tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12177082372396880612024-02-22T05:51:21.592+00:00Bedfordshire historyThis is the blog of the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society. It aims to bring you news of history in and of Bedfordshire - past, present and future! Your comments and contributions are welcome.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-42795876650373245762014-08-06T18:56:00.000+01:002014-08-06T18:56:46.082+01:00The Rise of Methodism in Bedfordshire<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">BHRS's new volume <i>The Rise of Methodism: a Study of Bedfordshire 1736-1851</i> was published in July 2014 by <a href="http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=14617" target="_blank">Boydell & Brewer</a>. Its author, Jonathan Rodell, <span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">was born in
Bedfordshire and educated at Aylesbury
Grammar School and Pembroke College,
Cambridge<span style="font-family: inherit;">. He <span lang="EN-US">was awarded a
doctorate by the University
of Cambridge in 2011</span>. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">About the book, which is based on his thesis, he says </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">'</span></span><span style="color: black;">By the early 19th century Methodist societies constituted perhaps the largest voluntary organisation in Britain with possibly as many as one in seven of the population of England and Wales associated with the movement in some way or other. This radical re-examination of Methodism’s emergence and growth draws on a wide range of evidence to give a bottom-up account of its life and impact. Overturning many myths and presumptions, the study digs beneath the seemingly steady advance portrayed by official membership statistics to uncover a much more unstable and rapidly changing picture in which different generations and social groups appropriated the religious structures of the movement as vehicles to express a wide variety of aspirations and grievances.'</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US">The book f</span><span lang="EN-US">ocusses on what Jonathan calls 'the unlikely Methodist stronghold
of Bedfordshire and its neighbouring counties of Buck</span><span lang="EN-US">inghamshire, Hertfordshire,
Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire'. His bottom-up approach quotes extensively from the ordinary men and women of the area and shows much of rural and small-town life as well as their religious experiences - and inner turmoils. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US">Jonathan discusses not only the 'familiar Methodist groupings but others whose more transitory
popularity has veiled them in obscurity, including the Moravians, various kinds
of Calvinistic Methodists, the Primitive Episcopal Church and the early Mormons.' </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This book is a delight - both scholarly and also down-to-earth. Full of statistics for those who like to quantify their research; full of local colour for those who want to see the <i>people</i>.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">Additional information on Methodist preachers, not in the book, is on <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/riseofmethodisminbedfordshire/home" target="_blank">his website</a>.</span></span><br />
<br />
By day Jonathan works as a specialist teacher with
children who exhibit serious learning and behavioural problems; by night he
writes and lectures on the disappearing world of England’s Nonconformist
communities, with several articles and book chapters to his credit. He was a Visiting Fellow at Southern Methodist University, Dallas in 2012 and<span lang="EN-US"> is a Panel Tutor for the Institute of Continuing
Education, University
of Cambridge.</span>
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br /></span></span></span>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-73161963195175942682014-06-23T16:46:00.000+01:002014-06-23T16:46:02.698+01:00Bedfordshire Local History Association: Annual Conference 2014<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS32FctfcUJF3p84F0826b8gPA2f-_Nx6EJnfqnhLg9IxVv2lwqtkV3WpS9EXhJsD3TQncwKjfsvAuT8njQ-4rVWViUcPklfw8pfxOaI0Gjefsrgm46vxzLDiF4LaVqPYygm1p4zgFk9OQ/s1600/Maulden+Mausoleum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS32FctfcUJF3p84F0826b8gPA2f-_Nx6EJnfqnhLg9IxVv2lwqtkV3WpS9EXhJsD3TQncwKjfsvAuT8njQ-4rVWViUcPklfw8pfxOaI0Gjefsrgm46vxzLDiF4LaVqPYygm1p4zgFk9OQ/s1600/Maulden+Mausoleum.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maulden Mausoleum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The 2014 conference of <a href="http://www.bedfordshire-lha.org.uk/" target="_blank">Bedfordshire’s umbrella organisation for local history societies</a> was organised by <a href="http://www.mauldenhistorysociety.org/" target="_blank">Maulden History Society</a> and held at Maulden
Village Hall on 14 June. Some 69 local historians, representing 21 societies as
well as individuals attended. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The theme this year was Bedfordshire and the First World War, to tie in
with the national centenary commemorations of its commencement in 1914.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The programme was a varied one involving four
key speakers plus a lunchtime visit to Maulden Church
and its famous <a href="http://www.stmarysmaulden.org/mausoleum.htm" target="_blank">Mausoleum</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrNCtfWruSJnZcUd0czzx8TUNpJ2l8SxWxyTyCi_SWt1lpkn_jcPOWU5ZcRzqjGj3Bkx7vGHEwc9s_0YytpFazRs8ShQkp8aG57lktiBdQ8dOtFR7a9W2R4rqQn39grpmE1XiOZqPBDMnH/s1600/Shiny+Seventh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Martin Deacon, a senior archivist from the county’s record office and a military historian opened with a fascinating talk on the 7th Bedfordshire Regiment’s involvement in the Battle
of the Somme in France
– its successes and its failures and the reasons for both. (His account and the battalion's war diary can be read in BHRS's 2004 volume <a href="http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=11879" target="_blank">The Shiny Seventh)</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Debbie Radcliffe, an English Heritage volunteer researcher at Wrest
Park, and a former education officer for <a href="http://www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Higgins Museum</a>, Bedford, told the
story of how the mansion house at Wrest was transformed into a private military hospital
during the first part of the Great War, to provide rest and recuperation for
wounded soldiers (although initially conceived as a hospital for the navy).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After a pleasant cold buffet lunch in the hall, Marian McDowell, one of
<a href="http://www.mauldenhistorysociety.org/" target="_blank">Maulden History Society</a>’s most active researchers, painted a picture of how the
First World War affected the lives of everyday people on the Home Front in so
many ways, by looking at Maulden villagers’ own experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Finally, Kevin Fadden of <a href="http://www.adalhs.mooncarrot.org.uk/" target="_blank">Ampthill and District Archaeological and Local History Society</a>, told us about the impact of the presence of the 126th Company of the Canadian Forestry Corps in central Bedfordshire from August 1917
through to the end of the war in November 1918. Their task was to fell large
numbers of trees in a number of locations on the Duke of Bedford’s estate, in
order to feed the Allies’ need for timber for tunnelling and trenches at the
Front in France and Flanders.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As usual, as well as the interesting speakers, half the pleasure of the
day was being able to meet up with like-minded local historians from around the
county and viewing displays of photographs and research material on a wide
range of topics, in this case, with a focus on WW1: from family history
biographies to WW1 War Department Light Railway engines preserved at Leighton
Buzzard, life at Ampthill Park training centre for the Bedfordshire Regiment,
the work of the Canadian foresters, and Wrest Park hospital. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the AGM which preceded the conference, the committee of the BLHA
made an urgent plea for one of their 37 member societies to commit to putting
on the 2015 conference. <a href="http://slhg.org.uk/" target="_blank">Sharnbrook Local History Group</a> has offered to arrange
the 2016 summer event.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Both the <a href="http://www.bedfordshire-lha.org.uk/" target="_blank">BLHA</a> and <a href="http://www.mauldenhistorysociety.org/" target="_blank">Maulden History Society</a> are to be congratulated on
the smooth running of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Report by Stuart Antrobus </b>of
Bedford Architectural, Archaeological & Local History Society (<a href="http://www.baalhs.org.uk/" target="_blank">BAALHS</a>) and
a <a href="http://www.bedfordshirehrs.org.uk/" target="_blank">BHRS</a> Council member.</div>
Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-78180077759089013972014-05-30T12:22:00.001+01:002014-05-30T12:32:46.967+01:00Bromham's historic watermill<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wqAI6kJiKYCnaLongiLjKQxNmjOV5TisBQuShDm4wE5dvISSinbKfxGKkusg3J5ZvA7BEM7jrYU4a34G-zVNAbBSGJwGrtWErutL8t3j3ti21nKeMkDBrEQI_rHp4R3sBe3Kwzj15tr3/s1600/Bromham+Mill+at+rear,+from+mill+pond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wqAI6kJiKYCnaLongiLjKQxNmjOV5TisBQuShDm4wE5dvISSinbKfxGKkusg3J5ZvA7BEM7jrYU4a34G-zVNAbBSGJwGrtWErutL8t3j3ti21nKeMkDBrEQI_rHp4R3sBe3Kwzj15tr3/s1600/Bromham+Mill+at+rear,+from+mill+pond.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bromham Mill, situated on the River Great Ouse three miles
west of Bedford,
just off the A428, and the eighteenth-century post mill at Stevington, are the
two most iconic and important industrial heritage landmark sites in north
Bedfordshire. Both were saved for posterity by the former Bedfordshire County
Council and are now in the care of Bedford Borough Council.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thanks to fundraising by the Friends of Bromham Mill, a new set of historical interpretation boards have been installed around the
watermill’s interior. These well-illustrated and informative panels guide
visitors around the site, explaining its history and how the mill worked when
it operated commercially up to 1971.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88rWBTs5io40hr4KbvckNjAQyptlzkaQY105-V_eplBC5SQvwV-e8sj95Cl0B78jPWFyGS_Y5Qu_oEsqCH4vtuO9r2lJQ-0rAiPRDIVU8xu5lF3M7aS527vkEBilutnFbCU37g8mZHkzW/s1600/Bromham+Mill_Waterwheel+to+Millstone+interpretation+panel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi88rWBTs5io40hr4KbvckNjAQyptlzkaQY105-V_eplBC5SQvwV-e8sj95Cl0B78jPWFyGS_Y5Qu_oEsqCH4vtuO9r2lJQ-0rAiPRDIVU8xu5lF3M7aS527vkEBilutnFbCU37g8mZHkzW/s1600/Bromham+Mill_Waterwheel+to+Millstone+interpretation+panel.jpg" height="149" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Milling has taken place at Bromham since Saxon times, as
recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The present buildings date from the late
eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries but based on seventeenth century
foundations. They contain milling machinery and a waterwheel in working order.
