Events

Our Living History, told by you

A selection of free talks taking place at the Heritage Hub. Free parking on site.

Please book the free talks through Voices Gloucester. Visit voicesgloucester.org.uk. Drop-in the rest of the day

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Who are you?

Saturday 3rd September.

A DNA and Family History focus session

11am - 12 noon

A family business – Nicks & Company (Timber) Ltd 1856: Talk by Phil McCormick:

Phil charts167 years of reinvention and survival for Gloucester’s oldest continually owned business taking us through the highs and lows of the timber industry, from being the last remaining Importer Merchant from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth.

To book this talk visit the booking page voicesgloucester.org.uk

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1 - 2pm

A DNA and Family History focus session: Talk by Amelia Bennett, leading genealogist and historian on using DNA analysis to unlock your family secrets.

Want to do you family history but not sure how to start? Come and chat with with experienced volunteers of Gloucestershire Family History Society. Learn how to make permanent memories of friends, family and colleagues through oral history and about archive resources.

2.15pm onwards

Short 121 sessions with Mia Bennett, on request.

The Gloucestershire Family History Centre is open from 10am.

Want to start your family history? Hit a brick wall? Come and chat with experienced Gloucestershire Family History Society volunteers

1pm onwards - Learn how to make permanent memories of friends and family through oral history and archive resources.

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Gloucestershire Heritage Hub, Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, GL1 3DW

See voicesgloucester.org.uk for full details of all events

Threads

A language beyond words - stitching and stories

Exhibitions, talks and workshops 2nd - 18th September.

Various venues, pick up a map from the Cathedral Quarter shop or Download a map here

Celebrating collaborative stitching projects across the county, and the proud history of textiles in Westgate Street, Threads looks to celebrate the past and look to the future with this dynamic programme of exhibitions and events.

Working with our heritage partners Gloucester Cathedral, The Cathedral Quarter and The Folk, as well as shops and businesses up and down the street, the area once known for its bustling textile trade will come alive with community stitching projects.

Westgate Stories

Exhibition along Westgate Street, Gloucester.

Gloucestershire textiles artists have brought to life your memories of life on the street with these beautiful illustrations.

For more information visit Westgate Stories - Voices Gloucester

Threads Daily Exhibition

September 2 Friday 10:00am - 18 (Sunday) 5:00pm. Various venues.

Celebrating collaborative stitching projects across the county, and the proud history of textile in Westgate street, Threads looks to celebrate the past and look to the future with this dynamic programme of exhibitions and events.

Working with our heritage partners Gloucester Cathedral, The Catherdral Quarter and The Folk as well as shops and business up and down the street, this street once known for its bustling trade in tailors, is now showcasing community stitching projects.

For more information visit Threads Daily Exhibitions - Voices Gloucester

Tewkesbury Stitch Story

10am-5pm Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm on Saturday and 12noon-2.30pm on Sunday

This astonishing collaborative artwork, led by Community Artist Jo Teague, and produced by Tewkesbury Culture, saw over 8000 local people contribute a hand embroidered panel of the history of Tewkesbury. It will be on display alongside some of the Cathedral’s historic collection of textiles with local resonance.

The Lady Chapel, Gloucester Cathedral, 12 College Green, Gloucester GL1 2LX

For more information visit Tewkesbury Stitch Story - Voices Gloucester

Please check the Cathedral’s ‘What’s On’ calendar for the most up to date information on opening hours before you visit.

Threads through time

10am - 4pm daily

The Folk, 99-103 Westgate Street, GL1 2PG

We will display the work by local textile artists in our reopened Cafe. The historic garden at the Folk has been newly improved and is a wonderful place to sit and read the festival programme, enjoy lunch and meet with friends.

For more information visit Threads Through Time - Voices Gloucester

Talks & workshops

Friday 16th Sept 10am – 7pm
Saturday 17th Sept 2pm – 5pm

The Folk, 99-103 Westgate Street, GL1 2PG

Two days of workshops and talks looking at the history of stitching in the county, and the secrets of Westgate Street, featuring a panel discussion hosted by Jo Andrews and Haptic & Hue.

