The History Group always welcomes all U3A members. Our indoor meetings are held at Central Methodist Church on the 3rd Wednesday of the month commencing at 2pm. At present I am not sure when indoor meetings will restart – but – watch this space!
I decided to re- set the visits due in 2020 to 2021 which meant Richard lll WAS set for March 17th 2021 – but I am now discussing with them about re-scheduling it for later in the year. Remember money already paid for the trip is safe in the U3A bank. Please cross fingers, toes and anything else you can that the visits will go ahead. Doddington Hall will be on 16th June. I am still waiting for Sharpes Pottery to reply. I look forward to seeing everyone but in the meantime please take care and stay safe.
I have been catching up with my reading have you? In a recent Local History News from BALH there was an article which intrigued me. (Bear with me while I explain) I don’t know how many members have looked at the VCH (Victoria County History) books in a library. They are lovely red books beloved by local historians covering every county in England and founded in 1899. There is an ongoing project to re-write each county from the earliest times to the present day. People I know volunteer at Nottingham Archives Office researching for this project. I went to a meeting myself but decided that I had enough to do without joining the team and starting something new. As 2019 was the 120th anniversary of the VCH the project organisers decided to send each team of volunteers in every county a red box file with an interesting challenge attached. Could each team fill their box with objects which told the story of their county to fit into an A4 box file? When the boxes were opened they revealed fascinating objects for instance in the Nottinghamshire box was ‘sheet music for Eric Coates Dam Busters March stamped as property of the Boots Orchestra and a glass bottle from Boots the chemist’. Just think – something from Hucknall got into the Notts. box! WOW. I can’t wait until I can visit the archives to see what else was inside the box.
Now here is where you come into the picture. If I gave you an A4 box file and challenged you to include articles and items of what Hucknall meant to you from historic times to the present what would I find when I opened it? Would I be surprised? How many of these imaginary boxes would I get? Perhaps this is a thought for one of our meetings later in the year.
BALH = British Association of Local History – (Hucknall Heritage Society is a member)
T.T.F.N. & God bless from Maureen