The last commercial operation was under the Quenby family, from 1905, by which
time – thanks to the development of more efficient, industrially-powered roller
mills throughout the country – milling, using<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>water power was restricted to the production of
animal feeds. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI5zzt4RWGk-ZvzgkQG-uy3KoYIayhspqvwjLCTg2x956rUJ88b1Lb3LNRVPloniaFDW0FJwkyvNW05GXxkt8gaU9_652L8SzcENjcZBdX6jOoFnC73DtZjqDuCv1-nMhZGiUZabEJVewj/s1600/Bromham+Mill+from+entrance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI5zzt4RWGk-ZvzgkQG-uy3KoYIayhspqvwjLCTg2x956rUJ88b1Lb3LNRVPloniaFDW0FJwkyvNW05GXxkt8gaU9_652L8SzcENjcZBdX6jOoFnC73DtZjqDuCv1-nMhZGiUZabEJVewj/s1600/Bromham+Mill+from+entrance.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The mill is open to the public, free, each weekend from
April to the end of October on Saturday and Sundays, plus Bank Holiday Mondays,
10am to 4pm, and is served by the <a href="http://www.friendsofbromhammill.org.uk/info/cafe_menu_apr_14.pdf" target="_blank">Mill Café</a> offering fresh coffee, cakes, light
lunches and afternoon teas. Situated as it is next to a delightful meadow,
ideal for picnics, and also an island nature reserve, the Mill is well worth
a visit. There is a changing programme of art and craft exhibitions and
workshops as well as children’s events. There are a range of walks and cycle
routes in the area, including a circular walk taking in the unique Stevington
Windmill just a few miles away.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtdt_LFnOHB_cfB-YdqujvzcdhFr2GP-LTXDk9-UXNfk6GSRleD4M1ssAhF1U-v7FfEwoNKxkEwOXfgN5hfPpaFrlvtbZhbBAtNaA30EMIjopkVrdtRXuRiGOsOQtuC9y4R79v9rBQraWy/s1600/Bromham+Mill_19+April+2014+opening_Mayor+Dave+Hodgson+&+Amanda+Keen+of+Friends+of+Bromham+Mill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtdt_LFnOHB_cfB-YdqujvzcdhFr2GP-LTXDk9-UXNfk6GSRleD4M1ssAhF1U-v7FfEwoNKxkEwOXfgN5hfPpaFrlvtbZhbBAtNaA30EMIjopkVrdtRXuRiGOsOQtuC9y4R79v9rBQraWy/s1600/Bromham+Mill_19+April+2014+opening_Mayor+Dave+Hodgson+&+Amanda+Keen+of+Friends+of+Bromham+Mill.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The interpretation boards have been developed by Amanda
Keen, of the Friends of Bromham Mill (seen on the right with Dave Hodgson, Mayor of Bedford, at the mill's re-opening in April 2014), with technical and historical advice,
respectively, by Adrian Fett and Stuart Antrobus. In addition, prospective
visitors with smartphones can download <a href="http://www.friendsofbromhammil..org.uk/audio_guide.html" target="_blank">10 audio files</a>, prior to their visit,
which will provide an audio tour around the mill.<a href="http://www.friendsofbromhammil..org.uk/audio_guide.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"></span></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stuart Antrobus</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For more on the history of Bromham Mill and other mills in
Bedfordshire, see the illustrated book: Hugh Howes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Windmills and Watermills of Bedfordshire – past, present and future</i> (Book
Castle Publishing, 2009), or a<a href="http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/communityandliving/archivesandrecordoffice/communityarchives/bromham/bromhammill.aspx" target="_blank"> brief history</a> online from Bedfordshire and Luton Archives
and Records Service. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For a map, audio tour to be downloaded, walks and cycle
routes and dates of events such as Apple Day (Sunday 19 October 2014) see the
<a href="http://www.friendsofbromhammill.org.uk/visiting.html" target="_blank">Friends of Bromham Mill</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-44534872833591156222013-12-21T16:14:00.000+00:002013-12-22T15:02:16.792+00:00Carmela Semeraro (1949-2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgthg_up5QF3-0bciJreplJJO_eNIx4FO51rP2Ys74oU_oAbqGdNRWn49_pmm7SDkGAkDNucBtU63FxUMXCgzD2D5iUAtY8cCY7iCl-H5qpHx2wF91mIvv_j-MyfMgRvX3MuBCN2QEG1C/s1600/Carmela+portrait+Floral+blousecolour022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzgthg_up5QF3-0bciJreplJJO_eNIx4FO51rP2Ys74oU_oAbqGdNRWn49_pmm7SDkGAkDNucBtU63FxUMXCgzD2D5iUAtY8cCY7iCl-H5qpHx2wF91mIvv_j-MyfMgRvX3MuBCN2QEG1C/s200/Carmela+portrait+Floral+blousecolour022.jpg" width="184" /></a></div>
Carmela Semeraro, Bedfordshire’s leading oral historian and the <a href="http://www.ohs.org.uk/">Oral History Society</a> regional network representative for East England, died of cancer, aged 64, on 18 November 2013. Born on 30 August 1949 in Puglia, the area at the south-eastern tip of Italy, she moved to England at the end of the 1960s, married an Englishman, and set about educating herself. After an Access course at Bedford College, she gained a History & English Literature BA degree at De Montfort University, Bedford (now the University of Bedfordshire), while raising her family, and followed this with an MA in Women’s History at Royal Holloway College, University of London. She taught adult education Italian evening classes throughout her life.<br />
<br />
Her interest in and support of elderly, first-generation Italian immigrants in Bedford led to her conducting a reminiscence project (1994-99) with them and her first oral history recordings. This material was later translated and edited by her to be published as a bi-lingual account (Italian/English), called <i>Hidden Voices: Voci Nascoste: Memories of First Generation Italians in Bedford</i> (Bedford Community Arts, 1999). This popular, well-illustrated history was underpinned by her academic research which resulted in her MA dissertation, <i>Immigrants from Southern Italy to Bedford in the 1950s: A Gender Study of Continuity and Change from an Agrarian to an Industrial Society</i> (1996).
In 2003, she was awarded Bedford Borough Mayor’s Award, Citizen of the Year for Community Service, for her work with the Club Prima Generazione Italiani, which she set up in 1997 and led for some 16 years (until 2013).<br />
<br />
Although having lived almost all her adult life in Bedfordshire, her Italian accent marked her off, potentially, to some native English people, as something of an ‘outsider’, despite her deep understanding of English ways. However, this was more than compensated for by her warm personality and she made friends wherever she went. When she later conducted hundreds of life-history interviews she soon overcame any suspicions and interviewees quickly relaxed, talking freely about their personal experiences.<br />
<br />
Over the years she interviewed an enormously wide range of people from all levels of society and diverse occupations. From January 2001 to July 2005 she completed over 270 interviews with men and women who had lived or worked in the Marston Vale area of mid-Bedfordshire, for a Heritage Lottery- funded [HLF] project entitled “<a href="http://marstonvale.org/oral-history-project/" target="_blank">Changing Landscapes, Changing Lives</a>”. From March 2008 to March 2010 she interviewed scores of Leighton Buzzard residents who had worked in the local sand industry in a project entitled “<a href="http://www.thesandmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Sands of Time</a>” for the <a href="http://www.greensandtrust.org/" target="_blank">Greensand Trust</a>, again, an HLF-funded piece of research.
In recent years Carmela has been Community Historian for <a href="http://www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Higgins Museum, Bedford</a>, recording over 100 interviews with members of the public across the diverse, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural local population, as part of an HLF-funded outreach programme between September 2008 and October 2013. Audio interview extracts now enrich the recently-created local history displays at The Higgins.<br />
<br />
Carmela leaves behind a son, Paolo and a daughter, Angela (and an infant grandson, Romeo) and countless numbers of people who benefited from her friendship, kindness and inspiration. For historians of Bedfordshire she has left behind a very large body of recorded, transcribed and summarised personal narratives into which we and future generations will be able to tap for insights into life in Bedfordshire throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first century.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Written by Stuart Antrobus, who was both a friend and a colleague and summarised almost all the interviews conducted by Carmela. These interviews are accessible at Bedford Central Library and/or at Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (<a href="http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/ArchivesAndRecordOffice.aspx" target="_blank">BLARS</a>), Bedford. See also the taster online sites, for “<a href="http://marstonvale.org/oral-history-project/" target="_blank">Changing Landscapes, Changing Lives</a>” and “<a href="http://www.thesandmuseum.org/sotrail/index.html" target="_blank">Sands of Time</a>”</span></i>.
</span>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-51637004512218536792013-12-21T13:26:00.003+00:002013-12-22T15:00:12.829+00:00James DyerDr James Dyer, who died in October 2013, was a teacher, archaeologist, historian, author, life-long resident of Luton - and BHRS member. One of his fellow Lutonians writes of him:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Dr James Dyer's contribution to the field of archaeology and local history
has been suitably acknowledged at a national, as well as <a href="http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/nostalgia/historian-spent-his-life-battling-to-save-important-old-buildings-1-5572751" target="_blank">local</a>, level. His enthusiasm took
root while he was still a student at Luton Grammar School. James knew what
he wanted to do with his life and he had the initiative to find ways to
fulfil these aims.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Taking a journey across Bedfordshire with James was
interesting to say the least. He would be saying: `you see that building
over there` or `you see that mound or that track between the trees`. All
would have a story attached to them that James had studied.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
James'
enthusiasm was passed on to many of his students. He spent his first
month's salary as a teacher on buying books for his class and that same
determination to help wherever he was able never left him. There are so
many stories to be told of times when James saw the potential in young
people and helped them to climb the ladder to important and differing
academic roles.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This generosity of spirit was one of his greatest gifts.
