Local History News Number 91 Spring 2009

ON DISCOVERING DAVID HOCKNEY WATERCOLOUR LANDSCAPES
 

Sometimes a chance find has a powerful impact, giving a feeling of discovery, perhaps of revelation. So it was in the February half-term when we went to Saltaire near Bradford, the magnificent planned mill community built by Titus Salt in the mid-nineteenth century. Its centrepiece is the awesome Salts Mill, six storeys high and 545 feet long, now housing a range of visitor attractions (none of its 1200 looms remains—weaving ceased in 1986) including the world’s largest permanent collection of works by Bradford’s most famous living son, David Hockney. There are superior retail outlets, an excellent restaurant, and other galleries, but we spent a lot of our time looking at the Hockneys (entrance is free!) and afterwards I thought I’d buy a few postcards. That was where I had my revelatory experience.

 
Now to the sophisticated and experienced readers ofLocal History News what I discovered might already be very familiar, so forgive me if you know all about it already—but I didn’t, and had evidently been shamefully ignorant, so here goes. What caught my eye was a series of 36 postcards, collectively entitled ‘Midsummer: East Yorkshire 2004’, reproducing a set of watercolours which Hockney had produced while spending periods in the East Riding, a land he had first known in the 1950s when he worked as an agricultural labourer during harvest time, and which he knew again because his mother lived at Bridlington for the last years of her life. These are not particularly ambitious watercolours (15 x 22 inches each) but I was riveted by their impact.
 
They perfectly captured the spirit of the landscape of the wolds and vales, a gentle and haunting countryside of open vistas and rolling hills, dominated by the impact of parliamentary enclosure in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. What made the Hockney landscapes so effective was their sheer ordinariness—a detailed close up of roadside vegetation on the edge of a cornfield, with cow parsley, nettles and plantain; a short line of dark trees overarching the broad verge of an enclosure road; an electricity pylon seen on the horizon at the end of a double-rutted cart-track edged by the reddish red spikes of field sorrel and tall coarse grasses; and the long parallel lines of harvested stubble broken by the great Swiss rolls of round bales, a couple of stag-headed oaks on a boundary, and the dark gold of unharvested grain in the next field. Somehow a great artist can distil the essence of a place, placing it down on paper for posterity in a way which no photograph can emulate. To me they were the very embodiment of the Yorkshire Wolds.  
 
Enclosure landscapes, geometric and superimposed upon older forms and ancient topographies, have often been given a rather bad press. W.G. Hoskins wrote of their monotony in the Midlands, but he also pointed out that ‘We must not overstress this uniformity’, and today, almost sixty years after he wrote that, enclosure landscapes are more valued and their history is highly-regarded. Not least, the prairie-like expanses that result from the grubbing up of enclosure hedges are a far less agreeable contrast. In the East Riding the smooth and sinuous shapes of the chalk wolds and dry valleys complement the geometry of enclosure to great effect, and this wide airy landscape has a special beauty of its own. Now, to me, it is Hockney’s landscape, just as Norfolk’s belongs to Cotman … all thanks to a chance perusal of a rack of postcards in the mill at Saltaire. 

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SHOW ME THE MONEY!
 

If you’re as old as me, you can probably remember a time when if you wanted money for something (maybe a school or a sports project), you had a jumble sale, a raffle, a sponsored swim – or perhaps (for the very sophisticated!) a cheese and wine party….Well, all of those are still possible ways of raising money, but it’s also worth considering whether you could get a grant towards the costs of your project. My article is going to concentrate on the need to “scope” your project first; explain a bit about identifying potential sources of funding, and also pass on a few tips about how to prepare a good application. Most of this is common sense – and if you’ve successfully applied for a grant before, probably old hat to you - but hopefully some of you will find bits of it useful…….

 
Scoping Your Project
 
So, you have a project in mind. (For the purposes of this article, I’m going to assume that it relates to local history, and that you’re part of a group, not just an interested individual.) You realise that there’s not enough money in the kitty to fund the event or activity your group wants to undertake. So, could you get a grant to help with the costs? Well, it all depends……….Basically, the critical point is whether there’s a match between what you want to do, and what a funder wants to fund. This may sound obvious, but this really is where you need start. So, you need to think through exactly what your project would ideally involve, and this will help you to determine who you might approach for funding. Think about:
 
·        What is the activity or event you want to undertake;
·        Who will be involved;
·        When will all this take place;
·        Where will it happen;
·        How will it be organised;
·        How much will it cost.
 
This scoping activity has a number of benefits:
 
Ø      If you talk about this in your group, it will help make sure everyone understands (and hopefully agrees) the exact nature of the project;
Ø      Most funders will ask these sorts of questions on their application forms, so you’ll be well-prepared when you sit down to start;
Ø      Working out what you are – and are not – going to do will help you to identify potential funders.
 
Identifying a Funder
 
Once you’ve completed this “scoping” phase, you can start thinking about identifying all the possible sources of funding for your project. There are various useful books that can help you with this, often available at your local library (try the reference section) or at your local Council for Voluntary Service (CVS). One title to look out for is “A Guide to the Major Trusts” (volumes 1 and 2). These have a really useful subject index, which means you can identify all the trusts that are interested in funding projects promoting (for example) “education” or “arts and culture”. They also have a geographical index, that highlights where a trust gives preference to a particular county, region or area. This can obviously be particularly useful for local history groups – one, they’ll tell you if there’s a particular funder interested in your locality; and two, some trust have a very specific geographical focus, which means they can only give grants to groups operating within a particular catchment area. So, if you’re in the right area, that will reduce the level of competition for their grants, and you should have a head start! You could also try “The Directory of Grant Making Trusts”. Trusts often change their priorities, so it’s best to use these guides to identify likely candidates, and then check the up-to-date situation on the relevant trust’s website, or see if there’s an invitation to write for further details.
 
 There are also various computer programmes that can help with your search. The best place to access these is again your local CVS (or equivalent) - they may well have “Funder Finder” or another programme that you can use for free as part of the local voluntary or community sector (but do try to be quite specific with your search terms, or you can end with far too many long-shots!), and many of them will also have an officer who can advise you on funding.  
 
Once you’ve identified some possible funders, you need to check whether they’re worth pursuing. You may have identified a likely-sounding funder, with an interest in “education”, that you feel might suit your project if you stress the “lifelong learning” aspects. But, in addition to the broad categories of what they might fund, they all tend to have their own criteria and priorities. Some will only fund registered charities; some may only give grants of (say) £1000; some may fund “education” projects, but when you read the fine print, they only want to fund projects that will increase literacy rates amongst teenagers….. So, if your group isn’t a registered charity; needs £2500, and your main beneficiaries are aged over 40, cross them off your list.
 
I’m not going to provide a long list of likely funders for local history projects, but you might want to look at the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Pilgrim Trust and The Marc Fitch Fund just to get an idea of how different funders operate, and the sorts of things they might fund. But, remember, you can always do some research of your own as suggested above – you might find the perfect funder for your project!
 
