AT the March meeting members had an illustrated talk on The Avoncroft Museum and its Historic Buildings from Ian Jenkins.

He has been a volunteer at the museum since 1972 so has followed its development since its early days. Avoncroft, started in 1961, is the only open air museum in the country to which all the buildings have been transported.

The first was the Merchant's House from Bromsgrove, dismantled and carefully reassembled on site, using traditional craftsmanship as far as possible.

Wattle and daub buildings are waterproofed with a lime wash which contains mutton fat. Another local landmark moved to Avoncroft was the Danzy Green Windmill from Tanworth-in-Arden, which has been used regularly to mill flour.

In addition to a variety of agricultural buildings, a chain making shop with 14 forges was transported from Cradley as well as a nail making shop and brewhouse.

Another highlight is the three-seater Georgian water closet. Many visitors particularly enjoy visiting the Prefab house, which brings back many memories of their former homes. The other prefabricated building is the 1891 mail order, corrugated iron church that is still used occasionally for weddings. In addition to preserving this variety of historic buildings the museum aims to keep the practice of a number of crafts alive, something which provides a challenge as the original practitioners grow older. This talk provided an appetising taster to the society's visit to the museum in May.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday at 7.30 pm in Feckenham Village Hall, when a short AGM will be followed by a talk by Bernard Pumfrey on Country Houses of Debyshire and Staffordshire. As always visitors are very welcome.