Working on a joint project could have its difficulties but the one which I
undertook with him was altogether positive and I was pleased to be able to
call him my friend."</blockquote>
<br />
He was a member of BHRS Council and I shall always remember one meeting when he went straight to the heart of an issue, that had been under discussion for some time, and instantly changed its course, for the better. I only knew him for a few years but that included a long correspondence on the effect of the terrain around Luton, which is filed safely away for future re-visiting. He was as generous with his knowledge to me as to long-term friends. <br />
<br />Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-82657257897261727542013-10-31T12:59:00.000+00:002013-11-04T22:13:44.262+00:00Statues in Bedford<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF2L4TulQQJPjDTbVw26TvL9SatYLkSwwtRLC8eAdbZJ9dkIW3DzuVYLb5lEDIe9sbx3aL4nutQlRBJXg46f1nq8kdt7A92iQYoS81QK2KpEsxb-_idLR-pYKfmvyhY80xZHJTzXaLoUUE/s1600/Bedford+statues+book3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF2L4TulQQJPjDTbVw26TvL9SatYLkSwwtRLC8eAdbZJ9dkIW3DzuVYLb5lEDIe9sbx3aL4nutQlRBJXg46f1nq8kdt7A92iQYoS81QK2KpEsxb-_idLR-pYKfmvyhY80xZHJTzXaLoUUE/s200/Bedford+statues+book3.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How often does a visitor to a town wonder who 'that statue
over there' is, or a resident ask 'what statue?', <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>having walked passed it
everyday? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These questions are answered
for visitors and residents of Bedford in a new guide <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bedford</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> town centre statues: a self-guided walk
with street map</i>, by BHRS-member Stuart Antrobus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The guide features ten statues and <span id="yiv1689914965yui_3_7_2_23_1383588039454_57">a door with relief panels</span>, sculpted over two and a half centuries (1768-2009), of well-known individual
Bedfordians and groups who have contributed to the town and county: the First World War
memorial; the South African (Boer) War memorial; John Howard; Sir William
Harpur; Glenn Miller; the Meeting Group; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Verso
Domani</i>;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trevor Huddleston; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reflections of Bedford</i>; the Bunyan
Meeting bronze chapel doors; and John Bunyan. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyn18W6p6QwppkNCty48NVFKxPiKZj_p4Tr-zo0qKutuBCAjUQ2NINN-qZ_7VAp3VFfHKeD_kGBxVGuPRjY14EcaFJhkjNQOV2FIpk7QtuceQPInfHxFeX-ceSRfWVlJePU9KMblYszr2C/s1600/Bedford+statues+book4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyn18W6p6QwppkNCty48NVFKxPiKZj_p4Tr-zo0qKutuBCAjUQ2NINN-qZ_7VAp3VFfHKeD_kGBxVGuPRjY14EcaFJhkjNQOV2FIpk7QtuceQPInfHxFeX-ceSRfWVlJePU9KMblYszr2C/s200/Bedford+statues+book4.jpg" width="134" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">World War 1 memorial</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Information about each statue is displayed over a double
page with a photograph on one side and text on the other, describing the
statue, what it commemorates, who the sculptor was and the circumstances in
which the statue was put up. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just one
page of A5 text contains a fascinating amount of information and often
highlights features that it would be easy to overlook, for example the <i>art nouveau</i> decoration on the base of the statue of John Howard.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This guide is carefully researched, beautifully illustrated
and well-laid out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is both handy for the visitor and of
lasting value to residents and those interested in the history of the town.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The booklet costs £5 and is on sale in Bedford
at the <a href="http://www.bedford.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/tourism_and_travel/tourist_information_services.aspx" target="_blank">Tourist Information Centre</a>, the <a href="http://www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Higgins Bedford</a> gallery and museum and the <a href="http://www.bunyanmeeting.co.uk/museum/" target="_blank">John Bunyan Museum</a> shop. Proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.britishschoolsmuseum.co.uk/" target="_blank">British Schools Museum</a> in Hitchin and can also be purchased from the museum by<span id="yiv1689914965yui_3_7_2_27_1383550485945_55"> sending a cheque for £5.60 payable to Hitchin
British Schools Trust and posted (with own address, marking the envelope
'Statues booklet') to Admin, British Schools Museum, 41/42 Queen Street,
Hitchin, Hertfordshire, SG4 9TS.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-6273904505700440492013-06-26T11:11:00.000+01:002013-06-26T11:11:52.814+01:00Mark Rutherford exhibition<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Continuing the Mark Rutherford theme, an exhibition
at <a href="https://www.sutton.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1253" target="_blank">Honeywood Museum, Carshalton</a> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Surrey will be held from Wednesday 12 June to Sunday 28 July 2013. William Hale White</span></span></span></span> made Carshalton his home, living at one time in the house which is now the museum. The exhibition shows how he kept
his books secret from his family; and why he insisted on nine-inch thick brick
walls to divide the rooms in his house. He lived a number of parallel
lives but still, at 55, found time to learn to ride a boneshaker bicycle! The
exhibition also gives insights into the Victorian Carshalton that he knew for
almost 30 years. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The <a href="http://www.friendsofhoneywood.co.uk/" target="_blank">Friends of Honeywood Museum</a> are mounting two events during the exhibition: </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">- on Friday 12 July at 7.30pm </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mark Crees will give a selection of readings </span></span></span>- Mark Rutherford's People;</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">- and on Saturday 13 July at 2.30pm there will be a guided
walk to places in Carshalton associated with William Hale White.
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(Tickets for both events are £3.50 (£3.00 Friends); bookings 020 8770
4297). </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Based on a contribution by Nick Wilde </span></span></span></span></div>
Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-89706298023869331782013-06-26T10:50:00.000+01:002013-06-26T17:38:46.776+01:00Mark Rutherford (William Hale White) anniversary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ28NdVIMcjZZIs54qldK9AuHjocwGC3l7yrdtpkSK3256Us_wnLlzbOoEWq7xkGMgckeIWJblJP8eIJcXRmoFlizc0H-i01TbkMgWJXO6etQrvQ_QPMXCivwAkyOhJqz3IcknBo1hWpA7/s1600/Mark+Rutherford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ28NdVIMcjZZIs54qldK9AuHjocwGC3l7yrdtpkSK3256Us_wnLlzbOoEWq7xkGMgckeIWJblJP8eIJcXRmoFlizc0H-i01TbkMgWJXO6etQrvQ_QPMXCivwAkyOhJqz3IcknBo1hWpA7/s1600/Mark+Rutherford.jpg" height="200" width="158" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Mark Rutherford, born William Hale White in Bedford in 1831, had his
life celebrated on Saturday 22 June 2013 at a symposium commemorating the 100th anniversary of his death on 14 March 1913. The
Symposium, organised by the <a href="http://www.concentric.net/~djfrench/index.htm" target="_blank">Mark Rutherford Society</a> and held at <a href="http://www.dwlib.co.uk/dwlib/" target="_blank">Dr Williams’s Library</a> in London was opened by his great-grandson, John Hale-White (below) and chaired by
Professor of English Literature at the University of Bedfordshire, Bob
Owens.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span class="243060008-26062013"></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">William Hale White is generally regarded as the most important
novelist of the nineteenth century to have emerged from a Nonconformist
background and to have taken Nonconformist life and experience as his main
subject. He is undeservedly neglected and the Society’s aim is to redress
this. His portrait (above, left) is by Arthur Hughes, drawn in 1887.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="243060008-26062013">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He is best known for six novels written under the name Mark Rutherford, published between 1881 and 1896: </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford</i>
(1881);<i> </i></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXBqHSJUabTs7X63Ng6A4EOR6H-nJpgu3BQb34SFU4XLpweEYb38WpUfllIdW_p2dbVfZi-XOt5puabNHe27UKlM1ZX5lFnGSVEKDhaOeHYweBzqWYDqkeoM9onQ3Bjao4kXF4MmNa9GEq/s1600/Mark+Rutherford+Symposium+2013+038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXBqHSJUabTs7X63Ng6A4EOR6H-nJpgu3BQb34SFU4XLpweEYb38WpUfllIdW_p2dbVfZi-XOt5puabNHe27UKlM1ZX5lFnGSVEKDhaOeHYweBzqWYDqkeoM9onQ3Bjao4kXF4MmNa9GEq/s1600/Mark+Rutherford+Symposium+2013+038.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Mark Rutherford’s Deliverance</i> (1885); </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane</i>
(1887); </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Miriam’s Schooling</i> (1890); </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Catherine Furze</i> (1893); and </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Clara Hopgood</i>
(1896). </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The ‘Mark Rutherford’ novels share a power and style which are
distinctive in the literary history of their time. George Orwell described <i>Mark
Rutherford’s Deliverance</i> as ‘one of the best novels written in English’. D. H.
