Lamphey Local History Group held their September meeting on Tuesday. The speaker was Mr. John Wittaker and is subject 'The History of the Quakers in Pembrokeshire' (writes R. G.)

He spoke first about the general history of the Society of Friends, usually known as Quakers, and then focused on the first families to arrive from Nantucket and settle in Milford Haven. Life has not always been easy for these peaceful and hard working people, and for refusing to be involved in any armed conflict or to pay taxes towards raising an army, many Quakers have been in prison.

For many years, Quakers were barred from universities, so they became business people. Many well known businesses, from Barclay's Bank to Coleman's Mustard, were founded by Quakers.

Mr. Wittaker's talk was possibly slightly longer than we are used to, but proof that his audience were completely absorbed was that questions went on for about 20 minutes after he had finished. He seemed to enjoy talking to us as much as we enjoyed listening and he happily joined in further chat over coffee.

Normally we have biscuits, but due to the generosity of one of our members, we enjoyed cake! It was a really good evening.

We are a small and very informal group and visitors are always welcome. We meet on the second Tuesday in each month. Please note, we use the church hall, which is opposite the church, not the larger village hall. Meetings start at 7.30 pm.