Activities during the summer                                               

Back at the end of May our day visit to Sheffield went well. Steve Payne's photographs show some of our members engrossed in David Templeman's presentations at the remains of Sheffield Castle below Castle Market and also at Manor Lodge.

The weather played its part over the summer, prolonged rain rather spoiling the open afternoon at the Castle, but the Gala was favoured with a fine day - thanks to all who prepared the display, staffed our stall and sold the Society's publications. The Scouts' float at the Gala illustrated the theme 'Tickhill Through Time' and was one part of a series of activities which will help the Scouts achieve their Heritage Badge, shown left. After the Gala the Scouts asked our Society to follow this up with a talk about local history. Steve Payne and David Walters gave presentations on two evenings in July which went well. The Scouts, Steve writes, were very lively and attentive, asked lots of questions and contributed thoughts and ideas. The Scouts were given copies of the Tickhill Treasure Map and copies of the booklet 'Treasures of Tickhill'

Our committee

After all the past year's work, for which all members are thanked, no one was tempted to stand down and we look forward to seeing the committee in action in the coming year. David Walter's Chairman's Report is included on page 4 of this Newsletter.

Publications

Another Occasional Paper is nearing completion and will feature the Laughton family who lived for over 200 years at Eastfield Farm and after that at other addresses in Tickhill. Work is also well underway on a substantial publication on Tickhill's history by Carol Hill.

Firbeck Hall

A few miles south west of Tickhill, Firbeck Hall is a large mansion built in 1594 but now in disrepair. It was a fine home for some 300 years but in the 20th Century had a more varied history including providing shelter for Belgian refugees in the First World War, a luxurious country club from 1935 and an RAF base in the Second World War. It is now in private ownership and awaiting renovation. In 2009 a 'Friends of Firbeck Hall' group was formed. Their website gives more details of the Hall's history and their own organisation as well as having several photographs of the Hall. See www.firbeckhall.net which is well worth browsing. 

A new website for Doncaster's history

Unfortunately the Doncaster Archaeology and History Society closed earlier this year. However, thanks to the enterprise of one of its former members, Symeon Waller, much of its material is now preserved on website www.doncasterhistory.co.uk another site well worth visiting.

Future programme

20 October 2011         Jenny Stacey    A sniff of snuff

17 November 2011      Deborah Moretti     Excavations at Rotherham Minster

15 December 2011      Social evening at The Millstone with Frank Morley  Who do you think you are?          

19 January 2012           Mike Oliver    The discovery of the Lindholme trackway

Meetings are held in the Methodist Schoolroom, start at 7.30 p.m. and finish (in most cases) by 9 p.m.

Entrance fee including refreshments: members £1, visitors £3

Chairman’s Report 2010/11

Once again I am pleased to report on another successful year for your Society. Our membership has remained at approximately 150 with the usual pleasing influx of new members to offset a few who let their membership lapse. We welcome all the new members who joined last year and hope that you will enjoy your membership of the Society. You may think we could do some things differently or better, if so please do not hesitate to put forward your ideas to any committee member or at any meeting.

Our meetings were well supported although overall attendances were slightly lower than the previous year.  Some highlights are worthy of mention.  In spite of heavy snow and freezing temperatures in December there was a good turnout for our Social Evening at the Millstone when, following an excellent hot supper the Leader Brothers with their Mystery Boxes provided first class entertainment. Our second Archive Evening in February was a great success whilst talks by David Templeman in November, Chris Barber in January and Sylvia Atkinson in May were also excellent.

Last year I said that our summer evening visits had been poorly supported and we asked members for their ideas for the future. The most frequent suggestion was to change the format to a full day visit and so this year we did just that with a guided tour of Sheffield Manor Lodge and visits to Sheffield Cathedral and to the site of Sheffield castle. This trip was well supported and we will retain this format next year.

Our Occasional Papers continue to sell well with the launch in April of a new paper on Tickhill Castle by Hazel Moffat timed well to complement the Castle’s public open days in April and June. It is also pleasing to note that for the first time sales of our “Treasures of Tickhill” booklet have made a significant contribution to our funds during the year. Hopefully this augers well for future sales of our more comprehensive Illustrated History of Tickhill by Carol Hill which is currently about 40% complete. We would still welcome a few more volunteers to work on specific items of research for this book.

Our website continues to be well used with the number of viewings of the photo gallery alone passing the 250,000 mark in March. Our archivists have overhauled the archive index system and during the coming year we hope to be able to put an archive index on the website and make the archive material itself more accessible to members.

Our finances are sound and with this in mind your committee will not be recommending any increase in membership or meeting fees for next year. However, all costs are increasing and we need to have cash ready for the publication of our new book so there is no room for complacency.

I would like to thank all the members of the committee who have worked tirelessly throughout the year to help make your Society a success and I would include with them, Carol Hill, Linda Mayes of KSM, Hazel Moffat and Janet Sully who, outside the committee have also made valuable contributions to our work. Finally I would like to thank all the members for their support – without you the Society could not exist.