Our next meeting on Tuesday 27th October at 7:30pm in Stoneleigh Village Hall will be about "Mary Dormer Harris, 1867-1936, Historian, Writer, Pacifist, Feminist... Icon!" Jill Kashi will be introducing us to this local girl, born at Dale House Farm, Stoneleigh. Mary Dormer Harris became a local historian of great repute in her lifetime and has left a legacy that endures to this day: through her academic work; as an educator; a suffragist; a heritage campaigner and dramatist. This talk examines aspects of her cultural legacy, reflecting her passions and concerns as well as the influence of her Stoneleigh roots. Jean Field's book, Mary Dormer Harris - The Life and Works of a Warwickshire Historian, will be available to buy that evening: £5 for the paperback and £10 for the hardback. There aren't enough hospice beds in Coventry and Warwickshire to meet demand. Myton has 36 beds but can only afford to keep 25 open! This is a very sad situation, and in order to help them raise some funds Sheila is going to be doing something a bit different... Beginning on Tuesday November 3rd at 9am, in the Leigh Chapel, Stoneleigh Church and finishing on Tuesday December 8th at 3pm, Sheila will be reading aloud the complete works of Jane Austen! Six hours each Tuesday for six weeks, totalling 36 hours. Visitors are welcome to listen to a page or two, or you could always pay NOT to listen! Many people who have benefited from the fantastic care at Myton. £450 could fund an inpatient bed for one day. £545 could fund the required drugs for one patient. Sheila would be very grateful for any donations towards this venture. Please click here if you wish to donate to this worthwhile cause and support Sheila with her novel idea. The October edition of the Stoneleigh and Ashow News is now available and the minutes of the September meeting. There is a new Monthly Memory. This month, Shirley Ball shares her childhood memories. Also available in the booklet section is her father Harry Edmunds' Diary, which recalls life in Stoneleigh during the first half of the twentieth century. Two new sections have been added. First, directories are now available under the Burial and Census tab, complementing the census records. Second, the Parish Maps section shows the original Stoneleigh Estate, which included Westwood Heath until it became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1846. The area changed significantly in 1926, when it was incorporated into the City of Coventry under the Coventry Corporation (Boundary Extension) Act following the sale of the Stoneleigh Estate lands. Both of these sections will be added to over the coming months.