LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY: Hook Norton Brewery was the subject of a talk presented by Howard Hicks.

The speaker described how John Henry Harris bought a thatched cottage and malting just over the county boundary in Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, in 1849 and began brewing.

At the interval samples of Hook Norton beers were poured for the audience.

The next talk, Madness in Warwickshire, will be presented by Dr John Bland. The speaker has practised at the former County Asylum in Hatton, near Warwick. The society's AGM will precede the talk, so the evening will start earlier than usual at 7.45pm on Wednesday, February 9 at the Greig Centre, Alcester. Members and non-members are welcome.