Lawrence wrote, ‘I have always had a great respect for Mark Rutherford . . . so
thorough, so sound, and so beautiful’. Arnold Bennett regarded him as ‘a
novelist whom one can deeply admire’. Claire Tomalin<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>wrote that White’s novels ‘draw directly on a
private store of memories and emotions, and you sense quite strongly that he
took up a mask in order to be nakedly confessional in a way he could not
otherwise have managed’. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Professor Owens opened
the Symposium briefly summarising Mark Rutherford’s life and importance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roger Pooley, Professor of English Literature
at Keele University followed with an assessment of Nonconformist culture and politics in <i>The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane</i>. The panel closed with
Professor Valentine Cunningham of Oxford University on ‘Mark Rutherford and the
Plight of the Dissenting Aesthete’. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After a lunch break in which academics and enthusiasts alike
discussed Mark Rutherford over a buffet lunch, some early researchers were
remembered. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nicholas Jacobs looked at
the contribution of young German researcher Hans Klinke who wrote his thesis in
the late 1920s as well as noting that there were translations of Rutherford's books in
French, Italian and Czech as well as Japanese. Nick Wilde read a letter from 95-year-old American Wilfred Stone recalling his work on Rutherford in the 1950s
and Mike Brealey (author of<i> </i></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i>Bedford's <span class="searchword">Victorian</span> <span class="searchword">pilgrim</span>: William Hale White in context</i>, Paternoster Press, 2012) told us about an
early British pioneer of Hale studies, Henry Arthur Smith, <a href="http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb150-us62" target="_blank">whose thesis appeared in 1938</a>. The
afternoon concluded with Jean-Michel Yvard, from the University of Angiers in
France, who discussed whether Mark Rutherford was an agnostic or a believer and
Max Saunders, Professor of English at Kings College, London (author of <i>Self
Impression: Life-Writing, Autobiografiction, and the Forms of Modern Literature</i>, OUP, 2010),
spoke about the nature of fictional autobiography.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The day finished with an entertaining monologue by Mark Crees,
Chair of the Mark Rutherford Society, imagining himself at Mark Rutherford’s
grave in Groombridge, Kent. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
Report contributed by Nick Wilde</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
PS Mark Rutherford's descriptions of nonconformists in mid-nineteenth century Bedford is drawn upon by the author of BHRS's 2013 volume <i>The Rise of Methodism: a study of Bedfordshire 1736-1751</i>, to be published in 2014.</div>
</span></div>
Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-67321127157468498682013-06-17T18:24:00.000+01:002013-06-24T22:37:20.540+01:00Bedfordshire Local History Association Summer Meeting 2013<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Forty-</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">six<span style="color: black;"> local
historians from twelve local history societies around the county assembled at
Maulden Village Hall on Saturday 15 June 2013 for the Association’s AGM and a
day of lectures and a visit on the topic of “Bedfordshire
Railways”.</span></span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">David Thomas gave a very
interesting illustrated talk focussing on the Bedfordshire branch of the Oxford
to Cambridge Line. This began in the county with the London & North Western
Railway line’s first stretch being built here from Bedford to Bletchley (still
in operation) in 1846. In 1851 the Bletchley to Oxford extension was built, and
finally, in 1861-2, the Bedford to Cambridge extension. The Oxbridge line’s
main stations in Bedfordshire were at Ridgmont, Lidlington, Marston, Bedford,
Blunham, Sandy and Potton with additional small halts, bringing the number of
stops to 15 within the county.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Because of the
importance of the universities at Oxford and Cambridge, this cross-country line
was sometimes known as the “Varsity Line” and its trains “brain trains”. It had
connections with six main lines heading north, west and east from London and
therefore gave great flexibility to passengers from Bedfordshire who could
travel around the country, by changing at points on the line to other railway
companies’ services, without having to go into London first (as is the case
today!).</span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Unfortunately, following
Dr Beeching’s rationalisation and drastic reduction in the railway system from
1967 onwards, the Bedford to Cambridge line was closed, with the Bedford to
Cambridge lines lifted, leaving only a service from Bedford to Bletchley,
meeting up with the London Midland Region main lines from London to the Midlands
and the North West. </span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">David Thomas then traced
the more recent developments, including the closure of the old St John’s Station
in Bedford, with the line being diverted to Bedford Midland Station in 1984
(with a later, new, halt at Bedford St John) and the overall modernisation of
signalling and level crossings along the Bedford Bletchley line in 2004.
Earlier, in 1961, Marston saw the installation of the second-only automatic continental level crossing barriers in the country. Warning signs, unusually,
were in both English and Italian, as there were so many Italian-speaking workers
at the local brick works! Recently, it has been confirmed that there are firm
plans to reinstate the Bedford to Oxford railway service in the near
future.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The second speaker in
the morning was Nigel Lutt from the county record office (BLARS) who gave a very
informative illustrated talk outlining just some of the many archive sources for
material on railway history in Bedfordshire, not all of them in documents where
you would expect to find them. </span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Attendees to the
conference were then treated to a very tasty hot lunch, after which they were
able to view the range of interesting displays in the hall relating to railway
topics</span><span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">, </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">with displays from the <a href="http://www.adalhs.mooncarrot.org.uk/" target="_blank">ADALHS</a>
regarding temporary railways in Maulden Woods (operated by the Canadian
Foresters during WWI), Warren Wood and Wrest Park. Fergus Milne brought along
examples of his railway art and there was an extensive display from
BLARS.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">For the afternoon
session, members moved by cars to Millbrook where David Thomas, who lives in the
Station House there, showed his collection of railway
memorabilia.</span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Although less ambitious
in its scope and number of speakers than in previous years (& consequently
less well attended </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">than<span style="color: black;">, say,
2012, when there were </span>91<span style="color: black;"> attendees from some
20 Beds societies) the BLHA committee is to be congratulated on putting it on
and thanks given to the new Millbrook History Society for organising it. The
annual event is an almost unique opportunity for local historians to get
together and catch up with each other’s researches, activities and
publications. BLHA’s own umbrella <a href="http://www.bedfordshire-lha.org.uk/" target="_blank">website</a> is</span></span><cite><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"></span></cite><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> an excellent, one-stop
source of contacts for all the many local history societies in Bedfordshire,
with links to their websites and, in many cases therefore, to their programme of
talks and visits.<var id="yui-ie-cursor"></var></span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">BLHA is looking urgently
for volunteer societies from its membership to take on responsibility for
arranging a conference for 2014 (and also for 2015). Societies which have not
yet taken this on, perhaps finding the thought rather daunting, can receive much
help from those other societies which have organised conferences in previous
years. </span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">To discuss conference
possibilities for future years, contact Clive Makin, BLHA Secretary, at
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">01582 655785 or via email</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'PT Sans'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">:
</span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<a href="mailto:secretary@bedfordshire-lha.org.uk"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">secretary@bedfordshire-lha.org.uk</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"></span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">For</span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
information on Bedfordshire railway history, see F.G. Cockman <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Railway Age in Bedfordshire </i>(Revised
edition 1994) </span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv1218156214msonormal" style="background: white; margin: 1em 0cm;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Written by Stuart
Antrobus</span></div>
Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-28500100516226921922013-02-22T12:29:00.000+00:002013-02-22T22:17:15.857+00:00Barry Stephenson, local studies librarian, retires<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4brhY39wm3xymuDcbhVqAtFtoZet7LyFq6H9PGdgXK1mCLl1-XeAt4e_-3hStVpRyA8NedGjWFYb08FVPA8TgFZUjMcXC3Xv7AUmDTHT3YSEM-yqHUwnKrCUx4wj9FiZnjpesFmJAgH4V/s1600/Barry+Stephenson1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4brhY39wm3xymuDcbhVqAtFtoZet7LyFq6H9PGdgXK1mCLl1-XeAt4e_-3hStVpRyA8NedGjWFYb08FVPA8TgFZUjMcXC3Xv7AUmDTHT3YSEM-yqHUwnKrCUx4wj9FiZnjpesFmJAgH4V/s200/Barry+Stephenson1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Barry
Stephenson, a former BHRS Council member, and Local Studies Librarian at
Bedford Central Library for over 25 years, retired on 16 August 2012
after working for 50 years for Bedfordshire Libraries.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Bedford</span><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> born and bred, he started at as a trainee librarian with
Bedfordshire County Council<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on 10
September 1962, working at the old County
Library, the former Town and County Club
building on the Embankment in Bedford
(now the site of the Swan Hotel car park entrance).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was then sent on a two year course at
Loughborough to gain his professional librarianship qualification before
embarking on a career which took him to several posts and locations in the
county.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first professional post was
at the old Dunstable Library in 1966 as Readers' Advisor, but within 12 months
there was a move to the new, present Dunstable Library. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">In 1970 he moved to the
County Library
in the Riverside Building at County Hall [now Borough
Hall] as Assistant Reference Librarian and he became Local Studies Librarian in
1974. He had meanwhile become one of the first part-time students of the new
Open University and had gained his BA in History in four years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">When the
County Hall Library closed in 1986 he moved to Bedford Central Library and
served there until his retirement, albeit becoming part-time from 2008 when he
reached pensionable age.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">His proudest
