What's on in Herefordshire: 3 things to do this month

LOOKING for things happening in Herefordshire this month?

We've compiled some of the upcoming events to keep all the family busy in the county.

These are three of the events published in the what's on section of the Hereford Times this week (June 13).

Violette Szabo’s special day

Violette Szabo was executed at the age of 23.

HEREFORDSHIRE’s Violette Szabo museum is hosting an event to mark the war heroine’s annual “special day”,

On July 7, the 2024 Violette Szabo Day will commemorate one of the only three female winners of the George Cross in World War Two.

Rosemary Rigby MBE established the Violette Szabo museum at her home in Wormelow, which once belonged to Violette’s aunt and uncle, and has held a celebration of Violette’s life every summer for over 20 years.

Violette was an agent of the Special Operations Executive, working in occupied France. She was captured and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where she was shot aged just 23.

Last year, the museum celebrated Violette’s special day with a talk from Holocaust survivor Professor Peter Lantos who, at the age of five, was deported from his home in Hungary and imprisoned at a Nazi concentration camp where most of his family was killed.

Ms Rigby said of the event last year: “Violette is a national heroine as well as here in Herefordshire. She stayed here in my house when she was a little girl. I always feel it was a happy place for her to be. She gave her life for us all at only 23. We all need to stop and think of what has happened to wonderful people like her, to make sure this never happens again.”

The Violette Szabo museum showcases her incredible life as well as telling the stories of other resistance workers and teaching visitors about Ravensbruck concentration camp.

As well as founding the museum, Ms Rigby has been the president of the Ross Action Committee since 1966.

Hereford Symphony Orchestra

Hereford Symphony Orchestra (Image: Robert Peate)

HEREFORD Symphony Orchestra’s summer concert is an ode to the river Wye, with the performance set to take place on June 22.

Composed by Robert Peate and commissioned by the orchestra, the programme of music is a celebration of the river Wye’s journey from its source in Plynlimon in the Welsh mountains to its “glorious arrival in Hereford”.

The programme also includes Grieg’s piano concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No five.

Robert Markham will be performing as a soloist in the concerto on piano and the concert will be conducted by Michael Bell.

It takes place at 7.30pm at the Holy Trinity Church in Whitecross Road, Hereford. Tickets cost £12 for adults and £5 for students, with under 12s going free.

The event is supported by the Elmley Foundation and River Action.

Leominster tours

Leominster Heritage Guides town centre tours (Image: Peter Blench)

LEOMINSTER mayor Gil Murdoch has launched the town’s new heritage guides project, with tours taking place on Saturdays.

The mayor was greeted by “Brother Absalom”, played by local history enthusiast Pete Blench, for the launch of the tours.

These will be walk-and-talk tours around the former monastic precinct and historic heart of Leominster.

Mayor Murdoch said: “Leominster has something to shout about. Leominster had been in existence for more than 400 years following the foundation of its Saxon minister or monastic church.

“Leominster was already on the map. Pilgrims were attracted by the minster’s great collection of religious relics, mainly the bones of saints.”

An expert on the early church, Professor John Blair of Queen’s College, Oxford, previously commented: “Leominster’s area of parochial dependence was at least 12 miles across, one of the biggest mother parishes.”

The mayor also thanked the volunteer guides for signing up to the scheme and helping to boost the town’s tourism offer and Leominster Town Council for support and encouragement.

Project co-ordinator Hilary Myers said the guides all attended a winter training course on local history and were free to shape their own narrative on various aspects of the Leominster story.

The tour takes up to 90 minutes, beginning outside Leominster Information Centre at 11am each Saturday. Tickets are £5 and can be bought in advance from the centre.