why not come and join us? We’d be delighted to see you!

06/01/2026

Our first meeting of 2026 is a talk on the Great Train Robbery by Ian Boskett. Not really local to Churchdown but certainly, at 63 years ago this year, getting into the realms of recent history and lots of memories will surely be jogged. Hopefully the temperature will have risen enough to tempt you to join us where a warm welcome is assured. Tea, coffee and biscuits await you at the end of the evening, all for just £5.

Thursday 8 January, 7.30 pm, Green Roon, Churchdown Community Centre, Parton Road.

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Churchdown Community Centre
Churchdown
GL32JH

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