 
Top tips for strong applications
 
·        Once you’ve identified the funder you want to approach, make sure you read all the documents they make available. If there are guidance notes, do take the time to read them. And – just like in exams! – do read the questions on the form, and answer them as clearly as you can.
·        Once you’ve drafted the application, get someone else – preferably not associated with your project – to read it through. This has a number of benefits: 1) if they don’t understand what you’re asking for, and why, there’s a good chance the funder won’t either; 2) if you’ve used acronyms or unfamiliar terms, they’ll pick them up; and 3) they’ll probably give you an honest objective opinion, whereas a member of your group will already be supportive of the project and its aims (and of course be deeply grateful to you for drafting the application, so less likely to voice any concerns!)
·        Do cost your project realistically. The funder will expect you to deliver what you’ve set out in your application, so make sure you’ve included everything and checked how much things really cost.
·        Make sure you comply with any instructions for submitting the application. If they say, send two copies, do that. If they say, “hard copy only”, don’t send it by e-mail. If they say “maximum of 4 sides of A4” or “include your latest accounts”, just do what they ask. You would be amazed how many applications fail because of technicalities……
·        Keep a copy of the application for your records.
·        Think carefully how your project fits with the funder’s criteria, and stress the elements that will appeal to them. You sometimes need to think a bit tangentially: funders often list quite general themes or priorities, and these may not initially seem a good fit with your project. If they’re keen on education, is there an opportunity in your project for people to learn new skills, or to improve existing ones? If they’re keen on projects “building a sense of community”, think how your project can help people connect with their local area, and be proud of its history. 
·        Finally, remember that when you’re  applying  for a grant, you need to convince someone else that your project is worth funding. So, recognising andexplaining why your project is important is critical. You may think that cataloguing old maps of your local village is the most interesting and worthwhile thing anyone could do, but – trust me! – not everyone will share this view. You need to imagine your application landing on the desk of someone who knows nothing (and at this stage cares nothing) about your project. The application form is your chance to change this – so think carefully about how you describe your project, the benefits it will have, and why it’s important.
 
 
Anyway, I wish all of you good luck with your applications, and hope that you’ll be able to share news of your successful bids in future editions of Local History News ...
 

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A MULTI-FACETED HISTORIAN
 

Joan Dils has made a habit of breaking new ground as a local historian. For over 30 years she has been actively involved in the local history of Berkshire, an area that was entirely unknown to her when she and her husband moved to Reading in 1976.

But it didn’t start there. Joan was born in Stoke on Trent in, as she puts it, an interesting year of Roosevelt’s New Deal and Hitler’s rise to power in Germany – typical of her broad view of history. Coming from ‘solid working class stock’ she and her brother and sister all ‘passed the scholarship’ to local grammar schools and went on to university. Hugely supportive parents, especially her mother after her father’s death when she was only 11, and caring teachers encouraged Joan to set her sights high. As she has written, the Dominican nuns at the Catholic grammar school in Stoke were remarkable women who ‘lived out what they believed and it was catching’.
After a history degree and PCGE in Birmingham Joan returned home to teach. She traces her fascination with primary sources to attending sessions run by Denis Stuart and his colleagues for teachers in Stoke on how to read and then use local sources, when photocopies were provided relevant to topics being taught at ‘O’ and ‘A’ level.
Joan had already met her husband Ray, and after their marriage they lived first in Birmingham, and then Nottingham before the move to Reading. It was in Nottingham that their two daughters were born, and also, as Joan puts it, where ‘my professional life changed’. Teaching an extra-mural evening class on the Tudors, Joan was asked by her students about Tudor Nottingham. Alan Rogers was Head of Department, and pointed Joan to the records of Southwell Peculiar. Thus the aspect of her life concerned with group work on primary sources began. All her referees commented on her very special quality of leading cooperative projects that have inspired others to valuable research and publications. Technical challenges (palaeography, Latin, quantitative analysis) were met, along with sharing ‘an enjoyable sense of familiarity with long dead people and vanished landscapes’.
Ray Dils was appointed to a chair in Physiology and Biochemistry at Reading University, and so Joan had to start again on Berkshire history and sources. Once more she was innovative in persuading the extra-mural department of the value of workshop classes. As in Nottingham, Joan’s ability to contribute her own lively enthusiasm for archive sources proved infectious. The first result was Redding 1540-1640: A Portrait of a Community (published in 1980) in whose foreword the work of 15 student co-authors is acknowledged. More followed, all showing the importance of exemplary scholarship demonstrated by Joan and expected by her of others. Co-operation was a feature of what one referee has called Joan’s ‘crowning achievement so far’. For An Historical Atlas of Berkshire (1998) she assembled an impressive team of local historians: university teachers, archivists, students, free-lance lecturers, and consultants. She is currently working on a revised second edition.
As well as collaborative studies, Joan has contributed articles to journals based on her own research, again reflecting very wide interests. And her voluntary work in local history has also had a huge impact on the area and her fellow local historians. She has been on the Council of the Berkshire Record Society since its foundation, and is working on a scholarly edition of the richly informative churchwardens’ accounts for the parish of St Laurence, Reading. Over the years she has been involved with the WEA, Oxford University Summer Schools, and the Association of Local History Tutors. At present she is chairing the Berkshire Local History Association, ‘in a characteristically proactive and selfless fashion’. In addition she is much in demand as an expert and accessible speaker at local society meetings.
Thus, at a time when others might rest on their laurels in retirement, Joan Dils continues to be closely involved with organisations concerned with local history throughout Berkshire. And that is not all. In the early 1960s Joan spent two years teaching in Nigeria, and she and Ray travelled the world after their daughters left home. Although she has done less of that since his death, Joan retains her active enjoyment of their other common interests of music and the theatre (and not just in the audience). She has a large garden which she manages almost entirely single-handed. Her daughters have five children under seven, so Joan’s services as a grandmother are much in demand. This requires keeping up with the Premier League, and organising ‘delightfully messy’ cookery sessions.
There is no evidence that Joan Dils is slowing down. She continues be to regarded with respect and affection by countless local historians, in Berkshire and beyond.
With thanks to Joan Dils, Kate Tiller, Alan Crosby and Ralph Houlbrooke

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INTRODUCING ... THE BRITISH STEEL COLLECTION
 

A recent initiative by the University of Teesside and Teesside Archives, both located in Middlesbrough in the north east of England, has secured the future of an important and significant archive of national and international importance. The British Steel Collection was gifted to Teesside Archives almost twenty years ago by British Steel plc (now Corus) but lack of resources prevented making it available to the public. No catalogue existed and very little was known about the full size of the deposit, the complexity or the variety of its contents. Indeed, due to lack of space, most of the Collection remained in storage at Corus until the University and the Archives joined forces. In the summer of 2006, the whole Collection was moved into its new home on the 4th floor of Teesside Archives and a basic shelf listing was completed. On the basis of that endeavour, funding bids were submitted to finance the work needed to make this extensive resource available to the public.

 
Led by the University of Teesside, the £1.6 million British Steel Archive Project has been running since April 2008 and is due to finish at the end of 2010. Partially funded by a £250,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project has also been successful in gaining financial support from Corus, as the current steel industrial presence on Teesside, and Community trade union (formerly the Iron & Steel Trades Federation). However, about £400,000 still needs to be raised in order to achieve all the objectives. Individual and corporate donations to the project are most welcome.
 
