30 SEPTEMBER 2004

Last Friday Macmillan Cancer Relief held their annual World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. There were 25 events in our area and I attended five. First I visited two schools, Lickhill Lodge First and St. Anne’s Church of England First, where it was the turn of the youngest pupils to devour the cakes and biscuits provided by parents and staff members. In Bewdley more senior students were on hand to help with a raffle and the drinks. Both functions were very busy and just the start of an exhausting morning for the organisers. I then went to Bewdley Museum where Marion Evans with staff and volunteers provided the coffee and raffle. It was a gorgeous morning and this unique Museum was at its best in the autumn sun. From Bewdley I went to the Dowles Road Diner where the Oldington and Foley Park Network were serving coffee and homemade apple pies. There I learnt from a lady in a wheelchair how well it doubles as transport to take her children to school. If there was a race in the Paralympics for wheelchairs carrying passengers she could well win! Finally I joined the Wolverley Ladies’ Fellowship for their crowded event where I drew the winning tickets for the numerous raffle prizes. I hope in due course to learn how much each event raised and the grand total across the country. I was only sorry that time did not allow me to visit more of the local events.

While at Bewdley Museum I saw schoolchildren from the Birmingham area, complete with gas masks, acting out a history lesson by being wartime children before being evacuated to Arley by the Severn Valley Railway, a highlight of their day. This was a part of the popular programme of events for schools at the Museum. For all of us there is another treat at the Museum now which I only discovered thanks to the coffee morning. This is an exhibition of a selection of the art treasures from the Kidderminster Museum Store with works by Lavenstein including his famous portrait of the Badland Sisters. I had no idea these and pictures by other artists were so good and seeing them re-kindled my determination to support all efforts to obtain financial backing and premises for the display of these items of our heritage as well as the town’s extensive collection of artefacts from the carpet industry. By coincidence I had just met members of the Kidderminster Carpet Museum Trust and learnt of their recent grant from Lottery Funds to classify their archives. Surely we can make Wyre Forest a top attraction with the SVR and Railway Museum , the Safari Park, Weavers’ Wharf, Stourport Dock Basins , Bewdley Museum and hopefully a Kidderminster Heritage Museum . There would be something for all tastes here. What a dream! We must endeavour to make it reality.

R.T.