EDWARD Perkins took Milford Haven Probus Club back onto its local history path with his illustrated presentation at this month’s meeting.
Edward stepped out of his well-known local role as an auctioneer and valuer into his local historian persona.
Members started with the ending of the Ice Age and the creation of Milford’s ria or fjord, galloped through Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages; mused over the Alexandrian reference to the eight headlands of the Roman Empire, dodged the Vikings and encountered those fierce Flemings again.
Henry the Eight’s dissolution of the monasteries and the transfer of local lands to the Barlow family of Slebech led members to the more familiar territory of Catherine Barlow’s marriage to William Hamilton, his taking of Emma as his mistress at his wife’s death, and Nelson meeting her in Naples. The rest is history.
Portraits and maps then gave way to drawings, paintings and finally photographs as Milford Haven grew from 1790s Nantucket whalers through railways, Royal Navy shipbuilding, the Great Eastern, the boom years of fishing, two world wars and finally the ‘oil age’ and today’s LNG sector.
When Edward returns in a few years with an update it is hoped he will be showing how the renewable energy sector has brought a new era of prosperity to the Nelson’s ‘second best natural harbour in the world’.
The Club meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 12 for 12.30 at the Fountain View Restaurant at the Milford Haven Golf Club.
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