The British Steel Collection contains the records of forty or more iron and steel companies based in the Teesside area of the North East of England and covers the period c. 1840-1970. The history of Teesside, especially its rapid growth during the nineteenth century, is directly linked to the expansion of the railways from Darlington andStockton towards the mouth of the Tees estuary and the subsequent discovery of ironstone in the Cleveland Hills which attracted iron companies to the area.
The Collection includes selected company records of many companies such as Bolckow & Vaughan, Bell Brothers, Cochrane & Co. Ltd., Dorman, Long & Co. Ltd., South Durham Steel & Iron Co. Ltd., Cargo Fleet Iron Company and Skinningrove Iron Co. Ltd. In addition, records of associated institutions as the Middlesbrough Exchange Co. Ltd. and the Cleveland Mineowners’ Association have been preserved. In its current, un-catalogued state, the Collection fills nearly 700 linear feet of shelving and it is anticipated that, once the repackaging is complete, it will double in size. As such, it is the biggest single deposit held by Teesside Archives.
 
In addition to the traditional business records, there are thousands of images (in various formats e.g. glass plate negatives), especially of construction projects around the world such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, built by Dorman, Long & Co. Ltd. and opened in 1932. Engineering drawings, blueprints, maps and plans also feature significantly in the Collection. Of interest to family historians will be the many records pertaining to employees, directors and shareholders of the companies.
 
There are three main project aims:
 
·       To create an electronic, searchable catalogue of the entire collection;
·       To preserve and conserve vulnerable, damaged and high interest items within the collection; and
·       To raise awareness about the collection viacommunity engagement and outreach activities
 
The project team were recruited between April and August 2008 and have made significant progress to date. The archivist is over half way through compiling a full list of the contents of each box. This list will form the basis for the catalogue by sorting the records by company, by date and by type. From this list, the details of each record will be entered into the electronic cataloguing software which will be made available to the public via the internet. The conservation survey is underway which will help to prioritise items requiring repair, cleaning and repackaging. Outreach activities have been successfully raising awareness about the project and encouraging people to get involved with the project as a volunteer. Since October 2008, over 60 volunteers have been trained and over 40 are actively working on digitisation, indexing, collection care, small research projects, oral history interviews & public engagement activities.
 
Anyone with an interest in Teesside or industrial heritage will welcome the availability of this new resource, as will family historians with ancestors who migrated to this area to work in the ironstone mines, quarries, coal mines or the iron and steel companies which employed so many. As well as the catalogue, many items will be indexed and made available through the project website, together with a searchable gallery of images from the Collection.
 
For more information, go to:www.britishsteelcollection.org.uk
Email: britishsteel@tees.ac.uk
Phone: 01642 384478

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FILM IN YOUR COMMUNITY!
 

Did you know that MACE might be able to help you find and realise the potential of films and videos currently tucked away in attics and sheds, cupboards and garages in your community?

 
The moving image is the greatest recording medium of the twentieth century. When paired with other historical documents it can bring the past to life with a breathtaking immediacy.
 
Our concern at MACE (the Media Archive for Central England) is that these materials are disappearing fast. We want to stem the tide by working with organisations across the midlands to help them find and ‘save’ their local community’s moving image heritage. But that’s not where it ends: once saved these artefacts will be duplicated by MACE and usable copies will be returned to the community where they could be used for research, in exhibitions, screenings and education work*. In the meantime, MACE will ensure the long term preservation of the materials found so that they can go on being used by future generations.
 
In order to achieve this MACE (the regional moving image archive for the East and West Midlands) is developing a major Heritage Lottery Funded project, Full Circle. The project will enable MACE to support organisations in the midlands over a three year period as they conduct searches for film and video in their communities and begin to make use of these precious historical documents.
 
More information about MACE is available on its web site,www.macearchive.org.uk and you can find out more about the project itself at:  www.macearchive.org.uk/FULL_CIRCLE/FULL_CIRCLE_FAQS.html
 
If your organisation is interested in being a partner in Full Circle please drop Richard Shenton a line at rs228@le.ac.uk. Or, if you would like to talk to someone about the project please contact MACE’s director, James Patterson on 0116 252 5069 or by e-mail at jmp42@le.ac.uk
 
*All uses would be subject to obtaining permission from rights holders.

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HISTORYTALK
 

HISTORYtalk, a community history group in west London, is taking part in a national oral history project called Britain at Work 1945- 1995. We hope to interview people who worked in west London in the post- war era in order to record peoples’ experiences of the workplace, including trade union membership, pay, conditions of work, health & safety and industrial relations. The project covers a wide geographical area from Kensington & Chelsea through to Acton, Cricklewood, Hayes and Hounslow. Much of the workforce in these areas was composed of women and migrant workers.

You may have worked in the public sector in these years, for example on the railways, buses, the BBC, the NHS or in the private sector in factories such as Kodak, EMI, Napiers, Trico, Firestones or Hoover or you might be able to help us to get in touch with people who did work in places such as these. You may be able assist us with gathering photographs/ memorabilia for an exhibition or by helping with the project locally.
 
The interviews will appear on the TUC Library Collections website at www.unionhistory.info
 Please contact Dave or Rima at HISTORYtalk on 020 7792 2282 or email info@historytalk.org

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PLACES IN HISTORY
 

I am delighted to have been offered by the editor the chance to describe here an online local history project now at the pilot stage. When looking for funding to take it further, it will be an enormous help to have an idea of its potential – in other words to know whether you, or your local history society, might like to be involved. So please read on!

 
The concept was inspired by the arrival two years ago of the amazing Google Maps, which make it so easy to find a building one is interested in and to display it in an extraordinarily detailed satellite view. This facility seems to me to offer a very exciting new dimension for local historians. Much of our material relates to a specific location, whether a public building or private house, a factory or mill or shop, a park or a garden, a town square or street, a hospital or prison.
 
But local events and documents are usually also located with similar precision in time. And the internet has brought us an entirely new and flexible way of exploring time, in the form of the interactive timeline. The aim of Places in History is to bring together, in an ever-growing database, the twin elements of time and place as they relate to local history. The partner in the scheme with Google Maps is a website, HistoryWorld, which makes much of timelines. It is something I have been developing over the past nine years.
 
So how does Places in History work? Well, it starts with the place. A contributor, invited to join in by a local history society, finds and tags the place in Google Maps and then builds up a couple of pages relating to it. The first page displays an image of the place together with the event or events that happened there – and, if required, any supplementary notes. The optional second page is for other images connected with the place.
 
Let me give you an example through screenshots. St Helena Terrace is on the bank of the Thames in Richmond. Figure 1 locates it very precisely in Google Maps, opposite the island in the centre of town. The terrace is of historical interest only because of two famous people who lived there – the Russian revolutionary Alexander Herzen in 1854, and from 1955 an Edwardian heart-throb, the actress Ellaline Terriss. So on the place’s own page (not displayed here), these two people provide the second and third events. The building of the terrace in 1834-5 is the first.
 
Figure 2 shows the top of the terrace’s page of images (an enchanting postcard of Ellaline Terriss is out of sight below the bearded revolutionary and is followed by historical prints of the terrace). And Figure 3 is something automatically created by our own Historyworld software. Each event of local history becomes part of our large database of national and international history. So the local event can feature in many different timeline contexts. In this case I have imagined someone wanting to find out what else was going on while the terrace was being built. The Tolpuddle martyrs and the burning of the Houses of Parliament are just two of the other events that we have in our database for 1834.
 
Our pilot scheme contains two projects, one regional (the borough of Richmond-upon-Thames) and the other thematic (the life of Richard Trevithick). You can browse in them yourself by starting atwww.historyworld.net/placesinhistory/richmond.asp   andwww.historyworld.net/placesinhistory/trevithick.asp ..
 
