Coventry Heritage Open Days

Hi Jason, It would appear that the person responsible at the Council for the promotion of this years Heritage Weekend is away till next week - that's just three weeks away from the event! I would have hoped that information would have been broadcast far and wide by now! Someone I spoke to should be emailing me a pdf with the info. I'll post details if/when it arrives Can anyone confirm whether this info is in the recent "CitiVision" magazine - I haven't received a copy yet

Just seen the list of sites that will be open. Whitefriars, St Johns Hospital and St Catherines Well are not included. How hard is it to open the gates to St Catherines Well? Very dissapointing!

I'm afraid I've not received anything from the events office yet Maybe you could share which sites ARE open with us?

Hi Tony. If you go on to the Heritage open days site, it lists them on there.

Thanks Jason - that list has only appeared in the last 24 hours - is wasn't there the other day! For others who may be interested in visiting some of our amazing places that are not generally open to the public over the weekend of 8/9th September, here's a link showing what's available Heritage Sites Open Note: This site was running extremely slow - be patient if it appears to hang.

I've just received this .pdf file giving full information about the forthcoming Heritage Open Days. It doesn't seem to be on the Council's web site yet, but you can download a copy from my own web site by clicking this link Heritage Days Information. Please save it to your own computer for future reference (saves my bandwidth ) Many thanks to the City Council's events team for providing the information

Great stuff Tony, many thanks for your helpfulness. Looks like one or two "new" venues to see that don't usually take part. Cheers, Rob

From today's Coventry Telegraph : This weekend's Heritage Open Days promises to be the biggest and best yet in Coventry. More venues and events are involved this weekend than in previous years. The national celebration of our heritage is now in its 19th year and just under 40 venues have been confirmed in Coventry. All participating venues will be welcoming visitors FREE of charge. There will be activities at visitor attractions including The Herbert Art Gallery, Baginton Church, Coombe Abbey, Lunt Roman Fort, The Electric Railway Museum, St Mary's Guildhall, Coventry Transport Museum and many more across the city. New for this year is the Grade II listed building, Charterhouse, Far Gosford St Conservation Development (FARGO) Village, National Express bus garage behind the scenes tours, Coventry University's new Engineering/Computing building tours, unseen photographic exhibition of Godiva Harriers Athletic club's rich history and another chance to see Drapers Hall. Guided walking tours of the city centre, will take place on both days across the weekend, starting at 11am and 2pm each day, departing from the Tourist Information Centre in the Cathedral ruins. Advance booking is required for the majority of tours. A free bus service will be on hand to transport visitors to and from many of the participating sites, all buses run from the Coventry Transport Museum in Millennium Place on both the Saturday and Sunday. Coun Ed Ruane, Cabinet Member for Housing, Heritage and Sport said: "The Heritage Open Days weekend 2013, promises to be the biggest and best yet, as always it is a wonderful way to learn more about the history and heritage of the city and the surrounding areas. "With wonderful new additions for this year's event available and items, exhibitions and spaces that have never been seen by the public, I'm sure there promises to be something for everyone, to keep them enthralled." There is a downloadable brochure here

Terrific Thanks again Red - looks like Neil and his lads have their Saturday sorted. See the Tornado arrive at Cov Station in the morning then straight down to the Museum to catch the old Routemaster up to the Electric Train Museum!

Please don't forget the Joseph Paxton London Road Cemetery. With Ribbon-makers, Watch-makers. Bike-Makers, Car-makers and over thirty Mayors plus many others from Historic Coventry. We are also the only place where the public can walk an Arboretum of trees of National Importance. The Anglican Chapel will be open with the Friends of London Road Cemetery in attendance from 10.00 am until 4.00 pm on Saturday and Sunday, all welcome.

Thanks for the link MR, took me ages to get hold of the leaflet last year

The Coventry Godiva Harriers' clubhouse at the Coventry Athletics Track on the Westwood Campus of the University of Warwick will be open on the Saturday and Sunday for 'A History of Coventry Godiva Harriers and other clubs in the City during the last 140 years'. By no means is this a dusty list of performances by doddery old athletes!!!! The display concentrates on running, cycling, walking and Women athletics during the first 50 years (1879 to 1939) of Godiva's history, trying to identify the various threads that have influenced the continuous existence of the club when so many others in the city have failed. There is a simple quiz for the kids with half a dozen prizes on offer. There is a couple of dozen 'Then and Now' photographs for the more mature visitors. And there is a giveaway leaflet on the 'Godiva Trail' for those who are inspired to take a little exercise after the visit! Tea and coffee, toilets, full wheelchair access.

Really impressed by the efforts of all and The Council for putting this on. Shame Whitefriars and The Old Grammar school didn't make the list but maybe next time. My lovely old dad was a Harriers member Harrier. Circa mid-50's. I'm sure I have a photo or two of him in the kit!

I would really appreciate it if you are able to find any photos of your dad and allow me to copy them, NeilsYard. Until 1984 (!) Godiva never had an headquarters to call its own. This meant that all documents, information about past activities / results and what sparse bits of memorabilia the club had, was retained in the homes of the various club officials. And of course, when they got old and died, their relatives not appreciating the significance of a load of old papers etc., quite naturally destroyed them. The result is that the club has very little by way of records from its past. So ANY little tit bit is always of interest and may often lead to other interesting pieces of informnatiuon coming to light. Take an old athletic's programme for example, it gives the names of members, their ability can be deduced from their 'handicap' marks in races (especially when compared with other programmes whereby imporovements and / or deterioration can be detected), athletes from other sports can be listed - often the rugby players from Coventry Rugby Club sprinted for Godiva in the summer. My daughter's father-in-law, Ray Batstone being a case in point, also Frank Castle before he turned pro for Barrow etc..) The list of officials can give some insight as to their relative importance in the Godiva Club. Even the advertisements can supply information, Billy Green's sports shops, George Stokes bike shop, general adverts might indicate possible sponsors ... remember Godiva was an unusual club because it had a cycle section (separate sections for men and women), a walking section and a harrier section (again men and women, track, field and country parts). So NeilsYard anything!!!

Hi all