WEDNESDAY 10THÂ APRIL, 2024
In 2014 John Osborne re-formed the Hythe Local History Group and in April of that year, our first meeting was held in the function room of the Red Lion Inn, Red Lion Square, Hythe.
The Group quickly became established and regular monthly meetings were held with John in the Chair and Anne Petrie as Secretary.
When John Osborne and his wife Merle sadly returned to America in 2016, Anne Petrie took over the Chair and Alethea Lester became Secretary.
In January, 2024 we welcomed Iris Pearce as our new Chair when Anne Petrie stood down after 8 years of amazing service to the HLHG.
Having held our meetings at various venues in Hythe we now meet in the Choir Vestry of the magnificent St Leonard’s Church.
On Wednesday 10th April, 2024 twenty-five members of the Group gathered, once more, at the Red Lion to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of HLHG.
The cheerful, cosy dining room was hung with bunting, the celebration cake sat on a crisp, white cloth and the buffet was laid out.
Alethea introduced Anne to start the celebrations. Anne spoke about the past 10 years of HLHG and ended her speech by proposing a toast to those members of the group who were unable to attend the party. Click here for summary of Anne’s speech.
Anne then introduced our Chair, Iris, who spoke about the Group’s future projects. Click here for summary of Iris’s speech.
When everyone had collected their lunch and had settled Mike de la Mare explained that while recently visiting an art gallery in London, he recognised a face in a portrait. He thought it a good idea to hold a one question quiz for our party. The question was: ‘Does anyone recognise this face?’ Anne was first with her hand up, but had to wait while Mike gradually introduced more clues for those of us who didn’t know the answer. The answer was - Phillip Sassoon, well known politician (MP for Hythe), art collector and socialite.  As the quiz unfolded, we learned much about the life of the Hythe politician. This made for an intriguing quiz.
While we were enjoying our lunch Mike had arranged for images of the Westenhanger Presentation to be displayed on the large wall-mounted TV.
Iris had compiled a large photo album full of past events and outings, which we all very much enjoyed browsing through.
Although Iris and Alethea would have liked people to believe that they had made the cake, they had to admit finally that the delicious cake had been made by Catherine Jordan.
The cake was then cut up and distributed around the room.
As the party drew to a close people made their way home with another happy HLHG memory to add to the group’s history.
Alethea Lester
Secretary
Photos of the event - Run the cursor over each for description - Click to run Slideshow