It is important to emphasize that Places in History is not a rival to the websites of local history societies. It enhances them, by displaying their material in a wider context. Twickenham’s museum, for example, has an absolutely brilliant website and the Twickenham contributors to Places in History have inserted frequent links back to it. The project, if it reaches its full potential, will become a rich national database of local history – achieving wider exposure for everyone, and more links back to each society’s own site.
 
So the question I began with. If you or any of your colleagues might like to be involved in Places in History at a later stage, do please email me atbamber@historyworld.net .

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VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORY: SCHOOLS LEARNING ZONE
 

As part of its Heritage Lottery-funded, England’s Past for Everyone (EPE) project, the Victoria County History has been running school projects in ten counties across the country. Working with local partners including schools, museums, record offices and education consultants, EPE is delivering projects that encourage pupils to explore the history of their local area. The school projects are based on original research completed by historians working on the EPE projects, providing a unique insight for both pupils and teachers.

 
Nine projects have now been completed, with projects in Derbyshire and County Durham and Bristol currently ongoing. In Derbyshire, EPE Education and Skills Manager Skye Dillon, has been working with History Advanced Skills Teacher, Gordon Nisbet, and Orlinda Dias from Derbyshire County Council, to deliver a project exploring the life of a mining community in the 1900s. Pupils from The Bolsover School and New Bolsover Primary School researched the lives of individuals living in New Bolsover village through census research sessions with local librarians. They also visited the National Coal Mining Museum in West Yorkshire and received training in role playing and interviewing skills. Year 9 pupils (ages 13-14) from The Bolsover School then provided a trail around the village for Year 5 (ages 9-10) primary school pupils. Dressed as local characters including a teacher, a quarry-owner and a mineworker, the older pupils were interviewed by the primary school pupils using recording equipment provided by EPE. Over the next few months the County Council will provide IT training to help the pupils develop their own web pages on the project, where they will be able to upload images, local history information and their interview audio files. A celebration of the pupils’ work on this project is planned for May.
 
Resources from all the EPE school projects are now being made available online through the EPE Schools Learning Zone (SLZ) (www.EnglandsPastforEveryone.org.uk/schools). Launched in January at the BETT exhibition at Olympia, London, the SLZ provides free access to learning resources aimed at Key Stages 1-3 (ages 5-14). Materials include teacher notes, lesson plans, timelines, indoor and outdoor activity sheets and images. Teachers can download the resources as a complete pack or select individual items to plan their own lessons. The resources have been developed by education specialists, offer a cross-curricular approach linked to the National Curriculum, and are designed to provide models for teaching local history across the country. Materials already on the website have been developed from EPE projects in Bristol, Cornwall, Oxfordshire and Sussex and cover topics such as Tudor architecture, the lives of Tudor rich and poor, fishing communities, buildings and ethnic diversity in a city. Resources from other EPE school projects, covering topics including industry, agriculture and the lives of the Victorians, are currently being developed and will be added throughout 2009.  Further resources to enhance learning can be accessed through the Explore website (www.ExploreEnglandsPast.org.uk), a free online repository of items discovered by EPE historians and researchers including images, audio files and transcribed wills. 

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NORTH WEST - INDUSTRIAL POWERHOUSE
 

My great grandmother was a weaver in Ashton under Lyme, my great grandfather was a engine man in another mill, and my grandfather was a mill engineer. We haven’t been able to get much detail of them – it’s too far back through the generations. Their homes have gone, the mills have closed and been demolished, so how do I inspire my children with the stories of their ancestors?

For me, Tristram Hunt’s description of the North West and Manchester as the first industrial society resonates. Where the Chinese special economic zones are now, Manchester was 200 years ago. But where can I see and feel the daily experiences of my great grandparents? Where are the great mill engines, the coal fired boilers, the waterwheels, the spinning mules, the massive loom sheds that give the noise, dirt, smells – and stories to bring my ancestors to life?
As the Heritage Tourism Executive for the North West, I am in the enviable position of knowing much more of where I can find real life experiences today of mill life. There are still some mills working commercially – though their products are not ones my family would have recognised. And there are 4 preserved mills and a museum that can offer me proper insights. SO if this appeals to you, here are my special places:
The massive weaving shed of Queen St Mill, Burnley, is full of looms – and you have to listen to them from a sound proof box....They are still driven by a proper steam engine with a coal fired boiler and economiser – something my grandfather would easily recognise before he developed his second career as a further education lecturer.
Helmshore Museum, in Haslingden, north of Bury, still has its original mules – and if you are lucky, John or one of the operatives, can still regale you with their stories of life in the mill. Did my great grandma place fast and loose? (Knocking the drive belt off the fast drive so they could get a loo break – punishable if caught)
Wigan’s Trencherfield Mill still has a mammoth steam engine which can drive its ring frames. A terrifying beast – was this what my grandfather drove?
And Quarry Bank Mill gives not just a feeling for all the work of a mill, with operating machinery, but also the world’s most powerful working waterwheel, an apprentice house which shows how the children lived, and a village that housed the workers. When I operate my allotment in the village there, I am carrying on a 200 year old tradition. Maybe not my ancestors, but just like them.
Finally, if you just want a quick insight, the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester has a demonstration every day of its cotton processing plant- and of course has loads of other industries from the NW to show.
But these only show the work side. What about the home life? Or the education and mutual aid that characterised the area? There’s plenty more to see – and there will be more still when the Co-operative Pioneers exhibition at Rochdale is refurbished, and the People’s History Museum reopens this autumn.
So log on to www.industrialpowerhouse.co.uk to see trails, attractions, offers and history to tempt you to visit your roots.

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1911 IRISH CENSUS ONLINE
 

In January 2009, the 1911 census of England and Wales was released with great media fanfare. It is less well-known that the 1911 census of Ireland is also being made available online, with the added advantage that it is free to use. The Irish census is being digitised by the National Archives of Ireland, in co-operation with Library and Archives Canada. As of April 2009, only four counties – Antrim, Down, Dublin and Kerry – are available, but the remaining 28 counties are due to be added before the end of the year.

 
Like its counterpart in England and Wales, the 1911 census of Ireland took place on the night of 2 April. The information gathered was broadly similar, with the addition of asking respondents to indicate if they spoke the Irish language. Unlike the census of England and Wales, information relating to the infirmity of the respondents has not been removed.
 
The website is easily searchable by name, and also by place, making it easy to look at, for example, all the residents of a particular street or rural townland. Once a household has been identified, it is possible to download and save a good quality digital copy of the original form.
 
The potential of this census for historians is immense, and is perhaps best illustrated by an example. Edwardian Belfast has been described as ‘a city of superlatives’, and at the pinnacle of this industrial achievement stood Thomas Andrews, shipbuilder and chief designer for Titanic.
 
Andrews appears in the 1911 census in his home in Windsor Avenue, Belfast, and his census return indicates the standard of living which his work at Harland and Wolff had brought him. He lives not only with his wife, Helen, and their four month old daughter, Elizabeth, but with no less than five servants: a cook, a housemaid, a parlour maid, a general servant and a nurse. The census records the age, religion, marital status and county of birth of each of these women.
 
