AT the November meeting, Captain DI Rhodes, Master of the Lord Leycester Hospital, Warwick, talked about the building's history.

Complete with excellent slides, he took members from the 12th century to the present day, showing also how the buildings had been used for documentary film making and period films such as Pride And Prejudice and Moll Flanders.

The buildings which now make up the hospital date back to the late 14th century and the Warwick Gate is 12th century.

The first building, the chapel, was built by Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, after being given permission by Richard II, providing prayers were said daily for the king's family as well as for the souls of the earl's family.

Guilds were set up and worked happily alongside the religious order until 1546 when Henry VIII saw the power of the guilds and the Church as a threat and had them disbanded.

This act was forestalled in Warwick by the burgesses, who took over the buildings prior to the arrival of the king's men, legitimately denying that they had anything to do with Church or guilds.

In 1571 Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and a close friend of Queen Elizabeth I, who had given him Kenilworth Castle as a gift, took an interest in Warwick.

He persuaded the queen that old soldiers who had served the country well could be found begging on the streets and needed hospitality.

The foundation of the Lord Leycester Hospital dates from this time, not as a medical hospital, which it has never been, but as a place of hospitality and care. To this day, people turn up on the doorstep asking for medical assistance and visitors inquire where the beds and nursing staff are.

The Hospital then as now was home to old soldiers to live free of rent and rates and with a fuel allowance. Now known as Brethren, the soldiers from any branch of the armed services live as close as is reasonably possible to the 16th century rules.

The next meeting is on Wednesday, December 12, at Webheath Village Hall when Canon Salt and Ralph Richardson will talk about the Victorian church of St Stephen's in Redditch. This illustrated talk, starting at 7.45pm, will be followed by a Victorian Christmas supper.