moment was in May 2000 when the <a href="http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.local_studies/beds_heritage_library.htm" target="_blank">Bedfordshire Heritage Library</a> was opened within
Bedford Central Library which allowed much historical material, previously in closed
access, to become available to the public. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">One of Barry’s
greatest achievements was in the creation, over three decades, of the extensive
newspaper cuttings collection which has enabled countless thousands of readers
to answer their queries regarding local history. When the <a href="http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.menus/local_studies.htm" target="_blank">Virtual Library</a> came
along he was able to enormously extend access to enquirers from around the
world. Over many years he created <a href="http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.digitised_resources/places.htm" target="_blank">online chronologies for Bedfordshire’s villages and towns</a>, based on the incomparable collection of local histories he
had helped to build up in the Local Studies section of Bedford Central Library.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">A quiet and
unassuming man, he is known for the diligence with which he answered<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1217708237239688061" name="_GoBack"></a> the many postal (and, later, online) enquiries from around
the country and abroad, as well as the face-to-face assistance to both local
and family history researchers, and to international scholars who came to
consult the famous <a href="http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.digitised_resources/john_bunyan.htm" target="_blank">Bunyan Collection</a>. As a native Bedfordian, he loved
researching Bedfordshire’s past.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Outside
work, his abiding passion has been for Bedford Town Football Club which he has
supported all his life. He served as Secretary from 1989-2002 and from 2002 as
Company Secretary, a post he still holds. He writes a Memory Lane page for all ‘home’
programmes, so still visits his former library to do his research in local
newspapers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His other interests are gardening
and attending tea dances.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Contributed by Stuart. </span></span></div>
Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-7694718741433612502012-09-27T18:43:00.000+01:002012-09-27T18:43:58.643+01:00Patricia Bell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EC82PAcgDL7zQZ8yHE4vdmxxpexUapQcAlukqiqw_bBFP11tVkfUrtJ16Gl9aL-7aalANyVnBYRdv2bmyEFJcpQ2FtMTahKOmNzRFY_nK-i2U2U9j2e4qL5B-rzoq1ZeLHQjX4hyphenhyphenhFSR/s1600/Patricia-Bell-008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2EC82PAcgDL7zQZ8yHE4vdmxxpexUapQcAlukqiqw_bBFP11tVkfUrtJ16Gl9aL-7aalANyVnBYRdv2bmyEFJcpQ2FtMTahKOmNzRFY_nK-i2U2U9j2e4qL5B-rzoq1ZeLHQjX4hyphenhyphenhFSR/s200/Patricia-Bell-008.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Patricia Bell, formerly Bedfordshire Archivist, general editor of Bedfordshire Historical Record Society and patron of Bedfordshire Family History Society, died on 12 September in Bedford. Her death has shocked friends and acquaintances - she was a huge influence on many people in the worlds of archives, historical research and Bedfordshire history. Her obituary by Richard Wildman was in the <a href="http://gu.com/p/3ajda/em%20" target="_blank">Guardian </a>on 24 September. </div>
Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-39997389889548127942012-08-02T19:25:00.000+01:002012-08-02T19:25:26.007+01:00September 2012 Heritage Open DaysThe<a href="http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/" target="_blank"> Heritage Open Days</a>' website lists seventeen places in Bedfordshire that will be open on various dates from 7 to 10 September. For some sites these days are in addition to normal opening; for most sites tours or events have been organised by local societies. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZeOja8BQ6gmMjlxwJbG71w3EhVReO177H1bsGsevuBec0PLsnY9FYs1XWUIYVFrsDHJJPXY3uVSwhKiCmR4sqPN3wfOQnnKy1xLv9kqWVVT6MtnhrGEN-A50YPSSZe8WZTOH5hnzh2ovN/s1600/sidebar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZeOja8BQ6gmMjlxwJbG71w3EhVReO177H1bsGsevuBec0PLsnY9FYs1XWUIYVFrsDHJJPXY3uVSwhKiCmR4sqPN3wfOQnnKy1xLv9kqWVVT6MtnhrGEN-A50YPSSZe8WZTOH5hnzh2ovN/s200/sidebar.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
This would be a good opportunity - <br />
<ul>
<li>to see some local churches, including St Andrew's Church Biggleswade</li>
<li>to see <a href="http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/visiting/opendays.htm#Keep" target="_blank">Keeper's Cottage</a> and <a href="http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/visiting/opendays.htm#QAS2" target="_blank">Queen Anne's Summerhouse</a> both on the Shuttleworth Estate at Old Warden, opened by the Landmark Trust</li>
<li>to explore Bedford with local experts on guided walks, </li>
<li>to visit the library of John Bunyan's Museum in Bedford which is normally only open to researchers,</li>
</ul>
<br /><ul>
</ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYVc6gxfM1g5994hGPBAScoN4E0Oy9HpTbh-TOKLMJH_N6lNaWyzrmhT81PfgXDMdz4B_ohdRlgLwILmgeSdIxVTaYra8kRu1WcSwuILDgL3gMzGF0KZrzV8FB9Y0ZOp7FGJODtZQhljBs/s1600/11249a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5Q1LqGd_FUqEWzXN9RF3isoDduAkUeP9lnCRvnZ7gr6z7U1yxdUDbHuataoMU0C0A1hiSXKsg5Ol1A0Gzi7LvYapOpeD2MboeuWnF3wKSbWd46VdC0bc5DVnngmyNy6fMER9l3iRJ3Gn/s1600/luton_hoo_walled_garden_sml.png" /></a>and, for garden historians and enthusiasts, to visit Luton Hoo's <a href="http://www.lutonhooestate.co.uk/Walled_Garden.html" target="_blank">Walled Garden</a> laid out originally by Capability Brown.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(photo from CPRE website, c Barry Halton)</span><br />
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Before visiting, check the <a href="http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/" target="_blank">Heritage Open Days</a>' site for the full list and opening times (not all places are open each day).<br />
<br />Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-53464494957212871372012-07-26T23:19:00.000+01:002012-08-02T18:05:18.705+01:00Thurleigh Airfield Museum<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bedford</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> is fortunate in having
two excellent private airfield museums dedicated to curating and displaying material from the Second World War. Sections of the American 8<sup>th</sup> Air
Force were based in north Bedfordshire (& elsewhere in East Anglia), engaged in aerial bombardment of
occupied Europe as part of the Allied
offensive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both Museums are just off the
A6 road from Bedford to Rushden. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.twinwoodevents.com/" target="_blank">Twinwood Airfield</a> is well known for its Glen
Miller Museum,
original airfield control tour and a range of WWII airfield buildings and
wartime displays. Slightly
less well known, but well worth a visit, is the 306<sup>th</sup> Bombardment
Group Museum at Thurleigh Airfield (now a Business Park), sited in an original
wartime building donated by Dr Jonathan Palmer, of Bedford Autodrome, and
opened on 27 July 2002. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9yayRv8hbFyfcdYIg0Ue-JiRfCCDAq4a0dgZ-CM7JoaEeMs1AZTZ0QZZ9f94rYPNfVHVz6ZDM_iX92i77O5p1UADhZ5LgjOtZ_YFOXB01dU_zEkC9kXDJ6dnkVkjKFdPZZCAhCiKo5oL4/s1600/013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9yayRv8hbFyfcdYIg0Ue-JiRfCCDAq4a0dgZ-CM7JoaEeMs1AZTZ0QZZ9f94rYPNfVHVz6ZDM_iX92i77O5p1UADhZ5LgjOtZ_YFOXB01dU_zEkC9kXDJ6dnkVkjKFdPZZCAhCiKo5oL4/s200/013.jpg" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> Thurleigh is the
creation of its curators, retired locals Ralph and Daphne Franklin, who have
built it up over the last 10 years to what is now a superb collection of
material (much of it donated by veteran US servicemen and their families), both
military and social.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only does it
evoke the experiences of the American servicemen who served there from 1942 to
1945, but also has excellent displays on Home Front life: a 1940s kitchen, a
local pub, wartime GI-bride weddings, and the ‘land girls’ of the Women’s Land
Army.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">On Sunday
8<sup>th</sup> July I joined scores of others who gathered, despite the
occasional rain, to celebrate the museum’s 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary and to
witness the re-dedication of the memorial to the 306<sup>th</sup> Bombardment
Group who served here during the Second World War, and many of whom lost their
lives in the daylight raids on Germany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wartime vehicles, re-enactors and the superb
Mainline Big Band turned up to help recreate the wartime atmosphere with Glen
Miller music and dancing in the adjacent marquee.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZHv3jGdOfY0iE5O68cbPf_daP18JWcJu_LEaTg6m-YTKWB3HBv7_jJjbjvGzzDO1qg5NBLNej3CAvJ1UYHy2RxIxl_PNinrrbhdycsBo_PsxFOAOAD1raRRST25QNGGKvHOE8pYPT2va/s1600/015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeZHv3jGdOfY0iE5O68cbPf_daP18JWcJu_LEaTg6m-YTKWB3HBv7_jJjbjvGzzDO1qg5NBLNej3CAvJ1UYHy2RxIxl_PNinrrbhdycsBo_PsxFOAOAD1raRRST25QNGGKvHOE8pYPT2va/s200/015.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dr Vernon
Williams, a history professor at Abilene
Christian University
in Texas, attended the event to represent the
<a href="http://www.306bg.org/" target="_blank">306 Bomb Group Association</a> which is still active in the USA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is webmaster of their online site and editor of the newsletter <i>Echoes</i>. Vernon</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> is quite well-known in
north Bedfordshire as well as in Cambridgeshire and elsewhere in England as the
director of a major oral-history project entitled the East Anglia Air War
Project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beginning in 2003, he has
conducted countless interviews with US veterans, both flight and ground crew,
who served here during the war, and also those English people who came in
contact with them during those years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His aim has been to explore not only the operation of the air war – he
is a military historian – but also the nature of the relationships developed
between the host population and their American ‘cousins’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He visits the East of England twice a year to
conduct his research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is currently
working on writing a number of books based on his extensive research. I, for
one, am looking forward to his book on the Anglo-American relationships forged
locally during wartime. (He interviewed some of ‘my land girls’ and extracts
from their video interviews have appeared in some of his historical documentary
films, for example, the DVD <i>Thurleigh at War</i>).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hvjOXOkf1iGh02KmisutTC8J01RDplAkKHGjTHo17vLbnPc2nHkYJa8TN-ojYqoT1r4K97oh9dkomdIH2xMUN1MrX2DWJJEKx2hJNqt4uw3J_XgOqLZA-an-y6rhpdgSZpqZa6Ygmc1_/s1600/010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hvjOXOkf1iGh02KmisutTC8J01RDplAkKHGjTHo17vLbnPc2nHkYJa8TN-ojYqoT1r4K97oh9dkomdIH2xMUN1MrX2DWJJEKx2hJNqt4uw3J_XgOqLZA-an-y6rhpdgSZpqZa6Ygmc1_/s200/010.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Barbara
and Charles Neal also attended, representing the UK's <a href="http://www.306bg.co.uk/" target="_blank">306th Bombardment Group Association</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barbara is the secretary of
the organisation and Charles heads the Second Generation efforts within the
306th BGA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two of them laid wreaths
during the Memorial ceremony.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1217708237239688061" name="_GoBack"></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Small
