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WHY I LOVE
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WHY I LOVE...
VOLUNTEERING
at Minster Lovell Hall
Graham Kew grew up in the village of Minster Lovell and enjoys sharing his local knowledge with visitors.
My name is Graham Kew, I am 79 years of age and am a volunteer at the free-to-enter site of
Minster Lovell Hall in Oxfordshire. I spent my childhood in the village and over the years became a fanatic for local history. In 2001 I opened a village museum in my picture framing workshop in order to save local artefacts which could have been lost, and over the past 40 years have produced pictorial maps, two fi lms and three books on Minster Lovell. My local bookshop has stopped stocking local interest books so becoming an English Heritage volunteer has enabled me to pass on my knowledge of the site and village directly to visitors when I get them to fi ll in a questionnaire.
Sharing our village history Our village is steeped in history. The magnifi cent church and manor house were built by William Lovell in the 1430s and more recently, the Charterville estate was built by Feargus O'Connor in 1847 to encourage people to return to the land and grow their own dinners!
As part of a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to repair the roof of St Kenelm's Church, a Norman Grade I listed building, funds were set aside to convert the north transept into a visitor centre to encourage more of the local community and outside visitors to visit and support the church to save it becoming a festive church, only open for weddings and funerals.
Plans for the future The Friends of St Kenelm group plan to work closely with English Heritage to provide guided tours, offer refreshments and generally make the visit to Minster Lovell Hall a far more enjoyable experience. I have been taking visitors around St Kenelm's and the ruined manor for many years and lived and breathed the two tragic stories associated with it – the Mistletoe Bough and Sir Francis Lovell's disappearance after the Battle of Stoke. I love to give my version of the stories and authenticate the facts and tell my audience the current state of play.
In 2022 I plan to be active in my role as a volunteer and hope to visit other sites and defi nitely stay at some of the holiday cottages.■
Graham Kew
GET IN TOUCH We’d love to share your story. Get in touch at volunteerfocus@english-heritage.org.uk
