THE 66th annual meeting of the Bourne Valley Historical Society (BVHS) was held in the Glebe Hall, Winterbourne Earls on February 20.

After dinner, provided by the Crown Inn, Cholderton, the chairman, Tony Lyons, opened business with his annual report.

The president, Bill Gibson, stepped down after 28 years, but will remain an honorary life member.

The society has had a good year, with talks on a wide range of subjects.

The one outside visit of the year, to Mark Taylor and David Hill, glassmakers at Lains Farm, Quarley was outstanding.

Mr Lyons complimented the archivist, Tony Goodenough for his extremely hard work in bringing the archives in line with the requirements of 21st century technology, and thanked Amesbury Area Board for a grant of £298 towards the improvement of the archives.

The accounts are in good order thanks to the treasurer, Ray Bray, who was stepping down after annual meeting.

The archivist’s report outlined the progress he had made with the archive, and the work still to be done.

He revealed that the society has 1,192 images of the Bourne Valley together with an ever increasing number of other items.

The treasurer reported the funds are in good shape and were slightly in excess of the previous year, and gave thanks to John Norwood for auditing the accounts for the past 16 years.

He recommended that the annual subscription of £12 be held at that amount for the fourth successive year.

This was followed by the election of officers: two members of the committee were resigning, Wing Commander Bray and his wife Maureen, together with Hilary Myerscough (as treasurer) and Jennifer Rendle.