AT the last meeting, members heard the good news that their journal, The Studley Historian, was now on sale at £1.

The next issue, scheduled for June 2002, would be bigger and better and members were asked for contributions.

The speaker was Bill McCarthy, who gave a slideshow entitled Studley Past and Present, with particular reference to his family, including William Hall, founder of the Needle Industries. Also Thomas Rheuben Allen, local butcher and baker, who was known to send his pork pies all over the country.

A map of 1906 showed Studley as four separate communities; Littlewood Green; The Holt; The Common and The Wapping, the last of which consisted of tenement-style buildings, which as a small boy Mr McCarthy was warned not to visit.

Photographs of the village taken during the early 1900s showed various groups of chimneys belonging to the breweries in Studley, none of which exist today, although the pubs they were attached to have fared rather better - The Bell and The Barley Mow to name but two.

A slide of The Bell in 1920 showed horsedrawn carts and drays, to be replaced in 1929 with an almost identical picture, but this time with motorised vehicles.

Many of Studley's old buildings have been demolished over the years. A large old house,Rosedean, later known as the Telephone Exchange, has now been replaced by Needle Close.

The old Victorian vicarage has been replaced by Old Vicarage Gardens and Studley Priory, shown in 1904, bears little resemblance to today's view, with many of the farm buildings now converted into living accommodation.

A shop owned by the Bulmer family on the Alcester Road sold absolutely everything and in its day was known as the "Studley Woolworths".

Members saw how a row of shops in High Street stand on the site of the National School, headmaster's house and orchard, but the Swan Inn remains on its original site.

The Roman Catholic Convent and School in New Road differs little today, although converted into a factory and offices.

Rutters' shop on Bromsgrove Road looks very similar to the smithy it housed originally, among several in Studley, another of which was situated at Number 1 Castle Road, which is now the site of a fine house, although the original row of chimneys can still be seen.

The Grove Inn in Crooks Lane, now replaced by four detached houses, has been lost completely. It was interesting to see The Green at Sambourne was once dissected by a track and this can still be seen in the summer when the ground dries out.

Members saw many slides relating to activities and pastimes in Studley such as horsedrawn mini-buses, an ox roast on the site of today's traffic island and a thriving tennis club and football team during the 1890s.

Also dances in the early 1900s which started at 8pm, with carriages at 3am.

In 1923, Studley Operatic Society made page 3 of the Daily Mirror when it performed Yeomen of the Guard at Coughton Court, a perfect backdrop.

It was a most enjoyable evening, with some of the members able to add to Mr McCarthy's tales and fill in some of the names of the people in the old photographs.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 19, at 8pm at Studley Parish Centre when the speaker will be Philip Coventry of Redditch Pictorial History Society.

For more details, call 852002 or 853998.