Wine Tasting in Hertfordshire - HISTORY

WELWYN WINE SOCIETY

In the 1950's, the UK industrial giant Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) developed and became the sole occupier of the site in Bessemer Road now known as Shire Park which became the headquarters and research centre of ICI Plastics Division employing about 2500 people in Hertfordshire.

There was a Recreation Club offering many activities, one of which was a Wine Tasting Section founded in February 1968. When ICI left Welwyn Garden City in 1985, the members of this Section formed the ICI Welwyn Wine Society and continued their usual activities in the former Recreation Club. Eventually they were forced to move to Monks Walk School where to this day they continue their wine tasting meetings.

Only former employees of ICI could become Members but later Associate Membership was established for non-ICI people but this was abolished in 2001 and those members became full members. In 2005 the letters ICI were dropped and we became the Welwyn Wine Society. We now have about 80 Members.

The Society once had its own wine cellar of about 400 bottles of wine but the difficulties of keeping such a wine cellar became too great and from 2000 onwards the members drank it all with much pleasure!

Wine dinners for 12 members were held in Members' homes for many years but they ended in 2015.

The Welwyn Wine Society has Public Liability Insurance and has a written Constitution.

This website, designed and maintained by one of our members, came on-line in February 2016.