The Dursley & Cam Society
 

The Dursley & Cam Society is a local history society which began after an open invitation in 1981 to local residents for anyone interested in the possibility of forming "A Civic Society for Cam and Dursley". Much interest was gathered and an inaugural meeting to discuss the proposals was held at Dursley Community Centre on March 3rd 1982. It was chaired by Ken Hall and the programme for the evening consisted of a slide show by David Evans entitled "Old Cam and Dursley Illustrated", a talk on how such a society could operate, given by Matt Welsh, and an open discussion on the general idea of forming a society. It was all agreed and the first committee came into being with David Evans as Chairman, Alan Pearce as Treasurer and Jill Davis as Secretary.

Since those early days the society has gone from strength to strength and in 2007 it celebrated its Silver Jubilee with a commemorative evening in the Town Hall. From September through to July the Society holds an illustrated talk on the second Tuesday of each month, at Dursley Methodist Church, starting at 7.30pm. All are welcome, members and visitors alike.

Programme of events for 2025

For further details of Society events or membership please see the Society Facebook page or email me.

Dursley & Cam Society project - recording the shops in Dursley town centre
Do you remember any of the old shops in Dursley town centre in days gone by? The Dursley & Cam Society is embarking on a project to record the change of use of the retail, business and public buildings in the town centre and is keen to hear from anyone who might have some information about shop and company names, owners and dates. If you do have something to share please do email me or perhaps join the forum to contribute to the project.

In 2004, the Society also began publishing its very successful annual journal, "The Dursley Lantern", a high quality publication containing articles of local interest. These are available free to members of the society and are also available for sale to everyone else. Previous editions of "The Dursley Lantern" are still available and a brief description of each is given below.

Copies of "The Dursley Lantern" can be purchased in the Dursley Heritage Centre or by post. Payment by cheque only and postage & packing charges are dependent on the quantity ordered. To order copies or enquire about postage charges, please email for further details.
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  Picture Gallery (Click on picture for larger view)
   

Dursley Lantern 2024

Contents:
Dursley Days
An Unassuming House's Interesting History
The Dursley Paintings of George Pryce
Shakespeare and Dursley - The Final Word?
Lionel Jones - Crossing a Century
The Churches of Dursley and Cam (Part 1)
Closure of the Berkeley Road to Sharpness Branch Line

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2023

Contents:
Mary Anne Wall, nee Loveday (1800-1880)
A Look Back at the Newspapers
Education in Cam and Dursley
The Story behind Two World War II Gas Masks
The Rise and Fall in the Fortunes of Jacobs House
Apprenticeship at R.A. Lister & Co. Ltd, 1961 to 1966
A Journey Through Time, The History of Cam Mills from 1522
A Tribute to Alberto Jorge 'Joe' Morris
The Cam Ploughman, 'Ploughing on a Sunday'

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2022

Contents:
From Wales to Cam - A Blacksmith's Life Story
Memories of Matt Welsh and his contribution to Cam and Dursley
Royal Artillery at Dursley, 1939-1940
Early Inhabitants of Dursley - A Conjecture
A Study of Two Views of Cam Station
Dursley, 17th Century Piracy and the Stockwell Millions
Dursley Clothiers and their Mills, 1450-1600
Notes on the Exell Family
Jessamine House - A Georgian Gem or an Awful Eyesore?
The Foundation of the Dursley Union Workhouse

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2021

Contents:
Woodmancote Court - A House Through Time
Early Mawdsley's DC Generator Discovered 'Down-Under'
The Early Workhouse in Dursley
Staying in Tune - The Brass Bands of Dursley
Robert Browning Lister (1894-1975)
Stone Stiles around Cam and Beyond
The Stinchcombe Heritage Trail - A Legacy of Lockdown
Friends at Christmas
A Look Back at the Newspapers

