Christmas Quiz and “The Day I interviewed Prince Rupert of the Rhine”.
Talk by Anne Grimshaw on 11th December 2024.
Our meeting started with an entertaining History quiz given by our Treasurer, Ann Spiller. The Christmas Quiz covered fascinating questions on Sudbury and wider History and kept us guessing.
We were able to tuck into Christmas fayre – sausage rolls and mince pies – while we pondered the answers. The winning team were awarded a tin of festive biscuits.
Anne Grimshaw then gave us an excellent talk entitled “The Day I interviewed Prince Rupert of the Rhine”. She started by showing us a photo of this handsome fellow, apparently a poster boy of the 1660s. A friend of Anne’s, Carol Appleyard, was a reporter for the Yorkshire Post in the 1980’s. She wanted to write an article on a local Jacobean Manor, Thornshaw Hall, which local legend had it that Prince Rupert had sheltered there after the defeat of the Royalists at Marston Moor. Anne painted a gripping scene of how Carol went to Thornshaw Hall where there was no sign of life until a figure with a plumed hat and 17th costume entered and announced “I am Prince Rupert”. When Carol came to write up her article, the computer failed to save her story and her photos were blank. Did she really encounter Prince Rupert…….? A very intriguing and highly entertaining talk by Anne Grimshaw.
We then finished our Christmas meeting and the SHS year with mulled wine, coffee and companionship.
There is no meeting in January. Our next is on 12 February 2025: “The Real Basil Brown”, a talk by Sarah Doig.