The information available, however, goes further than this. Form N, the Enumerator’s abstract, records a summary of the people living in Windsor Avenue, detailing them by both gender and religious profession. Form B1 contains information on the buildings in Windsor Avenue which, as befitted one of the most exclusive addresses in Belfast, was made up solely of ‘1st class’ dwellings. Form B2 records information relating to stables and
outhouses, although the Andrews’ property did not possess either of these.
 
Clearly, the online availability of such detailed information is of tremendous value to historians of all kinds. Through the census it is possible to build up an immensely detailed picture of any locality in Ireland, including not only the people who lived there, but also something of the conditions in which they lived. It is possible to trace local employment patterns, and the concentration of religious denominations in particular areas.
 
One of the major advantages of the census for the historian is that it records the same information about a figure like Thomas Andrews as it does about the lowliest charwoman or mill worker. Less than two months after the census was taken, Titanic’s hull was launched into Belfast Lough, with some 100,000 spectators watching on. As its designer, Andrews remains a famous man, but through the release of the 1911 Irish census, we can uncover details of the lives of the many thousands of unknown people who witnessed the events of that day.
 
The 1911 Census of Ireland is available online at: http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

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BITTERNE HISTORY FAIR
 

Mary Abrahams, the prime organiser, got in touch with me. “We are going to have a History Fair at TownhillParkHouse and want you to set up a page about it from our website. Would you also see if Keith Hamilton at the Echo can help?” My heart sank – I hadn’t set up a new page for a very long time and had forgotten how to do it. I then tried to contact Keith, a very good friend to the Society, but he was on holiday. When I then received a copy of the proposed event to put on the website my heart really sank and pessimistic Jim set in!

I was down to give a talk on how to write a local history book. How on earth could I do that? I just got stuck into researching things and then wrote about it. I was really pessimistic about how I was going to get over that one.
Then I looked at the list of other speakers – some very good ones but how many were going to turn up to listen? How many would be prepared to spend £2 for entry? What if the weather, as it tends to be in March, was wet and windy? Even if some did turn up, where would they park and who would organise it? There was no doubt that the Committee were being too ambitious and over-enthusiastic. It was doomed to failure and would run at a tremendous loss!
I managed, with some effort, to set up a new page and link it to the website, but it seemed that every few days there was a new stall to be added and an amendment to the speakers. Pessimistic Jim then worried about how on earth they were going to fit in so many stalls – ending up with 28 - within the available space?
I then managed to contact Keith Hamilton and he gave us a marvellous two page spread in the Echo, followed by another piece about the event some time later. That was great, and truly appreciated, but how many local people would be interested enough to want to visit? How many of those would fail to make a note of the date? How many would forget?
All in all pessimistic Jim dreaded the outcome as it could not possibly succeed.
Then, as arranged, I turned up at the Charity Shop to help on the Friday morning, and books and equipment were collected. I was now down to run a stall of my own books from BLHS stock, but how many would want them?
The big day started early and I was greeted on arrival at the front gates of Townhill Park by Gerry, then directed to my parking bay by John Mayo and Keith, so that part at least had been well organised and went well.
I then found that everything inside was absolute organised chaos, everybody setting up their various stalls in every nook and cranny, with 28 entries from every conceivable local society and organisation. Ian was, of course, the focal point for any problem, and these were resolved without fuss.
But all involved were clearly happy and looking forward to the first arrivals.
Entry in the front door was also well set out and efficiently managed - so far so good!
But when the first handful of arrivals came pessimistic Jim was still anxious – would these be the only ones? Would the first, getting larger, batch be joined by others?
The event was opened by the Mayor of Southampton, Cllr Brian Parnell, accompanied by his wife, who both attended my talk, the first of the day.
This was well received so I then went to my stall, helped by Joan Holt throughout the day. A few books were sold in the first hour but pessimistic Jim was still concerned that not many more would follow.
We were next to our good associates of the Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery, and with Joan’s help I was able to take several opportunities of visiting the other stalls and gradually having my pessimistic outlook overcome. The numbers were consistent throughout the day and I really perked up when I was told that the original 250 tickets had sold out and more had to be photocopied! My book stall also went far better than I had anticipated but this was overshadowed when I checked the main BLHS stall and found they had sold, at that particular time, more than five times more than me!
 By the end of the day there was no doubt that the History Fair had exceeded even the wildest expectations and had been a fantastic success. Over 700 had attended and I was right - I had known all along that BLHS knew what they were doing!!

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NEWS FROM LIBRARIES
 

In the Spring/Summer programme of events at The Women’s Library, there is a guided walk on 4 July ‘Westminster’s women of America’ which will ‘follow in the footsteps of Nancy Astor, the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons, suffragist Susan Anthony and Jennie Jerome, mother of Winston Churchill’.

On Saturday 11 July there will be a Children’s Art Day, linked to their current exhibition ‘Between the Covers: Women’s Magazines and their Readers’ (running until 29 August). www.thewomenslibrary.ac.uk
 
Two recently-received local society newsletters mark retirements of long-serving local studies librarians, who will be missed by many people in their areas. Bob Thomson has retired as Local History Librarian at Harrow Reference Library. A tribute in Pinner Local History Society Newsletter comments ‘he always knew exactly what information was there, and where it might be found … he was one of those people who are essential to research’. www.pinnerlhs.org.uk Graham Dalling was the London Borough of Enfield’s Local History Officer, ‘his knowledge of all things historical and much else besides is well known to you all’ states Edmonton Hundred Historical Society, and Graham will continue as President of the Society.www.edmontonhundred.org.uk
 
Don’t forget to check details and updates of collection moves if you are planning a visit to the British Library.www.bl.uk/collectionmoves/

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NEWS FROM ARCHIVES
 

There is growing concern for the future of the Minton Archive, following the acquisition of the firm of Waterford Wedgwood UK plc by KPS Capital Partners. A recent statement in the House of Lords indicated that government and heritage bodies are working together to try to ensure the archive remains intact and accessible. Members of BALH should be aware of the vulnerability of business archives, of local as well as national importance, in the current economic climate. The obligation to maximise funds for creditors on the enforced closure of firms includes material of historical significance which these days has a monetary value. The result of such sales will not necessarily be in the best interests of historians.

 
On a more cheerful note, there was a turf-cutting ceremony recently for the new Archives Office in Carlisle. Thanks to a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund, and substantial investment by Cumbria County Council, the nigh tech 21st century building is due to open in the second half of 2010, following a six-month move from the present office in Carlisle Castle. www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives Friends of Cumbria Archives www.focas1919.co.uk
 
Sheffield Archives Service has been awarded a grant of £35,000 to open access to a huge industrial archives form the Firth Brown steel company. The collection comprises the archives of John Brown & Co Ltd (manufacturers of steel and ordnance, and colliery owners), and Thomas Firth & Sons Ltd (manufacturers of steel edge tools, ordnance, and railway tyres and axles). Both firms lay at the heart of industrial development in Sheffield as a centre for heavy metals industry. Sheffield History Reporter 122, www.sheffield.gov.uk/libraries
 
Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records ServiceNewsletter No 79 contains an article that uses some unusual records on the care of the mentally ill in the 19thcentury. The Discharge to Custody of Friends Register of the Three Counties Asylum demonstrates that the idea of ‘care in the community’ has a long history. Inmates often stayed only a short time, and were sometimes readmitted, and subsequently redischarged, suggesting that the asylum was being used for respite for families who normally acted as carers. There is a collection of letters from the husband of one patient to the Superintendent, including in November 1893, ‘Sir, I was very sorry to have to bring my wife back to you’.www.bedscc.gov.uk/archive
 
