Walks & Events
Mendip Society Events
Events and Talks
The Mendip Society AGM. Saturday 12th April 2025 - 10:30 am.
Cross Village Hall. BS26 2EL
All members are encouraged to come along and get involved, not only in the formal processes of reporting back on the past 12 months and electing officers for the coming year, but also to hear our guest speaker, Lucy Stockton on the Farming in Protected Landscapes initiative.
Saturday 26th April 2025 Somerset V Hitler. At 7:30 pm (doors open at 7pm - ending at 9:30 approx.)
Shipham Village Hall. New Road, Shipham. BS25 1SG
A talk and slide show, based on local historian Donald Brown's research into secret decoy sites on Mendip and other local wartime activities.
Covering the lived experience of Charterhouses' population in the early days of the war.
With a little background about the local school, the ARP, Home Guard and more.
Looking at the building of anti-landing obstacles all across Blackdown - a first showing of a recently acquired short film.
Featuring one of the most ambitious So-called Starfish sites in the country, and the bunkers, still standing today, which were built to control it - and to protect the operators from falling bombs!
Also covered are the decoy fire effects set up nearby, and the top secret so-called “Z-gun battery” used to complete the decoy’s illusion - and to fight back against the bombers.
Open to all-comers. Members free - others £2.
Walks
Walks are graded as follows:
- Easy. Up to 4 miles (1½ - 2hrs), less than 50m of continuous ascent, mainly low gradients or flat. Terrain mainly undemanding, eg reasonable paths used, little loose rock, stones or large areas of mud or water.
- Moderate. 4 – 6 miles (2- 3½ hrs), 50m-150m of continuous ascent, terrain undulating but either one significant hill or several smaller ones. Terrain may include small areas of rock, loose stones, mud, minor scrub.
- Harder. More than 6 miles of the type of walking in the Moderate class, or continuous steep ascents of more than 150m (400ft) or a number of smaller steep hills or more than one of these features. Terrain as Moderate class or worse.
For any queries please contact the Walk Coordinator (see Contact page).
Events by others
Avon Leigh Wildlife Talks
The following are not Mendip Society events but our members are invited to attend. All talks at 7pm for a 7:30 start, in the Abbots Leigh village hall (Church Road BS8 3QS). All welcome, no need to book.
• Weds 4th Dec - Rewilding the Belmont Estate by Gil Martin
• Tues 7th Jan - Bees & other pollinators by Prof Jane Memmott
• Weds 22nd Jan - Wonderful World of Frogs and Toads by Rob Harvey
• Weds 5th Feb - Tiny Worlds & Night on Earth by filmmaker Rob Wilcox
• Weds 19th March - Hedgerows, Vital Arteries of our Countryside by Sarah Pitt
Clevedon & District Archaeological Society & Clevedon Civic Society
Also not a Mendip Society event, but may well be of interest to some members.
The Building Stones of Clifton & Clevedon
Clevedon and Clifton grew in size substantially during the nineteenth century, and they shared builders and building materials. By studying the local geology, we can identify three or four major building stones in use through this time, and the Victorian builders were adapt at creating houses and public buildings of elegance and style by using various combinations of Bath Stone (quite expensive) with the cheaper Pennant sandstone (grey-green colour) and Triassic sandstones (red colours). We will explore some noted buildings in each area and look at how these relate to local geology.
Thursday 27th February, 7.30pm St Andrew’s Church Centre, BS21 7UE. Visitors £3
