Next club meeting - Monday 7^th. November 2005.

• Contributions made by the portable antiquities scheme database by Julian Baker (Ashmolean).

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.

Twenty seven people attended the October meeting to hear David Young give a talk on the Vauxhall Gardens. The theme of the talk was the history of the gardens, with the various periods being illustrated with contemporary pictures and passes in use at the time.

In the 16th century the rivers family built Vaux hall in Lambeth. Gardens were developed along side. Later in the 17th century another hall was built in the gardens and the name of the first hall transferred to it - hence the name Vauxhall.

In the time of Charles II the gardens became a fashionable place to visit, especially for women, and many entertainments were devised. There was a surprise water feature where the unsuspecting visitor triggered water jets and received a good dowsing. Quite a lot is known about the gardens at this time since a frequent visitor was Samuel Peypes and much detail is recorded in his famous diaries.

As with most fashions, fortunes wax and wane. And so it was with the gardens for by the time of Queen Anne the gardens had lost their appeal. However, by 1728 new owners had completed a makeover and once again the gardens attracted a large number of visitors. The weather, being somewhat warmer and dryer than we experience today, helped ensure success; the royal patronage even more so.

Open every day except Sunday there was many architectural features to see and good quality refreshments were to be had. Due to the poor roads many visitors arrived by boat with admission being by a 1/- card ticket. These card tickets were quickly dropped due to forgery. During this period some exquisite annual passes in silver were produced. Usually depicting allegorical scenes and muses they were of a high standard of medallic art and executed by some of the leading lights of the day such as Hogarth & Yeo. Using some slides Mr Young showed the audience many examples of these generally rare items which were issued only in the period 1740-1750.

In the late 18th century the gardens once again had new owners and while the great days as a fashionable place to visit were perhaps over they continued to provide a wide variety of entertainments and thus remained very popular. There were fireworks displays, balloon ascents, parachutists and various circus type acts such as a tight rope walker. Other attractions included fetes, special celebrations, fair grounds and music hall entertainments such as the singing negro, ballets and a sword swallower. Season tickets in the form of inscribed plain silver ovals were reintroduced in the early 19th century. However, by the mid century the changing tastes of the Victorian's was the gardens death knell. The last entertainment was in 1851 and by 1864 houses and a church occupied the site.

Our thanks to David Young for coming so far to speak to us.

Will the few persons yet to pay their club subscriptions please do so at the next club meeting. If you cannot attend please send your subs to David. Please help the committee in concluding the job of collecting subscriptions.

The committee is proposing to hold an Autumn dinner/ social evening on Saturday 19th November at the Toby Carvery, Caversham Bridge, Reading for members and partners. The cost will be a fixed price of £20 per person for the meal, wine and pre-dinner drink. Typical menu main courses are choice of roasts, turkey, beef pie, braised lamb, chicken + starter & sweet.

If you wish to come please contact David as soon as possible.

The December meeting will be a members evening along the same lines as last year. The main feature will be a bourse (coin fair). We need as many members as possible to bring along those unwanted items to sell and for others to buy. Tables will be available at no charge. For those with just a few pieces there will be a collective members table.

There will other features, probably a picture identification quiz and a competition of some sort.

We would also ask each member to bring along one or two items that for some reason are considered special (e.g. recent acquisition, a long sought after piece, an unusual find, an oddity etc.). We will then be asking for a brief one-minute (or less) explanation (either written or verbal) as to why the piece is special to you. Display tables will be available.

As this is a members evening we need you all to participate to make it a success. If you have any other ideas we would like to hear them - please contact a committee member. Being near the festive season we are also intending to have a buffet.

The subject for the January meeting is short talks by members, competing for the Mark Myhill memorial trophy. As usual we are short of entries. Members willing to give a talk should please contact a committee member either at the November or December meeting, or by phone so that the committee can schedule the agenda for the evening. The talk can be on any numismatic related topic and need only last for 10 -15 minutes.

The club auction is due to take place at the beginning of February. This may seem a long way off but you will need to start thinking about pieces you wish to include in the sale. Please bring along your coins, medals, tokens, banknotes and any other numismatic material to any of the forthcoming meetings and hand them to any committee member.

If we all put in just a few lots we can make this an enjoyable and successful evening.

The agenda and papers have been received for the AGM, due to take place at the Warburg Institute at 2pm on the 5th November (same day as the London Coin, Russel Square). The two most interesting items are the summary reports from other societies for the year 2004 and the debate on changes to the constitution. As the former was circulated to you all earlier this year and the latter appear to be more editorial it is proposed to only send out the agenda; the papers will be sent to those members who request them by contacting the secretary. The papers will be placed in the club files shortly.

Be advised the club has purchased a book on Irish coins.

• London Coin fair. Russel Square - 5th November
• Croydon Coin auction - 8th November
• Birmingham Coin Fair, National Motorcycle museum - 13th November

In October 1975 the club was given a talk entitled animals on coins.

Ten years later the club auction took place - no details available other than it was successful.