The Beckingham & Saundby local History Group was formed in March 2005 as a sub-group of the Willow Works Steering Group in order to research the history of The Old Willow Works.
The late Peter Mason bequeathed a wealth of material to the village and the History Group felt it should be preserved for future generations. Peter Mason had accumulated twelve lever arch files on Beckingham and Saundby village history (a lifetime's research) which included notes, letters, photographs, slides, deeds etc.
The History Group's first task was to transfer all the information to computer which entailed an enormous amount of work; typing, cataloguing, indexing and scanning. Once completed the information was ready to be put together for the main project planned for 2007 which was a booklet of old photographs of Beckingham and Saundby.
Since March 2005 the group meet regularly in the Recreation Room every last Thursday in the month where the planning of work is carried out although nearer to the book launch the group met twice a month in order to meet the deadline for the printers. The first outing as a group was the Church Summer Fair on the Village Green in 2006 where a small exhibition of the group's work was displayed.
Since this time there have been more very successful Open Days held in the village. March 2006 saw the first Open Day which was held at the Primary School and involved much participation from the school children. On October 7th 2006 an Open Day was held in the Recreation Room along the theme of streets of Beckingham and included artefacts and photographic material and launched the 2007 Beckingham and Saundby Calendar. The Calendar features many of Peter Mason's photographs from his collection and was produced for the benefit of both villages.
Events held by Beckingham and Saundby History Group:-
Basket weaving course September 2007
Basket weaving course November 2007
Open Day October 2008
Open Day October 2009
In addition to the Open Days held in Beckingham the group have also taken to the road to display their material at Gainsborough Old Hall (18th November 2006) and Newark Town Hall (22nd November 2006). Other local groups from around the area attended these events and were promoting their individual village schemes. On 27th June 2007 The History Group visited The Museum of Lincolnshire Life where it was believed to hold some miniature baskets produced by workers at The Old Willow Works (and later donated by Mr Gale). Finally, on 17th October the group went on a trip to The Nottingham Archives Office and saw a selection of historical artefacts held there relating to the villages and received a brief descriptive talk on how the artefacts are stored and recorded.
The History Group continue their work, collating more information - recently a copy of a Beckingham Map dated 1736 was acquired and due to Margaret Mason's forthcoming move away from the village more material has been donated from her late husband's collection. Margaret Mason has very kindly allowed the group to store material/equipment at The Hall and in appreciation of this they recently presented her with a framed print of a painting of All Saints' Church dating back to 1881.
On 29th March 2007 The History Group invited two Guest Speakers, who described their experience of renovating and opening to the public of their project 'Mrs Smith's Cottage' in Navenby. It was an interesting evening and educational in that it brought to light the potential work involved when trying to achieve Museum Status.
The next Open Day held in the Recreation Room was 14th April 2007 and was based on the theme 'Maps' with the purchase of a copy map from Nottingham Archives dated 1736 taking centre stage. The Group finished the year with an Open Day to promote the book which was published in late September; the Open Day being held in October and officially opened by Mrs Mason.
On 4th October 2008 the History Group held an open day on the theme of cottages/cottage crafts and many people from the village donated items to support this subject. There were two working exhibitions on the day, a baking corner, baking in the traditional style, and lace making with Janet Sutton. There was the usual refreshments served, a quiz to guess the mystery items on display and finally an auction to sell off the items baked during the day.
2009 saw the Open Day run along the theme of ‘Education through the years’ and a mock school room was set up complete with teacher’s desk, blackboard and children’s desks. Visiting children were given the opportunity to dress up in costume and try their hand at traditional lessons with traditional discipline metered out by Joan Sangar (ex teacher from Beckingham) and Sue Allen. On display were photographs from Beckingham School over the years, some donated on the day by the school and others from Peter Mason’s collection. Also on display was a trascription of the Headmaster’s log dating back to the 1800s and there was also a copy of the original plans for the school and schoolhouse when they were first built in 1901.
The History Group are always interested to hear from anyone who has memorabilia relating to both Beckingham and Saundby and would welcome contact. The group also welcomes new members and anyone interested can contact the group via the website or come to any of the meetings planned (last Thursday of each month held in The Recreation Room, 7.00pm. For 2010 the History Group plan to produce another calendar and are currently putting together a timetable of events for 2010.
www.beckingham-northnotts.org.uk
This website has been funded by:
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