For full details visit Talks & Workshops - Voices Gloucester

Threads is supported by

See Threads - Voices Gloucester for full details of all Thread events

Voices Gloucester - events across the city

People are cities and cities are people

3 - 18th September, weekends 11am - 6pm, Wednesday - Friday 11am - 3pm. Attendance is free and no need to book.

162-166 Barton St, Gloucester GL1 4EU

Georgia Williams & Rider Shafique have worked with the local community to create this unique exhibition which animates over 50 years of Gloucester Carnival photographs with stories and memories. Also showing will be images and films from the latest in the Gloucester First series by Rider Shafique and Tarsier Films; The first interracial marriage.

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Unreflective Reflections

Monday 5th September, 4pm - 6pm

The Friendship Cafe, Gloucester GL4 6PR

A project created by the local Muslim community to shed some light into their history in Gloucester

‘Through the Lens’ photography exhibition, and ‘Gloucester’s Glory’ film, tell the untold stories of the early community who settled here, and provide an inspiration for continuing their legacy, as well as to provide a resource for capturing future stories.

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Gloucestershire Observed

Wednesday 7th September, 7.30pm,

Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Gloucester GL2 9EB

Popular local historian Tony Conder casts his eye over National and local events, local life and human nature in the county as seen in Journals and Diaries over the last 500 years.

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The Lost Library of Llanthony: Rediscovering Llanthony Secunda’s medieval manuscripts

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September, 11.00am - 3.00pm. Heritage Open Day event

Llanthony Secunda Priory, Priory Junction, Gloucester GL2 5FA

In the medieval period, the scholars of Llanthony Secunda were responsible for the creation of a very special library that is still considered one of the richest and best-documented medieval English book collections in the country. This remarkable library is no longer in Gloucester but is scattered across the world, and this new documentary film traces the stories the books tell, how they were created and how they survived almost certain destruction.

Come along to Llanthony Secunda Priory this Heritage Open Day weekend to find out more about how you can view the film, and to explore how medieval manuscripts were created.

Queering Gloucestershire Archives

Workshops - Wednesday 14th, 2 - 4pm

Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

How can the archive be explored to find new narratives and queer histories? How can we present stories about our queer ancestors when language and social indemnities are vastly different? How can we see ourselves in stories from the past? Join writer/performer Tom Marshman and find out. In this two hour workshop, you will work with Tom to uncover stories of local LGBTQ people via a range of archive material. Your discoveries will help bring local stories to the fore, in an exhibition accompanying Tom’s show “Jenny”, which will be performed in Gloucester on the 13th October.

Workshops are taking place 2-4pm Wednesday 14th – click here to book.

The Boys at number 18

Monday 12th September, 6pm

Sherborne Cinema, Sherborne Street, Kingsholm, Gloucester GL1 3BY

‘Get them out!’ in the early years of World War Two, there was an extraordinary effort to rescue Jewish children from Nazi Germany, ten of whom ended up in Gloucester, at a hostel in Alexandra Road, Kingsholm. Commissioned by Gloucestershire Archives, this short film tells the story of these boys through interviews with their descendants.

Accompanying exhibition by History students from the University of Gloucester.

Gloucestershire Heritage Hub, from 2nd - 18th September, 10am - 4pm Monday - Friday

From Department Store to City Campus: the story of the Debenham’s building - A Gloucester University Exhibition

5th - 16th September, 9 - 5pm,

The Music Works, The Hub, 2nd Floor, King’s House, 27 St Aldate Street, Gloucester, GL1 1RP

Tracing the evolution of the building from Bon Marche department store, through to the takeover by Debenhams in the 1970s, and recent acquisition by the University of Gloucestershire as the planned new City Campus.

Slavery & Abolitionism in Gloucestershire - A Gloucester University Exhibition

2nd - 18th September, 10 - 4pm, Monday-Friday. No booking required – free admission.

Shire Hall, Westgate Street, GL1 2TG

Projects by History students focus on two local legacies of the transatlantic slave trade: the life of a Cheltenham resident who was the largest slave-owner in Barbados, and a prominent local activist who campaigned for the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire and beyond.

