“BEER, bets and bull baiting” was the illustrated talk given by Mary Bodfish on March 27 at 8pm in Clent Parish Hall, Church Avenue. Mary says the 1820s were rough, tough days and our forebears took their pleasures in rough, tough ways. The only way to survive was to work hard and live hard — and hard drinking was commonplace as well.

At the wakes and fairs that were enormously popular in all industrial districts, the better-educated members of society looked on in repugnance while the poor and labouring classes enjoyed a brief alcohol-fuelled holiday fling, especially when their pleasure involved what we now view as cruel exploitation of animals for blood sports.

For further information on the society, contact Carole Hodgson on 01562 885759.