Evesham Area Ladies Probus

THE chairman Val Hamblin welcomed us to our Friday, April 10 meeting held in the Friends Meeting House, Cowl Street and introduced Brian Draper who gave us a fascinating talk about Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale in Shropshire which was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Here the world’s first iron bridge was constructed between 1777 and 1781 and spans the river Severn. The iron bridge is perhaps the best known industrial monument in Britain and is a memorial to three generations of the Derby family who were the first to smelt iron using coke as a fuel rather than charcoal as was traditional. Brian said the area was a favourite tourist attraction and a prize-winning World Heritage Site and attracts visitors from the New World to the Far East. Dotted about the landscape are nine difference museums, including the best-known Victorian Town at Blists Mill and Coalport China Museum. Val thanked Brian for such an interesting talk delivered in an animated manner.