Stop Press! Archives for the 21st century: consultation.The National Archives has been working with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in England and CyMAL in Wales to develop a proposed new government policy for publicly funded archives. This policy, Archives for the 21st century, has now been published. The policy outlines the challenges currently facing the archives sector and highlights some of the excellent contributions that archives make to their communities. It does not offer a single blueprint for the way forward but seeks to provide a range of options that can be applied to both short and long term planning in individual archives, according to local need. Everyone interested is invited to take part. TNA writes ‘This is your opportunity to contribute to the new policy for archives - your views are important to us and we urge you to participate.
The consultation exercise will run until 12 August 2009 and the document is available on The National Archives website at
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archivesconsultation

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NEWS FROM MUSEUMS
 

The Merchant’s House, Marlborough, in Wiltshire (described as ‘local resource -national treasure’) is an unusual and special project. A group of enthusiasts persuaded the town council to acquire a fine 17th century town house and lease it to them, by then a charitable trust. Since the early 1990s the wealthy mercantile family of Thomas Bayly who lived there has emerged from obscurity, and the Trust has been piecing together their lives as silk merchants, puritans and prominent people in local society. Furnishings seen by visitors are based on a 1690-91 probate inventory of Thomas Bayly II. The House is open from Easter to the end of September on Fridays and Saturdays, and groups may visit at other times by arrangement. 01672 511491

 Another interesting visit would be to Stevenage Bath House. Built in 1835 to house the town’s fire engine, the building was converted in 1912 into a public bath house containing four baths for use by the people of Stevenage. A recent grant-funded project has  enabled substantial renovation and conservation, oral history recordings of previous users (the baths closed in about 1960), the development of a website, and education packs for Key Stage 1 and 2 for school groups visiting the Bath House and Stevenage Museum. Public Open Days are organised by volunteers from Stevenage Society for Local History.www.stevenage.gov.uk/museum
 
The Templer Study Centre at the National Army Museumis closed until 29 July for asbestos removal. After that date they will be opening for an extra day, Wednesday as well as the usual Thursday and Friday. www.national-army-museum.ac.uk
 
19 – 28 June 2009 is National Cherishing Churchyards Week, a special opportunity to raise awareness of the fantastic natural and built heritage to be found in churchyards. www.caringforgodsacre.co.uk
 
NewsRound is the journal of the Manx Transport Heritage Museum which reports on developments on the island, and activities by a large number of enthusiastic supporters. After nearly a decade of work, in June 1999 a lease was secured of the former Brickworks Office in Peel, and following complete restoration the building now houses the Transport Museum, open at weekends from Easter to the end of September.http://groups.msn.com/ManxTransportMuseumGroup of Friends
 
The Museum of Kent Life has reopened this Spring as Kent Life, a new name, brand and commercial approach to secure its future. As ‘Kent’s premier heritage farm attraction’, there are improved facilities and an events and activities programme, including, for example a Children’s History Hunt on 9 August promoting ‘characters from Kent’s lively history’. Longer term plans are to make better use of the museum’s collections, including items currently in store. www.kentmuseum.co.uk
 
The British Schools Museum, Hitchin, wants to encourage more group visits, and needs more volunteers as they expand the programme of activities and events. In 2010 they will be celebrating 200 years since William Wilshere’s school – where the museum is located – was opened under Thomas Dimsey as Master. Recent visitors were Andrew Dimpsey and his three sons from Australia. Thomas Dimsey’s son William emigrated in 1854 to work as a teacher in the goldfields of Ballarat. Andrew is Thomas’s great-great-great-great-great grandson.www.hitchinbritishschools.org.uk 01462 420144
 

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GUIDED VISITS: REPORTS AND PREVIEW
 

APOTHECARIES’ HALL AND THE ROYAL PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY
4 March 2009
Eighteen members and friends visited Apothecaries’ Hall and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society on 4th March, their number, thanks to the enthusiasm of the Wokingham Local History Group, surpassing that originally agreed so that bookings had to be closed.   The Society of Apothecaries of London was incorporated in 1617, having broken away from the Grocers’ Company.   The original Hall, acquired 1632, was destroyed in the Great Fire, but rebuilt on the same site.   It is the oldest extant livery company Hall in the City.   A grand entrance, adorned with the Society’s arms, welcomed us from Blackfriars Lane into an inner courtyard.   Dee Cook, the Archivist recounted the history of the Society and led us up a fine 17th century carved staircase to the original, unchanged rooms on the first floor.   Displayed in the parlour was an extensive series of apothecaries’ jars each titled with the herbs etc. for which they were made.   Via the Court Room, we reached the Great Hall where a display of documents had been laid out.   These included plans of the Chelsea Physic Garden, founded by the Society in 1673, and beautiful illustrations of plants.  The windows included the arms, names and dates of many former Masters of the Society.   It was noted that they included only one woman, Edith Taylor, in 2002-3.
In the afternoon we gathered again at the offices of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, opposite Lambeth Palace.   Until the early 1970s the Society was in Bloomsbury Square, close by the British Museum, in a splendid building which still bears its name.   This was vacated to make way for an intended British Library.   It was founded in 1841 and museum items were collected from the next year.    Susan Em and her assistant gave us an illustrated talk about the history of the Society, which has often found itself in competition with the Apothecaries, after which Julie Wakefield spoke about some of the museum items.   They include dispensing equipment, drug containers, proprietary medicines from the 1700s to now, a photo archive and fine Lambeth delftware from the 1600s and 1700s.   A former pharmacist in our group was able to add her own experiences in making pills, suppositories, etc.
Michael Farrar

VISIT TO AVONCROFT MUSEUM OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS 
WEDNESDAY 22 JULY 2009
Avoncroft is an open air museum set in some 15 acres of open land on the outskirts of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and specialises in the ‘rescue’ and reconstruction of unique historic buildings threatened with total destruction.  The Museum was founded in 1964 in an attempt to prevent the destruction of the Merchant’s House in Bromsgrove – eventually the timbers of this listed medieval building were rescued, stored and reconstructed as the first building when the museum opened to the public in 1967.
Today the Museum can boast the saving and reconstruction of a Black Country chain making shop, a Dovecote, an eighteenth century wagon shed, a cruck frame Barn, a windmill, an earth closet, a cockpit etc.  Among the more unusual artefacts on display are a set of Victorian chimneys, a corrugated iron Mission Church and the National Telephone Kiosk Collection including a ‘Tardis’.  More recently is a mid 1940’s ‘pre-fab’ bungalow from Birmingham.  The visit coincides with the National Young Archaeologists week.  The Museum site is   level, and has all facilities including a tea room and ample car parking space.  The morning will comprise a guided tour to selected key buildings around the site giving information on the interiors, construction methods and the history of the buildings. The afternoon will be for members to visit other building of their own choice.