specialist museums such as these carry out a useful role in complementing the
work of the major museums by introducing members of the public, some of whom
are possibly intimidated by the larger ones, to topics and periods in our
history which deserve our attention.</span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Both
Twinwood Airfield (open Sundays only) and Thurleigh Airfield museums (Saturday
& Sundays) are open each weekend during the main ‘tourist’ season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For further information about hours and events see <a href="http://www.twinwoodevents.com/" target="_blank">Twinwood</a>'s and <a href="http://www.306bg.co.uk/" target="_blank">BGA</a>'s websites. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Stuart Antrobus</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-17536721247669949742012-06-17T15:25:00.003+01:002012-06-17T15:26:42.645+01:00BHRS's centenary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj230UCK6BRNlQSQQ9LlvOD-Auafay18byCFPYc5-IyQ3z9MkL11ezrVOWXrcPFxdPacsPoaz5PquXa4DPDRNW5j73GTJr-MV_mTiofiq9NA13UKXT5ZJKcHG075T2iZsVa3GW1uzmHUZ0a/s1600/Centenary_logo-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj230UCK6BRNlQSQQ9LlvOD-Auafay18byCFPYc5-IyQ3z9MkL11ezrVOWXrcPFxdPacsPoaz5PquXa4DPDRNW5j73GTJr-MV_mTiofiq9NA13UKXT5ZJKcHG075T2iZsVa3GW1uzmHUZ0a/s200/Centenary_logo-01.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
One hundred years ago in November 1912 BHRS was founded by Dr Fowler and others to research and publish Bedfordshire's rich history. Except for the years of the two world wars, the society has published a volume every year covering all manner of subjects and periods from Domesday to WWII.<br />
<br />
The first event to mark the Society's centenary took place last week with a garden party at the home of the Society's President, Sir Sam Whitbread. In a period of unpredictable weather - storms, gales and unseasonably low temperatures - the sun shone on the afternoon. About 100 Society members and their friends attended. We renewed friendships, chatted, took tea on the lawn and listened to a jazz group which included our secretary, Richard Smart. <br />
<br />
The speeches - only two - emphasised the immense amount of research and publishing that the Society has undertaken and the prospects for future work. They also highlighted the close relationship between the Society and the <a href="http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/ArchivesAndRecordOffice.aspx" target="_blank">Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS)</a>. In 1913, the year following the establishment of BHRS, Dr Fowler set up the county record office- the first in the country - and was its first archivist. Succeeding county archivists and their staff have contributed to, and been general editors of, the Society's volumes. Today the relationship is as strong as ever.<br />
<br />
Other events to mark the centenary will include the display in venues around the county of joint posters with BLARS; the completion of cataloguing Dr Fowler's library in its new venue (the University of Northampton Library); and a stimulating lecture following the AGM at Stockwood Park in Luton in September.<br />
<br />
<br />Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-85913917588193785182012-06-17T14:18:00.002+01:002012-06-17T14:18:48.005+01:00Bedfordshire Local History Association Conference: 9 June 2012<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The annual get-together of Bedfordshire local historians took place on
Saturday 9 June under the auspices of the umbrella organisation for local
history societies in the county, <a href="http://www.bedfordshire-lha.org.uk/" target="_blank">Bedfordshire Local History Association</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was hosted this year by <a href="http://www.adalhs.mooncarrot.org.uk/" target="_blank">Ampthill &District Archaeological and Local History Society</a> and held in the Learning Zone
at<a href="http://www.poplars.co.uk/" target="_blank"> Poplars Garden Centre, Toddington</a><a href="http://./">.</a> Over 90 people attended, representing
some 20 local history organisations, as well as individuals.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They were treated to a diverse range of talks on topics
including the fire at Wrest Park in 1916, “The Lost Hamlet of Wadelow”, “Art Deco Buildings in Luton” and the <a href="http://www.paintedchurch.org/chalgmar.htm" target="_blank">medieval wall paintingsat Chalgrave Church</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Martin Deacon brought us up-to-date with what Bedfordshire Archives has
to offer and on the Centenary celebrations planned for 2013 by what was the
first County Record Office in the country, established in 1913 by Dr.George
Herbert Fowler, its first archivist.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VxGVBKRnPbdFHkXt76gweFEysD4vimMB4CdRpUW7I4KpqCvyHwjgVlMRfd8pFZ4iwR9hnLVdpPpubXq0yNHWs3iwKyV8ImTXiVpeGpRUyt3udtyujTE2uQ8FO-Bm1H70gh-exBPP12z6/s1600/Houghton_House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9VxGVBKRnPbdFHkXt76gweFEysD4vimMB4CdRpUW7I4KpqCvyHwjgVlMRfd8pFZ4iwR9hnLVdpPpubXq0yNHWs3iwKyV8ImTXiVpeGpRUyt3udtyujTE2uQ8FO-Bm1H70gh-exBPP12z6/s200/Houghton_House.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ruins of Houghton House near Ampthill, built in 1621</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For me, the highlight was the illustrated talk on “Lost
Houses of Bedfordshire” by leading Bedfordshire historian, Simon Houfe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only did he show us pictures of some of
these houses and tell us about the families who built them but analysed the
various reasons which led to their demise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 1765 there were 60 substantial country houses in Bedfordshire; by the
1960s there were only 6 which had been built in the 18<sup>th</sup>
century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reasons why they failed to
survive ranged from decline in the income from the land around them on which
they mainly relied, the vagaries of inheritance whereby they sometimes ended up
in the hands of someone who preferred living elsewhere in the country, to the
tremendous impact of the Great War of 1914-18 which led to the death of sons
and heirs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was usually a case of the
survival of the fittest. Death duties were the final blow to many. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtbihqIdZ5SA17uwLKcacCU_BfN75PdtTf6tVv1IinnvTxg58yRZ2m9EDefcIu9bVw2NSb1OhIJsJWpI66BrS2DB24b4bdnhxzLX48I0mzrntpqHjrwE4_pthtJnIVo_p8XBf4zAYZO-wG/s1600/Eggington_House.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtbihqIdZ5SA17uwLKcacCU_BfN75PdtTf6tVv1IinnvTxg58yRZ2m9EDefcIu9bVw2NSb1OhIJsJWpI66BrS2DB24b4bdnhxzLX48I0mzrntpqHjrwE4_pthtJnIVo_p8XBf4zAYZO-wG/s200/Eggington_House.gif" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eggington House photographed about 1900</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">BLHA President, Martin Lawrence, summed up the conference
and reminded us of various significant anniversaries being celebrated this
year, especially the centenary of the setting up of our own Bedfordshire Historical Record
Society, in 1912, again by Dr Fowler and others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The annual BHLA conferences are always worth attending for
the opportunity to meet like-minded local historians from around the county,
most of whom one only sees once a year at this event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also reminds us of the great interest there
is in the county in its history and of the contribution which local history
societies can make in researching, publishing and enthusing to others about
their unique locality.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This year, in addition to the presentations, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> it was worth attending, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">if for nothing
else – and the food was very good! – for the opportunity,
as a group, to visit Chalgrave
Church [Grade 1 listed
building, built c1300] <a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>and view the outstanding medieval
wall paintings it contains which make this a real gem in the county.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stuart Antrobus</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Bedford</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
Architectural, Archaeological and Local History Society.</span></div>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-1622169410276807632012-01-02T19:37:00.000+00:002012-01-02T19:37:56.881+00:00Bedfordshire Seventeenth Century TokensThanks to Gary Oddie who has sent this information about his new book on seventeenth century tokens in Bedfordshire:<br />
<br />
"The upheavals of the seventeenth century had many consequences for the everyday activities of the people of Britain. A shortage of small change resulted in many shopkeepers and tradespeople issuing their own tokens between 1648 and 1672. These provide a tangible record of a group of people who otherwise do not appear in the history books. One hundred such issues can be attributed to the county of Bedfordshire. This new book lists not only many unrecorded varieties but also opens a window on the lives and day to day activities of the token issuers themselves. Extensive use of contemporary records sheds light on the trades, wealth, beliefs and final wishes of the token issuers. The catalogue illustrates every known variety of token twice life-size. The photographs, along with an analysis of some of the design features of the tokens, allow comparison with the issues of other counties. An essential record for students of Bedfordshire seventeenth century tokens and the token series more generally. Of interest to all those studying local, social and family histories of this period."<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Bedfordshire Seventeenth Century Tokens</i>, John Gaunt, edited and expanded by Gary Oddie.<br />
Published by <a href="http://www.galata.co.uk/">Galata, Llanfyllin (Powys)</a>, 2011. Quarto, pp. 154, colour illustrations throughout, tables, card covers. Limited print run. £35 + p+p.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-18438267022995983452012-01-02T19:16:00.000+00:002012-01-02T19:16:29.135+00:00New Year honour for local historianCongratulations to Mrs Vivienne Evans, local historian, lecturer and writer and founder of Dunstable History and Heritage Studies, who has been awarded an MBE for services to the community in Dunstable in the 2012 New Year's Honours.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-31159433189046325462011-10-30T16:10:00.001+00:002011-10-30T16:22:56.202+00:00Bedfordshire in ODNBFor historians, the <a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/"><i>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</i></a> in its online version is a must-bookmark-site. In addition to many people from Bedfordshire or with connections to the county, it contains articles on groups and themes that provide background for the county's history and people. <br />
<br />
<span class="headword"><b><span class="headword" style="color: black;">Bedford Whigs</span><span style="color: black;"> (</span><i style="color: black;"></i><i style="color: black;">c.</i><span style="color: black;">1748–</span><i style="color: black;">c.</i>1784)</b> summarises the politicians connected with the 4th Duke of Bedford's political career. By coincidence it covers some of the people and much of the period in BHRS's forthcoming 2011 volume, <i>How Bedfordshire Voted, 1735-1784:<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"> the evidence of local documents and poll books</span></span></i></span><span class="headword"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">, </span></span>edited by James Collett-White. </span><span class="headword"></span><span class="headword"><span class="headword">The <b>Broad-bottom ministry</b></span><b> (<i></i>1744–1746),</b> </span><b><span class="headword"><span class="headword">Leicester House</span> (<i></i>1743–1760) </span></b><span class="headword">and the </span><b><span class="headword"><span class="headword">Old corps <span class="st">(court Whigs)</span></span> (<i></i>1742–1762) </span></b><span class="headword">also provide political background for the book.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="headword"></span><br />
