A night out in Brewood

For a relatively small place, Brewood has an enormous entry on Wikipedia. Someone is obviously very enthusiastic about the place - and not without good reason; it's very nice and clearly there are lots of interesting things to explore.

Last night we made a start, with a talk, hosted by the Civic Society, by (they put this very proudly on the poster) the local raconteur. well, he didn't sound very local - exceedingly plummy in fact - but he was indeed an excellent raconteur. The talk was about the Tudor housebuilding boom in the wake of the dissolution of the monasteries, not a subject I would have put top of my list of interests, but Richard Field's enthusiasm, especially for the architecture, was infectious and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The talk was preceded by a brief report on matters of interest to the Civic Society, particularly reports on recent planning applications, and followed by a preview of a charity fundraising 'safari supper'; a variation on the 'progressive dinner', and a good idea, in which groups of people eat their first course in one person's house and dessert in another, getting together beforehand for aperitifs and after for coffee and cake. The only odd thing was that tickets were for sale in pairs - are there no single people in Brewood, or are they simply not welcome at the safari supper?

Before descending on the Methodist Church (and it was packed out; the normal venue of the Jubilee Hall being unavailable because of heating problems) we dropped into the Swan for a pint of Directors. It's a very nice pub; five beers and open log fires. So much so that we popped in again afterwards, for another pint and an indulgent packet of pork scratchings, by which time it was deservedly busy. It was Wolverhampton CAMRA's pub of the year 2010, and their village pub of 2011.

Conversation (bemusingly) overheard on the next table:

'Where are your main markets then?'

'Walsall, mainly, then India, and the Far East.'

I like it here.