VISIT TO NEWARK CASTLE & A CRUISE ON THE RIVER TRENT 
TUESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER
Newark Castle defended an important crossing of the River Trent (above) and played a significant role in the Civil War. The town lies on the Great North Road  and is not far from the M1. There are two railway stations, one for the main line London, Doncaster,York, the other near the castle for the Nottingham-Lincoln cross-country route. There is ample long stay parking is just across the river from the castle 
In the morning our visit will be a guided tour of the castle remains and a talk on its history with particular reference to the Civil War. The tour will last about 1½ hours.
At lunchtime, light refreshments can be purchased on board MV Sonning, moored below the castle walls, or group members may bring picnics if preferred. Before sailing there will be a short talk about the history and restoration of the boat which was built by Salter Bros of Oxford as one of their pleasure steamers on the River Thames in 1902. The afternoon cruise will be upstream to Farndon and back, passing through the river lock, with an occasional commentary about the river and features on both banks. Re-arrival at Castle Quay is scheduled for 4pm.-4.30pm.

Booking forms for BALH visits can be found on our website www.balh.co.uk/events.php or requested from BALH, PO Box 6549 Somersal Herbert, Ashbourne DE6 5WH

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LOCAL HISTORY IN CORNWALL
 

If like me you enjoy exploring English local history on foot, what better than to go almost as far as you can, to West Cornwall? And if like me your memories of childhood travel to Cornwall are of journeys from London or the south east taking over twelve hours, then remember times have changed. There are motorways and dual carriageways now, so the journey time by car is halved, or you can catch the train from Paddington (sleeper or scenic as you prefer) to St Erth, and then join one of the most beautiful little branch lines in the country to St Ives. On the train you could re-introduce yourself to Cornwall with Nicholas Orme’s new book (see LHN 86 p 16). It does still rain in Cornwall but laminated OS maps are a great invention.

Sometimes it is good to walk and look first, then explore the various interpretations of Cornish history on offer. A stay in St Ives or Zennor is a great introduction and offers big contrasts. In St Ives you can find of course find surfers, steps and shops. There is an abundance of churches and chapels, and you can spend happy evenings discussing with family and friends what it meant to be a Primitive Methodist or to belong to the Countess of Huntington’s Connexion. The town combines a beautiful fishing community with artists and holidaymakers and fishermen. Once you have looked around you will have many questions about how things have changed over the centuries. Then it is time for an excellent traditional local history, The Book of St Ives by Cyril Noall. This was published in 1977 by Baron Books of Buckingham and reprinted twice since (1984, 2000).
Enquirers are also welcome at The St Ives Trust Archive Study Centre and its base, the Upper Parish Room, is opened by volunteers and a member of staff from 10 am to 4 pm on Tuesdays to Fridays, attracting visits from residents, holidaymakers and those enquiring about local or family history. Enquiries can also be dealt with by email, post or phone (01736 796408) or see the website www.stivestrust.co.uk. The Archive Centre’s latest initiative is the ‘St Ives Memory Bay’, an arts and heritage collaborative and oral history project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It will bring life to the remarkable, and as yet unexplored, stories of the community who nurtured the international art colony in St Ives.
Recently the county record office in Cornwall has started to pursue a policy of encouraging communities to hold material relating to their locality. This offers both opportunities and challenges for local history societies. In some areas enthusiastic volunteers come together to organise the collection and presentation of material, and to scan, digitise and catalogue it, where funding and skills are available. When a community history archive or group is active, many residents are keen to pass over interesting artefacts, documents or photos, or copies, which have been held in their family for generations so that the wider community can enjoy them. The challenge is to find premises so that there is storage, a workplace and, if possible, somewhere to welcome visitors and present displays at an affordable price. The St Ives Trust Archive Study Centre was first located in a room in the Public Library and five years ago, requiring additional space, moved to the Upper Parish Room of St Eia Church. There is now so much material on the shelves that there is no space for displays, but events are sometimes held in the Lower Parish Room and the Library, and film shows are regularly organised around the area for local groups. A one-day exhibition on the theme of ‘St Ives in the 1930s’, planned by the volunteers, was held on 2 September 2008 which was very well attended by both residents and visitors.
St Ives is busy and bustling but Zennor is quiet and peaceful. Zennor parish is of course huge, containing many smaller farms and hamlets. It was formerly (‘when London was just mud huts’) known as Zennor Churchtown because of its parish church, St Senara’s. Among many delights you can see the Mermaid Chair, a carved bench end possibly of the fourteenth century. Between, perhaps, the seventeenth and the mid-eighteenth century, this parish church was neglected and dilapidated, one reason why a huge Wesleyan chapel was built and flourished. The chapel is now the Backpackers’ Hostel where accommodation and food are on offer, as they are at the Tinners’ Arms (Free House) next door. Its name is a testament to one of Zennor’s many sources of past prosperity. To understand Zennor’s past you can visit the Wayside Museum, one of Britain’s earliest folk and craft museums, housed in a former mill house and set up by the founder of the West Cornwall Field Club, now the Cornish Archaeological Society. The Wayside Museum has an eclectic collection of artefacts in a delightful garden. The life of the local school and chapel are recorded and I especially enjoyed the Sunday School teaching poster, showing the contrast between the Broad Way and the Narrow Way! The Wayside Museum has a good collection of local history books and knowledgeable and helpful staff. Once you have absorbed all you can there, from prehistory to pilchard fishing in the nineteenth century, you will certainly want to get out on the historic field (church) path, to view the survivals in the landscape and envisage the human activity. This path is marked by striking granite cattle grids at frequent intervals and you have the Atlantic on your left and the Cornish moors and tors on your right. The south-west coastal path of Cornwall at times felt like an access route designed by a committee but the Zennor field path is great! 
I returned to Cornwall in October 2008 to meet some members of the Cornwall Association for Local History and to give the afternoon lecture at their AGM on ‘Ports and Pirates: researching real lives 1300 to 1600’. This focused on the differences and similarities between ports of the south east and the south west and on ways to investigate such towns. In the morning Carole Vivian of CALH gave a fascinating talk on smuggling and pirates in Polperro in the nineteenth century, illustrated with material by Lewis Harding, Cornwall’s pioneer photographer (1806-1893).
 
Gill Draper is BALH Events and Development Officer

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BOOK REVIEWS
 

Compelled to suspend payment

Panic in the High Street: The Story of the Harborough Bank 1791 – 1843
Ken Day 2008
From the author at 13, Fothergill Close, Market Harborough LE16 7XR £5

When things go wrong in the world of finance in the 21st century, bankers appear before a Parliamentary Select Committee to justify their actions. In the mid 19th century they could have their personal belongings sold in public auctions to satisfy their creditors, and this fate befell numerous men who had not long before been upstanding members of their community providing a valuable service to the local economy.  Such was the precarious nature of private banking, subject to vagaries in trade, risky investments, over-generous lending, competition from neighbouring towns, and ‘simple’ market forces.
Ken Day has traced the experiences of one such bank in Leicestershire, and his example could be compared with many more up and down the country.  Nowhere was immune from the over-expansion and subsequent crashes of the 1840s. The important relationship between the bank and local institutions and tradesmen in the town and surrounding villages, and the impact of its demise is clearly explained. The consequences for an area could be serious and long-lived.
As his main source Mr Day has used that invaluable stalwart the local newspaper, together with directories, and rate books. Sadly it is not the first time in these reviews that I have praised the valuable content of the book in question, but criticised the style and presentation.  Here there is inconsistent use of quotation marks, italics, tenses, paragraph breaks, form of dates, initial capitals, and captions. A particular lack is the absence of references which would be helpful for others wanting to follow in these footsteps. Personally I was greatly intrigued by the statement ‘One writer in the Bankers Magazine [no italics for title, and should there be an apostrophe?'>more... at the time discusses what he describes as the unsuitability of women even to manage their own accounts’ – and I want to know where to find that comment. And which bank in which town told its manager to get a second hand newspaper instead of the Times as an economy measure?!