<span class="headword">The forthcoming volume<i>, How Bedfordshire Voted 1735-1784</i>, continues his two earlier volumes for the Society and completes a century of coverage of Bedfordshire elections. Most of the first two volumes, covering 1685 to 1734, contained transcriptions of the county and borough (of Bedford) poll books. In this last, almost 50-year period, there is only one complete poll book surviving (1774). The majority of the book contains letters and extracts from newspapers and Bedford borough documents which throw light on the political dealing that went on behind the scenes to obtain voters' support.</span><br />
<span class="headword"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="headword">After reading it, all I can say is thank heavens for the secret ballot! The book is due out at the end of 2011 or early 2012. Buy it, read it, and see what you think about eighteenth-century political dealing.</span><br />
<span class="headword"> </span><span class="headword"> </span><br />
<span class="headword"><i>How Bedfordshire Voted 1735-1784: the evidence of local documents and poll books</i>, edited by James Collett-White. Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, volume 90. To be published by <a href="http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/">Boydell & Brewer</a>. </span><br />
<link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CBarbara%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
@page Section1
{size:612.0pt 792.0pt;
margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style> <span class="headword"></span>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-74480074427319152882011-07-16T17:36:00.002+01:002011-07-16T17:39:49.320+01:00PoWs in Bedfordshire<div style="text-align: left;">An account of prisoners of war in Bedfordshire during the Second World War has been long overdue. </div><div style="text-align: left;"> Stephen Risby has blended both military and social history to produce an excellent history of the subject*, which answers the questions: why were they here, what did they do, what were the problems and how were they perceived locally?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtrzK847dSsNRkRA6WGsaVPQGqh7FDt5DuqyzBhawYxt-N1_RBDM4Q8LV6og_mALZSDoRRttx-D4HQosmI1YdXanFr6TlSZanxiT6Qao2oea5ubEYj7OeT8676luXLGx_v2cVAmttiwXvQ/s1600/POW9781445603124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtrzK847dSsNRkRA6WGsaVPQGqh7FDt5DuqyzBhawYxt-N1_RBDM4Q8LV6og_mALZSDoRRttx-D4HQosmI1YdXanFr6TlSZanxiT6Qao2oea5ubEYj7OeT8676luXLGx_v2cVAmttiwXvQ/s320/POW9781445603124.jpg" width="297" /></a> </div>To answer these, the author has carried out extensive documentary research, as well as drawing on the Mid-Bedfordshire oral history research, “Changing Landscapes, Changing Lives”, to bring to life the experiences of both prisoners of war [POWs] and the civilian population who had contact with them.<br />
<br />
There are chapters dealing with the various POW camps and hostels in Bedfordshire, what camp life was like and the public attitudes to both German and Italian POWs. There is also a chapter devoted to the unfortunate ‘Tilbrook Incident’ in which an Italian prisoner of war killed his English working party guard and was himself shot by a member of the Home Guard. This extremely atypical event gained national notoriety and the soldier was awarded the British Empire Medal.<br />
<br />
What is particularly good about Stephen Risby’s book is the careful way he gives the historical background to the presence of prisoners of war in this country. In particular he explores the distinct national stereotypes of German and Italian soldiers, as perceived by the British government and members of the public, which affected the different ways in which German and Italian POWs, always kept separate, were regarded, employed as a labour force and held with varying degrees of security.<br />
<br />
There are useful endnotes on sources (but no page references) and a helpful bibliography but no index. Finally, there are five appendices of transcribed documents which illuminate the topics of the treatment of prisoners, what constituted a POW establishment, an International Red Cross committee report on the Ducks Cross POW camp, instructions on camp maintenance and an end-of–the-war official visitor’s report on the Colmworth and Ducks Cross camps and various other hostels around the county. This well-illustrated paperback is very readable and informative.<br />
<br />
* Stephen Risby, <i>Prisoners of War in Bedfordshire</i>, Amberley Publishing, 2011. ISBN 9781445603124 £14.99<br />
<br />
<br />
Contributed by Stuart AntrobusBarbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-70938463809269697052011-07-15T23:00:00.003+01:002011-07-16T16:52:31.934+01:00Heritage Open Days in Bedfordshire 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi55rkybYsgqWiIN-dJlKRALPSNivJmhiViEbpp0lQEt1xfjLCqAjyLCdgmzmtS9h4xoUZI3RaLR7BhNwbiMx6DyZPdGgF_hKeXjBDSOZQAfidTZ64azNiLTZAXDd__Hht5fayRRQzMz14/s1600/Luton+church+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi55rkybYsgqWiIN-dJlKRALPSNivJmhiViEbpp0lQEt1xfjLCqAjyLCdgmzmtS9h4xoUZI3RaLR7BhNwbiMx6DyZPdGgF_hKeXjBDSOZQAfidTZ64azNiLTZAXDd__Hht5fayRRQzMz14/s320/Luton+church+4.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Six historic places in Bedfordshire will be open<br />
on all or some of the days between 8 and 11<br />
September 2011<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Ailesbury Mausoleum and Crypt, Bedford<br />
<a href="http://www.bedfordcemeteryfriends.org.uk/">Friends of Bedford Cemetery</a>, Bedford<br />
Parish Church of St Paul, Bedford <br />
Cemetery Chapel, Biggleswade <br />
St Mary's Parish Church, Luton (<i>pictured</i>)<br />
Historic Textiles at the <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-willingtondovecote/">Tudor Buildings in Willington</a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><br />
</div>The <a href="http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/">Heritage Open Days</a> site lists opening times and gives a taster of what can be seen at each site + how to get there.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-60044697846349097872011-07-05T10:28:00.001+01:002011-07-25T20:32:36.100+01:00Bedfordshire Local History Walks open to the publicOne of the ways in which individual members of the public can get to know more about local history, apart from reading local histories and attending talks, is through guided history walks. A few of the urban areas are served by organised history walks open to the public (although some walks are only on offer to organised groups, by arrangement).<br />
<br />
Dunstable Town Guides, contacted via <a href="http://www.dunstable.gov.uk/priory-house/">Priory House TIC</a>, in addition to paid-for ghosts walks throughout the year, and ‘Tea Time Tales’ events, offer free History Day walks on Saturday 21 May, on both Tudor Dunstable and the foundations of the Priory. Luton Visitor Information Centre does not arrange such walks, but <a href="http://www.sandytowncouncil.gov.uk/">Sandy</a> and <a href="http://www.bedford.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/tourism_and_travel.aspx">Bedford Tourist Information Centres</a> (TICs) do. Sandy has arranged four summer walks for 2011. Bedford Borough Council, using trained guides who are members of the Bedford Association of Tour Guides, offers some eight main walks on 38 separate occasions, all open to the public, via advanced booking at Bedford TIC.<br />
<br />
But this leaves a valuable role to local historical societies within the county and a number take this on, offering guided walks in their particular locale, particularly during the summer months. For details of walks in your area, look online for member societies of <a href="http://www.bedfordshire-lha.org.uk/memberEvents.html">Bedfordshire Local History Association</a> (BLHA), an umbrella organisation which lists websites and contact details of secretaries of local history societies [or consult <a href="http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/cgi-bin/infopoint.sh">Bedfordshire Libraries online Local Information Database</a>], and ask society secretaries if any guided history walks are planned for your area. BLHA also organises occasional workshops and an annual conference at one of the county’s villages or urban centres. This often includes a local history guided walk. This year, it is being hosted by Willington Local History group on Saturday 11 June.<br />
<br />
Where local history societies do not actually offer personal guides to take you on a walk, they have often published a local history ‘trail’, with street map, which individuals can follow to learn about points of interest.<br />
<br />
Guided History walks arranged by Sandy TIC. Barry Groom, local historian, will be offering three walks on 9 May, 13 June and 24 July (two evening walks from 7pm and one Sunday afternoon walk from 2pm) exploring Sandey Place, Old Warden and Southill Park, respectively. [Contact details for Sandy TIC below]<br />
<br />
<br />
Guided History Walks in Bedford<br />
Bedford Tour Guides will be taking members of the public in small groups on a variety of historical walks in Bedford this coming season, from May to September, on Wednesday evenings (from 7pm) or Sunday mornings (from 11am) in addition to numerous walks for pre-arranged groups. There are eight different walks, most of them focusing on a particular topic or area of Bedford town centre.They are open to individual members of the public, but places need to be booked in advance.<br />
<br />
For a general introduction to some of the fascinating people and places of Bedford history,“I Never Knew That” is a varied walk, pointing out some of the outstanding as well as the little known facts which will cause both residents and visitors to look a little more closely at what is around them.<br />
<br />
Other walks focus on particular people, places, monuments and events in Bedford’s history. “The Life and Times of John Bunyan” speak for itself, looking at both the man and the religious turmoil of his times, the 1600s, in Bedford, and how he came to be one of the most successful authors of religious literature in history, as well as one of Bedford’s most famous ‘sons’.<br />
<br />
“Silent Faces” takes a look at some of the outstanding sculptures and monuments which grace the town, outlining the people or events they represent but also the leading sculptors who created them. As well as John Bunyan, John Howard (the prison reformer), Trevor Huddleston (the anti-apartheid activist and clergyman), William Harpur (the philanthropist who founded the Harpur Trust) and Glenn Miller (the American band leader whose wartime presence in the town brought musical excitement during dismal days), there are two fine war memorials of national significance.<br />
<br />
“The Jewel in the Crown” takes a circular route along and across the River Great Ouse, particularly along Bedford’s Embankment which provides the town with its most beautiful image of graceful bridges, swans and rowing boats.<br />
<br />
Only a much reduced mound and some archaeological remnants remain to show us its site, but “The Rise and Fall of Bedford Castle” tells the story of this significant building, the powerful men who created it and the part it played in English history, up to the siege of 1224 by Henry III.<br />
<br />
The “World War Two Bedford” walk reveals the way in which the last war transformed people’s lives locally and the part it took in hosting the British Broadcasting Corporation’s music and religious affairs department. Both church services and countless music concerts announced on the radio as from “somewhere in the south of England” were, in fact, from Bedford, including most of the 1944 BBC Proms Concerts, transferred from war-torn London. You will be amazed at the number of famous artistes of all kinds who visited Bedford during the war to perform live to locals and through radio to the world.<br />
