Bridgwater's much-loved History Day will return this year.

The free event will run from 10am until 4pm on November 23 at the Bridgwater Arts Centre.

There are no tickets for the event, which includes a complimentary historical lunch.

Sponsored by Bridgwater Town Council and Bridgwater and Taunton College, the event has been popular for the past 10 years.

It features local historians who will present aspects of Bridgwater's history.

This year, talks will cover Bridgwater's role in the English Civil War and its place in the 1960s Beat Music scene.

Speakers will include county archaeologist Bob Croft, Bridgwater College history lecturer Sarah Ball, and chief executive of Southwest Heritage Trust, Sam Astill.

There will also be short films by historians Miles Kerr-Peterson and Tony Woolrich on subjects like Bridgwater in the 1790s and the town's oldest pub.

Bridgwater's deputy mayor, Councillor Kathy Pearce, will compere the event.

Food will be provided by Lesley Gates, featuring a special Civil War theme this year.

Town council leader Brian Smedley said: "Bridgwater people love their history and quite rightly so.

"This is the town which was the first to call for the ending of the Slave Trade, the first to call for an end to appeasement in the 1930s, the site of the last battle on English soil, and the first place where 18-year-olds could vote.

"These events are really popular, and every year there’s something new to uncover in our radical, revolutionary, riveting, rebel past."]

Schedule:

  • 10:30 Opening by Mayor of Bridgwater, Cllr Jacqui Solomon
  • 10:35-11:15 Sam Astill (Chief Executive of Southwest Heritage Trust) will be speaking on “Harry Salter, the Bridgwater soldier who was ‘shot at dawn’ in Gallipoli 1915.”
  • 11:15-11:20 Film ‘Who was John Chubb?’ (Tony Woolrich)
  • 11:20-12:00 Bob Croft, County Archaeologist, will talk about “Archaeological discoveries at Hinkley Point” (SWHT)
  • 12:00-12:05 Film ‘Bridgwater in the 1790s’ – based on Chubb’s Lithographs (Tony Woolrich)
  • 12:05-12:45 Sarah Ball, Bridgwater College History Lecturer, will speak on “Bridgwater and the Civil War”
  • 12:45-13:45 Historical Lunchbreak
  • 13:45-14:25 Former Bridgwater Arts Centre Manager and archivist Dave Edney will present “The Top Twenty Club – When Bridgwater was Fab.” The story of the Town Hall Beat club of the 1960s
  • 14:25-14:30 Film ‘How big was Bridgwater Castle?’ (Miles Kerr-Peterson)
  • 14:30-15:20 Brian Smedley, Town Council Leader, will do an interactive session on ‘Bridgwater’s Top 10 Radicals’
  • 15:20-15:25 Film ‘What’s the Oldest Pub in Bridgwater?’ (Miles Kerr-Peterson)