For details about all events visit Voices Events - Voices Gloucester

Hands on History - preserving family photographs

Thursday 8th September, 10.30am- 3.30pm.

Heritage Hub, Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, GL1 3DW. Free parking on site

Discover top tips for handling photographs and preventing damage in this practical workshop with heritage professionals.

Learn how to identify different types of damage, how to recognise deterioration and what to do to keep things in good condition.

Understand what good storage products are and how to find what is best for you.

Meet other people with similar collections and learn together with the Gloucestershire archive conservators.

Spaces are limited (12) so book now to avoid disappointment.

To book visit Hands on History - Voices Gloucester

Innovations in Gloucester

Friday 9th September, 10.00am - 4pm.

A day of talks at the Heritage Hub

Come for the day and bring a picnic to enjoy in the Hub’s community garden, or just pick a talk or two.

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10.00 am Fielding and Platt: Engineering the world. A talk by John Bancroft

Throughout its 162-year history Fielding and Platt has been at the forefront of innovative design. Innovations include the first ever vacuum cleaner, the ‘Tweddell’ hydraulic and pneumatic rivetters revolutionising civil engineering, shipbuilding and railway workshops throughout the world, and concrete paving and kerb stones still found in Gloucester and throughout the UK. John Bancroft will introduce a 1950s company film, followed by the “Centenary Film”, put together recently by former employees from previously unseen 1960s footage.

Includes an exhibition in the Heritage Hub reception area.

Hydraulic Rivetter on R.M.S. Oceanic c.1898 (F&P)

To book this talk visit Innovations in Gloucester - Fielding and Platt

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11.20 am Dowty innovators: the people of the Dowty group. With Ally McConnell

Ally McConnell’s presentation on the Dowty Group will focus on oral reminiscences that have been collected since the start of the Dowty project, whilst also taking time to look at the innovative work of Sir George Dowty and his teams of engineers. Want to get involved? An opportunity for those with memories of working at Dowty to sign up to share their unique memories.

Sir George Dowty with a Dowty undercarriage for the Avro Lancaster

To book this talk visit Innovations in Gloucester - Dowty innovators: the people of the Dowty group

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13.30 pm Gloucester Corporation: innovation in the city in the mid-20th century. With Karen Davidson

Karen Davidson has recently begun a project to catalogue the 20th century records of the Corporation of Gloucester, which cover a crucial period for the development of the city up to 1974. This talk looks at how new technologies such as the motor car and telephones affected the city from the 1920s onwards, how the Corporation promoted Gloucester as a suitable site for industry, and how an early aviation pioneer inspired the creation of what is now Gloucestershire Airport. Want to get involved? We’re looking for volunteers to help us identify Gloucester buildings and street scenes. Examples will be on display…

A poster for Sir Alan Cobham's Youth of Britain flights (Gloucester Corporation)

To book this talk visit Innovations in Gloucester - Gloucester Corporation

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14.50 pm An improving picture: 200 years of mental health provision in Gloucestershire. A talk by Jemma Fowkes

Join Jemma Fowkes to learn about Gloucestershire’s place in developing greater understanding of – and a more humane approach to – mental illness. She will cover the first county asylum in Horton Road and the private asylum at Barnwood House Hospital which introduced psychotherapy for its patients – well ahead of national trends.

Barnwood House

To book this talk visit Innovations in Gloucester - 200 years of mental health in Gloucester

Clarence Row, Alvin Street, Gloucester, GL1 3DW

Heritage Open Days

Friday September 9th – Sunday September 11th

Heritage Open Days celebrate England’s fantastic historic architecture and culture by offering FREE access to properties which are usually closed to the public or normally charge for admission.

Every year on three days in September, there’s a chance to discover architectural treasures and enjoy FREE access to a wide range of events and activities which bring local history and culture to life.

Gloucester’s events, organised by Gloucester Civic Trust , feature over 120 events, from the opportunity to see inside the Eastgate Chamber to viewing the inside one of the best examples of a Tudor Merchant’s house in the country. The city is among the top three venues in the country with its huge range of activities during Heritage Open Days with guided tours , music and cultural activities in the City Centre, at Gloucester Docks and in the city’s suburbs.