<br />
New to the list of guided walks, this year, are one which looks at the changing nature of shops and shopping in the town, “Are You Being Served?”, and one looking at selected town houses and enquiring ”Who Lived in a House Like This?”. “Are You Being Served?” explores just some of the many family businesses which used to dominate Bedford’s High Street and how the personal service they provided contrast with shopping today. It also looks at how such national chains of shops such as Marks and Spencer and Boots were introduced and how departmental shops took over from the small independent specialists.<br />
<br />
“Who Lived in a House Like This?”looks at some of the town houses of the great and the good of Bedford and how their particular contribution to the town can still be seen today, particularly in its outstanding architecture.<br />
<br />
Finally, one of the Bedford Town Guides offers an entertaining winter Ghost Walk to pre-arranged groups between March and December. For details of the dates, charges and times of the above walks, see Bedford Mini Guide 2011 which also has a ‘Self-guided “Did you know?” Trail’ and a street map of Bedford, available from the tourist information offices and your local library or by phoning Bedford Tourist Information Centre (contact details below)<br />
<br />
So, whether you are visiting Bedford, or fancy a local history walk elsewhere in Bedfordshire, why not find out about local history walks. Look out for leaflets and notices in your local library, tourist information centre or town hall. Or search online for what your local history society is offering to help make you aware of your local history.<br />
<br />
<br />
Contact details:<br />
Bedford Tourist Information Centre, Town Hall, St Paul's Square, Bedford, Bedfordshire MK40 1SJ<br />
Tel: 01234 221 712; Fax: 01234 217 932; Email: touristinfo@bedford.gov.uk<br />
<br />
Dunstable Tourist Information Centre, Priory House, 33 High Street South, Dunstable<br />
Bedfordshire LU6 3RZ<br />
Tel: 01582 890 270; Fax: 01582 890 271; Email: tic@dunstable.gov.uk<br />
<br />
Sandy Tourist Information Centre, Rear of 10 Cambridge Road, High Street, Sandy<br />
Bedfordshire, SG19 1JE<br />
Tel: 01767-682728; Fax: 01767-692527; Email: tourism@sandytowncouncil.gov.uk<br />
<br />
Thanks to Stuart, one of the Bedford Town Guides, for contributing this and drawing attention to ways of unlocking Bedfordshire's history.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-65830870137739134732011-02-26T10:21:00.000+00:002011-02-26T10:21:48.836+00:00Ampthill and central Bedfordshire in photosAnyone looking for the recent history of central Bedfordshire in photographs should look at the <a href="http://www.ampthillimages.com/">Ampthill Images</a> site which has thousands of photographs from the archives of Bedford newspapers. They concentrate on the period from 1930s to the late 1960s with a few earlier.<br />
The photographs document how life was and, even for those who were there at the time, they evoke another world. This is truly a treasure trove for the 'modern' historian - but do remember Copyright if you want to reproduce any photographs!Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-44243356937436110322010-12-12T17:47:00.001+00:002010-12-12T21:00:08.035+00:00Anne Allsopp's new <i>History of Luton</i> (see below for publication details) is particularly strong on the town's recent history over the last 100 to 150 years, although in traditional style it begins with early habitation. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglp3nPx2VLOZwJ4tsayh72fgk-igTT4z7R7xXXx_Tp1tHlcpbAmMEYGCfTvmDU85o0s1F-Hv0ioSKqjWJ3fZE5rROF8Uvg2MJWSKZ-K-6l-Xt2mLH9rsqxFwPO6jS_Y1kQQgJT5LuDPlFu/s1600/Luton+church+2010+-+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglp3nPx2VLOZwJ4tsayh72fgk-igTT4z7R7xXXx_Tp1tHlcpbAmMEYGCfTvmDU85o0s1F-Hv0ioSKqjWJ3fZE5rROF8Uvg2MJWSKZ-K-6l-Xt2mLH9rsqxFwPO6jS_Y1kQQgJT5LuDPlFu/s200/Luton+church+2010+-+2.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj62JXrUr44HT0EZwfS31dkja3zznTbX1tkFhzphgmuC2Zpaf981YBuOaHQagnMOfkPUARiWEfULfKUXt0BEHOEaXahjkchf7jkAYzVHMlES-chrn7DVHS5QRXtNDLpTc2BD1ATyNL_Sbl0/s1600/Luton+church+2010+-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"></div>After opening chapters on the early history of the town, where incidentally the author makes the point several times that little of the early town survives to be seen above ground or in the archaeological record (the exception being the parish church, shown here), she focuses on the themes that contributed to modern day Luton with chapters on country houses, education, industry, wartime, migration, leisure and the town. Under these headings she has woven together hundreds of strands including<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/02/43/luton-airport-23605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/02/43/luton-airport-23605.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Luton Airport</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<ul><li>brickmaking (with an account of how bricks used to be made) </li>
<li>brewing and temperance</li>
<li>Stattie fairs to the Luton carnival</li>
<li>straw plaiting schools (where young children laboured and were denied an education) to the University of Bedfordshire</li>
<li>hatmaking </li>
<li>a medieval gild, non-conformity, Quakers, </li>
<li>the multi-ethnic composition of today's population and the Luton Council of Faiths </li>
<li>the town's musical and theatrical activities </li>
<li>roads, railways and the airport</li>
<li>Vauxhall Motors and the connection with Vauxhall Bridge in London </li>
</ul><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/19/20/luton-wardown-park-189345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/19/20/luton-wardown-park-189345.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wardown Park</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">.... and the list could go.... The book is a treasure house of information about Luton's past, often in the words of people who were there, and supplemented by wonderful photographs and maps. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This is a book for locals, who will revel in the memories of how Luton was - and is. For others who are curious about the towns and cities of this country, this book is more than just a history of Luton, it is also a record of how people worked and lived in a time not long gone. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><br />
Anne Allsopp <i>A History of Luton from Conquerors to Carnival</i>. Andover, <a href="http://www.phillimore.co.uk/">Phillimore</a>, 2010. ISBN 978-1-86077-621-2 £20<br />
<br />
<br />
Photos: Parish Church © Barbara Tearle; Luton Airport © Jack Hill (Creative Commons)<i><small><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">; </span></small></i>Wardown Park© Nigel Cox (Creative Commons) <br />
Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-16008584573882042912010-11-03T12:39:00.000+00:002010-11-03T12:39:49.597+00:00New History of Luton<i>A History of Luton: From Conquerors to Carnival</i>, by Anne Allsopp has been published this week by <a href="http://www.phillimore.co.uk/">Phillimore</a> (hardback at £20)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpcnlRUI1e55jm86Naz5mtT3V9RsxqRBAGpT1utY6vOZeatKyVrf4wUmT8mWjaa78BCz58CAvzvBuJXyu1Ezqo7nsFPi3fshELyCFCsL4YduGlknzrPEd7qzctVINTIyP20Z0dWRG3rVP/s1600/Luton+9781860776212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZpcnlRUI1e55jm86Naz5mtT3V9RsxqRBAGpT1utY6vOZeatKyVrf4wUmT8mWjaa78BCz58CAvzvBuJXyu1Ezqo7nsFPi3fshELyCFCsL4YduGlknzrPEd7qzctVINTIyP20Z0dWRG3rVP/s320/Luton+9781860776212.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">The publisher says - </div><br />
"In the past, Luton was a market town and, for many years, was also a centre for the brewing industry. In the 19th century it became famous for hat making, and more recently it has grown into a thriving industrial centre. During the Second World War it played an important part in the manufacture of army vehicles, and children bound for school had to dodge the Churchill tanks on their way<br />
to various theatres of conflict. <br />
Nowadays, Luton Airport is the gateway for all types of traveller and the town is well known for its famous football team.<br />
Luton owes its existence to the river Lea, which is now a small stream but once powered seven mills. Archaeological discoveries have revealed that people have settled in the area for thousands of years. Julius Caesar may have passed through in A.D. 54 and William the Conqueror came this way one thousand years later. The parish church, still standing near Park Square, was built in medieval times.<br />
The town has since acquired a reputation as a solid working class place, the sort of community where ‘almost everyone earns his living’. This independent spirit has also had its downside, particularly on the occasion when disillusioned citizens burned down the town hall, and this well-informed narrative manages to capture Luton’s distinctive character.<br />
Luton has always provided visitors with a warm welcome and many have stayed and made the town their home. Local industry offered employment opportunities in the early 20th century and many had cause to be grateful for its relative prosperity during the Great Depression. Following the Second World War, immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and from the West Indies brought with them colourful new cultures that are celebrated in the annual Carnival.<br />
This fascinating and illustrated account of Luton’s past will inform and delight anyone who lives in the town and inspire those who grew up there."<br />
<br />
The author, Anne Allsopp, was born in Luton and attended Luton High School for Girls. She taught in local schools before gaining an MA and PhD at the London Institute of Education. She has published books on Luton High School and the Technical School, another for BHRS on the education and employment of girls in the town. Her particular interest is the lives of ordinary people, and her latest research has helped her appreciate Luton’s unique character and reputation for being quite unlike anywhere else.<br />
<br />
A review will follow. Meanwhile the book can be ordered through bookshops or from <a href="http://www.phillimore.co.uk/acatalog/index.html">Phillimore's online bookshop.</a>Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1217708237239688061.post-80032063571875163962010-09-24T12:27:00.000+01:002010-09-24T12:27:44.497+01:00Friends of BLARS AssociationVisiting BLARS last week, I picked up a copy of <i>Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service News</i> which contains an editorial on the grim financial situation facing all public services. The editorial says that 'local services and their clients will share the pain' of efficiency savings and that users and staff of BLARS are asking <b>'How bad is it likely to be?'</b> to which the answer is <b>'we don't know but we need to be prepared.'</b><br />
<br />
Part of being prepared, keeping people informed and seeking feedback and support is through the newly formed Friends of BLARS Association. <br />
<br />
BLARS was the first county record office that I used, maybe thirty-odd years ago, and I've used many others since then. Each gives its own individual and fantastic service to anyone and everyone concerned in the history and culture of the area it covers and also plays a part in our children's education through outreach services to develop and foster their interest in the place where they live. <br />
<br />
I am passionate about the service that BLARS offers. We don't know what its future is in the current climate but it is vital to ensure that BLARS and all local record offices <b>have</b> a future to continue their vital part in the cultural life of local and national communities.<br />
<br />
Read the <a href="http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/NewsletterArticles/JointheFriendsofBLARSAssociation.aspx">full editorial</a> and support BLARS by emailing archive@bedford.gov.uk to join the Friends mailing list.Barbarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470406609070902910noreply@blogger.com0