Tenby Arts Club started the New Year with some local history - Linda Asman presented digital stories from her newly-completed book, A History of Pembroke and Monkton.

Linda and a team of volunteers have spent the last few years gathering the stories of many people in Pembroke and Monkton, and helping them to put together a script and photographs to illustrate that story. These have now been gathered onto a DVD and published as a book.

The book has proved very popular, with 170 copies being sold at the launch evening alone!

Linda herself is originally from Tenby, but worked for many years in Pembroke, and having realised there was no history of Pembroke, decided to fill that gap when she retired. Rather than write it from just one point of view - hers - she decided to get lots of different points of view by collecting people's memories, first of all on tape, and then by using the computer to combine sound and photos.

The first story was of Brian Griffiths recounting the ancient history of Pembroke, particularly the stones. Then Rose Blackburn introduced the Pembroke fair, which has been opened in the same way since the Middle Ages.

Pembroke has been associated with the Royal Dockland since 1814, and the last trading ship came into Pembroke in 1964. A film of Dorcas Thorburn, whose grandfather was a ship's captain, recalled how both her parents worked on ships and she stayed with her grandmother. She remembered visiting her father in Liverpool, and being sent home when the money ran out!

The next story was of Hilda Sweet living in the old East End of Pembroke and then of Eddie Woolford who lived in Monkton. The military connection was represented by Colonel George Hancock, the Commandant of Castlemartin who retired to Pembroke.

Keith Wheeler told of growing up in the prefabs, and Dot Lloyd of the importance of the church in local life - when 50 children regularly attended Sunday school at Monkton Church compared to none now.

John Russell gave an insight into the agricultural life, and the disruption caused when land was taken over for the tanks at Castlemartin. Eric Powling joined the Pembrokeshire Police Force in 1957, and told of the changes he saw during his career.

These were only a few of the many stories available on the DVD or in the book, and it can be purchased at Pembroke Town Hall when the exhibition is open.

It was a fascinating evening, and brought back memories for many members.

This (Friday) evening, Neil Westerman will be talking about his researches into Tenby in World War One. It will be at 7.30 pm in St. Johns Church Hall, and will be £2 for members and £4 for non-members, including light refreshments afterwards. Everyone is welcome to come along.