Visit the Civic Trust website for more information Heritage Open Days - Gloucester Civic Trust

Click here for Heritage Open Days 2022 Brochure

Voices Gloucester Green Day

Sunday 18 September, 1 - 4pm. Free parking on site

Bring a picnic to the wonderful community garden and learn about the history of the Severn, and how Gloucester folk engaged with the environment in the past through films, exhibits, talks and creative activities.

Free activities for all the family include:

Amy’s Hub of Happiness – Learn how to darn a sock or make a waxed food wrap – learning from the past for a more sustainable future!

Find out about Gloucester’s Anglo-Saxon residents and their use of natural remedies, and spoken charms with Tirnagog Heritage Education, and make a cloth roll of floral and plant remedies pressed and annotated in ancient runes. This will be your source book of beautiful native plants and the ailments that they were used for. We will discuss the early Saxon kingdom of the Hwicce and 9th and 10th Century events in Gloucester.

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Spinning demonstrations from Tracey and Rainey, who will be working with beautiful fleeces from Jacobs, creating natural yarns from cream all the way through to dark chocolate.

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Most suitable for Ages 7 – 12 but older and younger humans welcome!

The Heritage Hub will also host an exhibition and share a selection of films about the Severn, past present …and future?

There will be the opportunity to meet the filmmakers and take part in a Q&A discussion

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Films & Exhibitions to include:

1906/7 Tsunami on the Severn – then and soon – again?

Hills Shall Become Islands – learning from the past.

In 1906/7 a tsunami, recently described as a tidal surge, took the west coast of England by surprise, resulting in people and livestock being drowned. A drawing in Gloucester Archive shows the areas that were flooded.

A drawing in Gloucester archives shows the areas that were flooded. Not surprisingly, the flood projections for the future follow a similar route up the Bristol Channel. We are currently experiencing climate change, with heat-waves, floods and rising tides. Gloucester has long been known for flooding.

Artist Carolyn Black investigates this through printmaking, film, drawing and writing, making work to raise awareness, and will be sharing artwork and short films.

Glimmer

This beautiful short film and soundscape follows the river and the journey of the Twaite Shad fish, from dawn to dusk.

The Elvermen

Shot over a moonlit night, this is an atmospheric film that reveals the last of a hidden community hunting an endangered fish. As the sun sets on the banks of the River Severn on the rural outskirts of a city in the UK, a group of men gather in a race to catch a vanishing creature; the elusive elver. THE ELVERMEN shows how a rite of passage has changed into a fight for values: of tradition, community, and a connection to nature in an environment of impending change.

Free admission – Click here for tickets

Gloucestershire Archives: Secrets Revealed

Frontiers & Pioneers

Wednesday 28 September, 1 - 2pm. Free of charge

Archives are a box of delights and there’s always something new to discover. Here in Gloucestershire we’ve had lots of pioneers who’ve pushed back frontiers in all aspects of life, including Budding, Bradley, Jenner, Paul, Pitman, Tyndale, Raikes, Pedersen and for some reason a lot of people with ‘W’ surnames, such as Whittington, Wilson, Whittle and Wheatstone.

This presentation is a rather eclectic mix that will look advances in medicine, engineering, music, travel, social reform and aviation that in various ways originated in the county and feature things ranging from diving bells to balloons and adjustable spanners to toilets!

Cheltenham Chronicle & Gloucestershire James Gillray's 1802 caricature of vaccination

For more information and to book, visit Gloucestershire Archives Events

This monthly series of leisurely lunchtime learning sessions are great for those who are new to learning about the past and for those passionate about history, keen to expand their knowledge on a given subject in a focused session.

Led by experts at Gloucestershire Archives they are easy to digest, laced with humour and full of headline facts and context information ready to unlock an the secrets of a time gone by.

Secrets Revealed are live Zoom seminars that bring together a community of people with a shared interest in history, heritage, culture and their importance in today’s world.

You should receive your Zoom link as an automated message when you book on to this event (remember to press the "Book now" button once you've entered your details). If you don't, please check your junk folder. If it's not in there, please contact archives@gloucestershire.gov.uk and we will send you a link.