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2020

Contents:
Starting Work at Cam Mills - The First Six Months
A Shopping Trip in Parsonage Street in 1841
Early Childhood and Our Move to Dursley
Memories of School Days at Dursley Grammar School
A Look Back at the Newspapers
Take a Step Back in Time to Saxon Dursley
Memories of Growing Up in Cam and Dursley
Tom Clarke, Railway Ganger
B.G.A.S. Transactions from 1952 to 2008
My Memories of Cam

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2019

Contents:
Lady Helena Gleichen OBE (1873 - 1947)
A Wartime Experience - Memoirs of an American in Dursley
A Look Back at the Newspapers - A lucky Escape for the Town Hall
Notes on the Manor of Cam
Daniels (Cam) Ltd, Fibreboard Manufacturers
A Curious Tale from 17th Century Dursley
A Visit to Dursley in 1886 - The Bristol and Gloucs. Arch. Society Comes to Town
A Chance Encounter - From Dursley to a Life in the USA
Dursley Gardeners

A4, 40 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2018

Contents:
A Plaque to Commemorate R.A. Lister & Co. Ltd
Richard Hames Younghusband - A Flying Life and a Brief Encounter with Dursley
Memories of my Early Life in Dursley
A Visit to Dursley - A Reprint from an article in Shireways
Betty Seabrook - My Time in Dursley and Cam
Early Recollections of the Printing Trade in Dursley
A Look Back at the Newspapers - A Mixed Bag of Local Stories
A Perspective on the Local Area and Population in 1851
Of Coins and Tokens
Looking Back at the Browns - Tales of a Coaley Family
The Spanish Flu

A4, 40 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2017

Contents:
David Evans - Recollections of my life in Dursley
From Coffee Tavern to Cinema
A Projectionist at the Regal Cinema
...also, Doris Mary Wyatt
A Look Back at the Newspapers - Trading in the Town
Memories of a Giant - Recollections of one man's time at Bymacks
The Story of My Life - Growing Up in Dursley
Revd George Adsley Piper - Cam's Chaplain in the First World War
All Change! - Site of the Bell & Castle Hotel

A4, 40 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2016

Contents:
Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic
The Summers of 1975 and 1976 and the 16 Month Drought
Dursley and the Tent Methodists
Dick Barton - Special Agent
A Face from the Past
Before and After Mervyn
Dennis Haddrell and The Lions Club International
The Twemlow Trust - A Living Legacy
'Jack' Johnson and the Charfield Railway Crash of 1928

A4, 40 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2015

Contents:
Memories of World War Two
I Remember the Winterbotham Memorial Gardens
Grief and Gratitude - WW1 Memorials in the Dursley Area
The Purnells and a Ghost Story
Dick King of Cam - An Epic Ride
In Memoriam - A tribute to Mary Clark
A Christmas Letter from Dursley - December 1915
The Old Bell Hotel, Dursley
William Tyndale 1494-1536
Reporting on the Weather - A Look Back through the Newspapers
Basil Woodward - Prisoner of War

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2014

Contents:
Mary Clark - Reflections on Moving to Dursley
Dursley - Ivor Gurney and Shakespeare
The Postman's Snuffbox
Some Dates in the History of Dursley
Knight of the Shire Elections, 1867
One Way Ticket to Dursley
Reminiscences of Dursley and Cam
Cam's Welcome House
Snowball the War Horse
Water Supply in the Dursley Area, 1890-1974
A Schoolboy's View of World War Two
The Dursley Mummers are out tonight

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2013

Contents:
Lionel Ayliffe, 1917-2013 - A Tribute
Happy New Year - Now That's What You Call a Celebration
The Little Lighter called Cam
Reverend Norman Crossman of Lower Cam
Buses in Dursley
Dursley Secondary School's 'HMS Pinafore'
Dursley Church Clock
Dursley Ladies in the News
A Budding Genius
Visit of Pedersen Cyclists, 19th - 22nd September 2013
Every Step a Memory - Wartime Childhood Memories from the Dursley Area