Balance of form and function

Wagons and Carts
David Viner 2008
Shire Publications   078 0 7478 0676 9  £5.99

Carts have two wheels and wagons four, but there is apparently no rule for whether the spelling should be ‘wagon’ or ‘waggon’. Wheeled farm vehicles have evolved since medieval times, becoming technically more sophisticated to meet the needs of their users, and demonstrating the skills of craftsmen such as carpenters, blacksmiths and wheelwrights in their construction, and painters in their decoration. 
This small book shows what is excellent in the modern Shires Library series. It provides a handy reference guide to a specialised topic, but one that many local historians with interests ranging across transport and agriculture will find most valuable. The characteristics of different types of these vehicles are clearly explained. Pictures and diagrams demonstrate technical details, and there is a comprehensive glossary.  Particularly important are regional variations in shape, use, lettering, terminology and more, representing ‘a distinctiveness in both style and details which remains the hallmark of the vehicles’.
The central place given to such vehicles in many old photographs indicate their significance, be it celebrating a newly completed wagon at the workshop, providing the seat for a staff group picture, or representing pride in the achievements of that year’s harvest. Not only did wagons carry everything from hay to muck, they also transported homeward-bound hop-pickers to the railway station, children on a Sunday School outing, and, suitably be-decked with flowers, bride and groom on their wedding journey.   This generously illustrated book has all these and many more. Modern pride in conserved and restored carts and wagons can be appreciated at agricultural shows around the country, and a list of the main museum collections is provided here.       
 

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LEAFLET MANIA
 

For some weeks I have been trying to clear out the study—or at least, make some space to accommodate the books which have been accumulating at an alarmingly rapid rate. The study was last decorated and fitted out with shelves and a work surface twenty years ago. Then I had more time on my hands, and I made (under the influence of never to be repeated DIY fervour) shelves to fit large flat maps, and the lightbox that I used for tracing. Then there were clear places on the bookshelves, the filing cabinet was half-empty, and the desk was an open space where I could spread my notes. Now, all has changed. The computer and its various hangers-on (scanner, printer, stacks of CDs) have commandeered most of the desk, piles of files and stacked baskets creep inexorably along the remainder, magazines and journals proliferate, the filing cabinet will hardly shut (and two more small ones give it companionship) and books are stacked vertically and three deep in front of the shelves. I have to pick my way between the obstacles. 

 
So, I have been ruthless—or as ruthless as I can bear to be, given my foolishly sentimental attachment to most of this Everest of paper. Shall I throw out my rough notes from my thesis 30 years ago? Yes, of course … but what if I might need them in the future? No, into the recycling box they go. What about all those reports from the 1970s? Out! All those spare multiple copies of photocopied handouts left over from dozens of classes over the years? Save space and save the planet: send them to the paper collection. Newspaper cuttings, yellow and crumbling and long since redundant? Light the fire with them.
 
But in going through box after box of papers, I’m struck by how very many leaflets I have accumulated. I don’t mean the ostensibly-useful information sheets, though there are plenty of those—obsolete opening times of libraries and record offices; advice and guidance of the Sources for Housing History at Borsetshire Archivesvariety; pot of date reading lists; and helpful maps of how to find the local studies library (before the town centre was redeveloped in 1985). No, I mean the glossy and brightly coloured information leaflets produced for every conceivable (and some inconceivable) tourist attraction in the British Isles. I realise I must have a strange yearning for these ephemera—perhaps a travel agent is somewhere deep inside me! I pick them off the temptingly placed stands in information centres, take them home, and never look at them again. Sometimes I blame the children, though now that the elder is almost 18 that excuse wears very thin. So I think it must be me, unable to resist.
 
Why do I still have a 2005 timetable for the North Norfolk Railway? What use are the opening times of National Trust properties in North Devon 2004 (we’re members anyway, so I can’t ever have needed it—the information is all in the handbook). A leaflet advertises special events in 1999 at Beeston Castle, Cheshire, and another—with abundant use of capitals—informs me about ‘Discovering The Cheshire Peaks And Plains’ in 1990. It includes a hideous pictorial map of the aforementioned area, apparently the work of an anonymous artist unfamiliar with the local landscape but OK with drawing motorways (he or she has even, rather bizarrely, drawn a pile-up on the M62!). What ever possessed me to pick this up, let alone keep it for almost twenty years without once in the whole of that time opening it? I suffer from leaflet mania, and now I’m in therapy … I’m binning the lot. But the real test will be next time I visit a tourist information centre. Just a couple on historic buildings won’t do any harm, will they, and maybe that brightly-coloured one about the waxworks museum, and … stop!  

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NOTES, NEWS, ISSUES
 

VALETE
Writing this column has been a pleasure but there will be no more from my pen /keyboard. I took it on to fill the fourth page of an increase in size and have tried to use it to help communicate the affairs of the Association to the membership. But in seeking transparency I am being overtaken by technology. I hope some, perhaps more up to date, members of Assembly will be encouraging us to follow the example of so many other organizations and develop electronic means of communication, for example a simple opt-in email newsletter referring to new material on the website.

I doubt whether many members look at our website regularly – it is something I rarely remember to do. Don’t forget, it is full of valuable material.  And I am also sure that many members receive, as I do, email prompts - or newsletters, often of very high quality – from other bodies that can be followed up or ignored as you wish.

As far as our own communication within the Assembly is concerned email has yet to be generally adopted but a welcome development is to encourage committee members not on Council to attend in the afternoon – able to speak but not vote. Up to now those only on a committee travel to London early for the Open Forum and then a single, though often lengthy and productive, meeting and lunch. This provides less of an important opportunity to socialize than it should do because we only have access to a small room.

For the future, one solution to more discussion without the concomitant travel costs would be teleconferencing on a planned and programmed basis. Video conferencing would probably fall at the first hurdle of cost and equipment – but how many members of the Assembly will be signed up to Skype in a year or two?
Local History Day and the AGM are, as usual well covered in this issue. Don’t forget to come. A new Chairman will be needed in 2011 and the Council has set up a Search Committee to find a suitable candidate for nomination. This does not of course preclude the nomination of any member at a General Meeting. 

End piece: I was flattered to be credited, possibly to the mortification of the Editor, with the review of a work on sundials in the contents on page1 of the last issue of The Local Historian. Not that I know anything about sundials and the Reviews Editor had supplanted me with the correct reviewer on page 74. I found the review interesting because it was a biographical index, details found mainly by members of the British Sundial Society – which has some 3,000 members – we currently have fewer than 2,000, a number which we continually struggle to raise. 
One of the things I did for a few years when working for the Association as General Secretary was directly handling membership – with the help of Shelley Lane (who members and former members of the Assembly will recall for helpful attendance throughout all our meetings, prompt on the spot payment of expenses and a wiling hand to help me clear up. I keep in touch with her as she now works for a local firm who maintain my lawn!). However, back to membership. A large proportion of our 2,000 are, of course, societies so the total number of people is much larger.  And the great variety of those societies demonstrates how broadly the notion of ‘local history’ is interpreted these days – allotments, graveyards, mines ….