Technology will bring history of villages to life (From Ledbury Reporter)
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Technology will bring history of villages to life
9:00am Monday 18th March 2013 in Ledbury By Gary Bills-Geddes
LEGACY: Honor Ussher’s donation has helped to create the Kempley Tardis.
TECHNOLOGY is bringing the past alive at a village known for its wild daffodils, and where a special anniversary is being celebrated this spring.
A legacy from local lady Honor Ussher MBE, who died in 2011 aged 90, has helped to create a new Kempley Tardis website feature called The Social and Natural History of the Golden Triangle.
The Kempley Tardis is a heritage archive run by the Friends of Kempley Churches.
The launch this spring is especially timely, because 2013 sees the 25th anniversary of the opening of the 10-mile Daffodil Way footpath through the famous flower fields ofthe golden triangle of Kempley, Dymock and Oxenhall.
Kempley Tardis spokesman Chris Bligh said the new feature was like putting four years of research in one archive, available to all.
Topics include Dymock Forest – 1,000 years and counting; the geography of the Dean Forest and Leadon Vale; Daffodil Harvest: Trade and the Railway Network; Verges, Meadow, Hedgerow andWoods.
Until the 1960s, and the closure ofthe railway line through the area, the annual daffodil harvest was an important part ofthe local economy.
Also new this year, an illustrated map featuring Kempley’s two churches has been drawn up. It gives 14 points of interest and an ‘all weather’ route between St Edwards and St Mary’s in Kempley: starting at the free car park. This is sure to be in use during Kempley’s Daffodil Weekend tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday, from 10am to 5pm.
Spokesman Martin Brocklehurst said: “Come and experience our warm spring welcome, park your car for free at Kempley, join our organised walks and immerse yourself in the woods and fields of this beautiful part of Gloucestershire. And when you get back, relax with hot drinks, ploughman’s lunches and home-made cakes before exploring the beautiful churches of St Mary’s and St Edwards which hosts all the village societies strutting their stuff in the latest exhibition entitled Kempley Now.”
For details, log on to kempleytardis.org.uk/daffodil-walks.
