This is the final entry to the LHI website, as it is due to close soon.
Shadforth History Group is still going strong. We have fulfilled most of our objectives, namely:
- To produce an Information Board, now prominently displayed on the wall of the village hall
- To produce a walk leaflet, indicating points of interest within the village
- To produce a large, portable banner-type poster, to take with us on our trips to exhibitions
- To research the local archives
- To collect old photographs, scan them into the computer in order to produce an archive
- To talk to local residents about their memories of village life in the past
We are currently in the process of writing a book on our findings, which should be published later this year.
If funds permit, we hope to produce one more walk leaflet of longer walks around the countryside of Shadforth.
We feel we have achieved a great deal over the last couple of years, although it as taken much longer than we anticipated. It was a steep learning curve. The members of the group had very little in the way of skills when it came to computing, digital photography, scanning and printing. Our grant enabled us to buy this equipment, but it was another matter trying to use it! Also, a whole new world opened up concerning design and printing, when we came to producing our information board, banner poster and walk leaflet.
The exhibitions were a good way of finding long lost residents, which in turn generated further interviews and many more photographs. Interviewing people was quite time consuming. Some elderly people were very good talkers, but did not always stick with the subject, that is, village life. After a three hour conversation, one lady said she had enjoyed it so much, could we do the same thing again next week! Conversations were typed up and given back to the interviewee for corrections to be made, before a final copy could be agreed and signed.
Writing a book was another first for most members of the group, whose last attempt was probably a school essay some 40-50 years ago. The project has certainly helped us develop skills we never knew we had, such as organising events, publicity, finance and budgeting, networking with other history groups through workshops. As well as bringing old acquaintances back together, it has, hopefully, also brought the present villagers closer together through a shared, common interest of village life in the past.
We would like to thank the LHI for giving us a grant to carry out this project and for their support. As this website becomes static, we hope that in the future, with our new found skills, we can produce another ongoing website to keep our followers informed of Shadforth History Group’s future activities.
