PAUL Betterton came by popular request.

The society has heard two of his other lectures and enjoyed them so much we asked him back for a third time to speak on Redditch before and after the new town.

Paul is a descendant of Mr Betterton who ran the scouring mills in Red Lion Street.

He divided his lecture into sections, i.e. excerpts from "Walks in the Black Country", important dates starting with King John at Feckenham, events in Redditch history, the design of the old town, slides of old Redditch, publications about Redditch and Redditch dialect.

His lecture was full of fascinating facts and anecdotes.

Only 10 years before Redditch was designated a new town in 1963, Paul was at primary school using slate and chalk! Great interest was shown by the society in his slides of old Redditch, as old haunts and buildings brought back memories.

For his section on Redditch dialect, Paul made a list of his vocabulary which colleagues found amusing when he went to work at Worcester, such as "buzz" for bus and "tay" for tea, and phrases such as "how bist thee?" (how are you?), "flighty wench" and "clam your belly".

The society meets once a month for lectures in the winter and outings in the summer.

The next meeting is at 7.30pm on Thursday, March 2 at St Luke's Memorial Hall, Headless Cross, when Anne Bradford will be speaking on Ghosts of the Gunpowder Plot. For more details, call 541317.