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2012

Contents:
Miss Joan Kingham - Memories of a Wonderful Life
Church Bellringing in Dursley
A Brief History of Travel and Transportation in the Dursley Area
The Boy Racers of 1908
Tree Planting for the Coronation of King George VI
Children’s Saturday Morning Cinema Club
The Vizards of Dursley

A4, 44 pages - £5 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2011

Contents:
Notes from the Past, Memories of Dursley's History
Edmund Woodward and One Tree Hill
The Tale of a Tower - Fact or Fiction
My Life Story
A Look at Dursley’s Listed Buildings
News from the Parish
The Hurndalls of Dursley
An Ingenious Town
Sporting Days in Dursley and Cam
Memories of Cam Peak

A4, 40 pages - £4 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2010

Contents:
A Dursley Milkman's Day
Reminiscences of Dursley Parish Church Choir, 1943-1952
Charles Lister, CBE JP, 1872-1965
The Story of Allastair and Hilda
The International Friendship League - Dursley Branch
More on the Adoption of HMS Trident in 1942
The Rise and Fall of the Severn Railway Bridge
Wartime Rationing, 1939-1945
Further Memories from Berkeley Road
WW1 Changed Dursley Forever
19th Century Crime in Dursley

A4, 40 pages - £4 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2009

Contents:
William and Sarah Harrold of Dursley
Sharpness and D-Day
Dursley's Old Time Constable
Mikael and Me
Captain George Augustus Graham and Rednock
News from the Parish
Industrial Transport - A Pictorial View
100 Years Not Out
The Hopton Oak
An Old Gloucestershire Lantern

A4, 44 pages - £4 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2008

Contents:
The Dursley Field Gun
Pages of the Past
Memories of Kingshill Road in World War II
News from the Parish
The Saga of Dursley Swimming Pool
Make Pumps Fifteen!
Memories of the 'Prince of Wales' and Berkeley Road
The Dursley Saddlers
Forgotten - Dursley's 'Saint George'
Draycott Mill, Cam - A Pictorial View
Reminiscence of the 41st

A4, 44 pages - £4 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2007

Contents:
King’s Hill
Dursley Parish Church
Memories of Dursley and Cam
Cold War Cam and Dursley
A Memory of Castle Farm
Dursley Town Centre Newsagents
HMS Dursley Galley
One Lamp Cam
Cam - Then and Now
Turnpike Trusts in the Dursley Area

A4, 44 pages - £4 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2006

Contents:
Dursley goes International
The Stiff Families of Dursley and Cam
Memories of Life in Lister’s Foundry 70 Years Ago
A Boat named Dursley
The Curate and the Battle of the Balls
A Tour of Dursley in 1883
Dursley's Adopted Warship - HMS Trident
The Bailiffs of Dursley
The Summer of 1976 Remembered
'Almost a Centenarian' - Ignatius Dark and the Cam National School

A4, 44 pages - £4 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2005

Contents:
Rope Making in Dursley
Aircraft Down! Tales of Crashes in Cam and Dursley
The Fire Bell on Dursley Town Hall
Dursley - Then and Now
Coal Gas in Dursley
A Look through the Log Books - School Life in late Victorian Days
Dursley Lanterns
The Gazette - Part of the Community
The Past in Pictures - Station Road, Cam
The Curious Case of John Venn
Night Out for Ninepence - Memories of Picturegoing in Dursley

A4, 40 pages - £4 + P&P

  
   

Dursley Lantern 2004

Contents:
Cruelty at Dursley Union Workhouse
The Rangers House
Racing Horses on Stinchcombe Hill
The War Memorial Gates and the Story of Dursley's VC
Early Advertising in Dursley
Destination Dursley - Wartime Evacuation to a Cotswold Town
Climbing Boys
Temperance in Cam and Dursley
Reminiscences of Dursley and Cam

A4, 32 pages - £4 + P&P