Our 2027 Programme of events

We organise monthly talks about local topics – either historical or current – as well as visits to places of local interest in the summer. Normally there is also a visit arranged as part of the Heritage Open Days week in September. Unless otherwise stated, all meetings below are at the Larruperz Centre at 7.30pm (Wednesdays) unless otherwise stated.

November 11th, 2026 – The Women the War turned Yellow – The Rotherwas Canary Girls – Angela Williams.
This talk will be preceded by a short AGM.

The Rotherwas Royal Ordnance Factory opened in 1916 as a munitions filling factory and became one of the largest explosive filling sites in the UK.  It covered more than 300 acres and comprised more than 370 buildings.  Employing mainly women, the so-called “munitionettes”, whose skin and hair turned yellow from contact with TNT chemicals and who later became known as The Canary Girls.

January 13th, 2027 – The Strange Lives of Medieval Saints – Dr Janet Cooper

Janet is well know to us, indeed a member of Ross Civic Society. In this talk she will talk generally about Medieval saints and illustrate the talk with a few carefully chosen character, including some local saints.

February 10th – Origins of the National Garden Scheme – Graham O’Connell

March 10th – Tales from the Toombs – Heather Hurley

Heather will fill in some of the gaps behind the lives of a few important or interseting people burried in St Mary’s Churchyard. She will link them to the town and bring to life the part they played in it.

April 14th – Herefordshire Prisoners of War – Bill Laws

May 12th – to be confirmed

June 9th – to be confirmed

July 14th – to be confirmed

September 8th – The beginnings of the Wye Tour: the wider context – Dr Sarah Aitken

October 13th – Religious Diversity in Herefordshire – Jane Adams

November 10th – Stained Glass in Herefordshire – Robert Walker

Our region lays claim to some of the finest medieval glass in the country, we have an example in the east window at St Mary’s, here in Ross. Robert Walker made the first comprehensive study of church glass in this area in his recent book The Medieval Stained Glass of Herefordshire and Shropshire

Second Week in December – Christmas Lunch