This is a day for the community with activities all over the town for children and adults – all with the theme of history.  The theme this year being ‘the horse’ the usual parade of classic cars was joined by a parade of horses, many of which had riders in historic costume. 

There were people all over the town in costume, all the churches opened their doors and laid on exhibitions, ancient rural crafts were displayed, metal detecting was organised for children, and a Victorian Schoolroom entertained a good number of children and a tea dance with local band entertained those who were a little older.

BALH joined family history societies in the Ask the Experts room, along with two auctioneers who were kept busy valuing and discussing a wide variety of antiques and curios. The Wincanton Museum, which is run by the society, received its largest number of visitors to date – a magnificent 360. The normal on a Saturday being more like 20! 

Sadly this may be the last of these events, as the Society failed to be awarded a couple of significant and vital grants and so the whole day made a loss, which has been funded from the society’s small savings account, thus jeopardising the life of the museum.

Despite this financial setback this year, this sort of day is a real opportunity for any local history society to engage with the local community and to illustrate many aspects of history both local and social to the old and the young.

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