Kidderminster & District Archaeological & Historical Society

He will show two contrasting DVDs. "Victorian Kidderminster" was originally a VHS recording made by Ken Hobson with sound commentary by the late Richard Warner. Melvyn explains "It's a great record of Kidderminster's heritage buildings with so many Victorian influences." The second DVD is from the Museum of Carpet's archive collection. It was made in the 1960/70s for Templetons Carpets of Glasgow and is concerned with the selection of a carpet.

Melvyn Thompson was born in Kidderminster in 1937, the son of a well-respected carpet loom tuner. He qualified at technical college, became an engineering apprentice at Carpet Trades Ltd. in Mill Street and continued to a long and illustrious career in the local carpet industry. He became a design engineer, rejoined Carpet Trades as project and development engineer and, for the last ten years of his career, was Brinton's project engineering manager.

Now retired, he spends much of his free time as a volunteer with the carpet museum where he is historian and chairman of the Friends organisation. History is his passion and he has collaborated with others and written many articles and also published five books with local themes, copies of which have been sent to all parts of the world.

The meeting following will be on February 24, when Mary Bodfish will give us a talk entitled "You cannot abdicate and eat it".

Meetings of the society start at 7.30pm and are held in St George's Annexe, adjacent to St George's Church, Radford Avenue, Kidderminster.