There was a very good display of local history information, including the history of the women's suffrage movement in Herefordshire and history of the River Wye and hop picking. One of the leaflets I picked up was for Herefordshire Life Through A Lens, about a film called Stories from the Hop Yards, inspired by the photo archive of Derek Evans, who died in 2009 after a long photographic career. There is a website at www.herefordshirelifethroughalens.org.uk and Derek Evans' photos can be seen at www.herefordshirehistory.org.uk.
Also in the tent was a woman dressed as one of the Rotherwas factory girls from the Second World War - I didn't get a picture of her because she was busy talking to people while I was there. There is a book out about them, called Bomb Girls.
Out on the Green there were activities for children, including Have A Go Archery and a traditional Punch and Judy show, and stalls selling crafts and vintage stuff, as well as stalls for local history groups and campaign groups.
I'm now the proud owner of a badge saying "Save Mortimer Forest", for instance. A local group wants to stop the Forestry Commission from making a deal with Forest Holidays to build 68 holiday homes, with a shop, restaurant, bar and cycle hire facilities inside Mortimer Forest, near the border with Shropshire. They can be found at www.save-mortimer-forest.co.uk (with bird song!).
There was also a campaign group opposing the present plans for a Hereford Bypass. They are in favour of more cheap, reliable public transport, such as electric buses and trams, more trains and carriages, and safe cycle and pedestrian routes. Like the Mortimer Forest campaigners, they are against the destruction of the local environment, especially ancient woodland, along the route which will cross the River Wye on a high bridge. They can be found at wyeruinit.org.
I also picked up the leaflet for this year's Three Choirs Festival, which is in Hereford this year (3choirs.org). One of the highlights of this year's performances will be Ethel Smyth's Mass in D - she was, of course, a prominent campaigner for women's suffrage. It's also the centenary of the death of Hubert Parry, local composer, and of 24 year old Lili Boulanger, who wrote a setting of Psalm 130 as a response to the horrors of the First World War.
I rounded off my trip to Hereford by having a bottle of Liberty Ale from San Francisco at the Hereford Beer House - while I still can. Many of the small businesses in that area have been forced to move out because of huge rent increases, and the Hereford Beer House may have to follow. I hope they're able to find another home in Hereford.
And finally I went to St Peter's Church, where a big suffragette rally was held over a hundred years ago. There was a photo of it in the exhibition tent on Castle Green, with a lady addressing the crowd from a platform that must have been just about where the war memorial is now. The war memorial was built in 1922. I'm not sure if the person in the archive photo was local campaigner Mrs Massey, or one of the Pankhursts who visited Herefordshire to campaign.
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