Welcome to a new season of talks and events which should continue the enjoyable and informative time we had in the autumn, thanks in large measure to our own members’ contributions. Tony Sheridan’s presentation about Doncaster’s ‘merry wives’ gave a convincing account of the activities which more than likely inspired Shakespeare’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’. After much research, John Cowie has identified sixteen local men who perished in the First World War or whose injuries later proved fatal but whose names are missing from Tickhill’s War Memorial. His talk included an impassioned case for having their names added to the Memorial. The Society will follow developments as John raises this matter with the relevant people.

At the AGM we welcomed Steve Payne to the role of Chairman, and John Cowie as a new Committee member. Good wishes to both of them and thanks to Peter Welch for standing in as Chairman at various times last year. Rosemary Cornish has stepped down as our Living Memories co-ordinator after completing some most interesting interviews with long-term Tickhill residents. Many thanks to her and welcome to Lorna Payne who has now taken over this responsibility. 

Several members of the Society helped to staff our stall at the Local History Fair at the College for the Deaf in November. Plenty of visitors stopped to view the displays, chat and take away publicity material and other publications. A photograph of our stall can be seen in the Gallery section.

As well as talks during the spring, we have the ongoing work of the HLF Project. Steve Payne, who is in charge of the Project, has written a progress report, printed below. Also included are details of the Society’s Open Day in the newly refurbished Parish Room on 26 January. Come and see the latest work of the Project, the changes to the Parish Room and, those of you who have lived in Tickhill for some time, please join in with letting us copy your old photographs of life in Tickhill.

Dr David Mercer is continuing his series of courses under WEA auspices about different aspects of the Middle Ages. From January to March the focus is on medieval houses. Meetings take place in the Methodist Lounge every Thursday from 10.00 a.m. to noon, and the cost for the ten-session course   is £50.

David Walters has provided the following note about donations made by the Society: ‘It is the Society’s policy to make donations to projects which have a direct bearing on the local history of Tickhill. Accordingly, since June 2006 we have made donations totalling £171 to the Parish Room fund and £250 to the St Mary’s Church Restoration fund. These donations are additional to any donations made privately by individual members of the Society.’

Tickhill Then Now and in the Future – HLF Project

The Project continues to make good progress. As part of the process of sharing with the community the photographs which we have collected and scanned, presentations were given at the Pop-in Centre and to the Yorkshire Countrywomen during the autumn and much valuable information was gathered about what the pictures show about Tickhill’s past.

The website is being well-used, with between 1,000 and 1,500 people visiting it each month; we can see that the Occasional Papers, summaries of the talks by the Society’s guest speakers, and the Living Memories interviews are all being read regularly.

An important recent development is the involvement of young people from Tickhill. Through the summer, the Explorer Scouts recorded aspects of the town which are important to them as young teenagers and, over Christmas, St Mary’s and Estfeld Schools have recorded a Child’s Christmas in 2007. These will form part of the ‘Now, for the Future’ aspect of the Project, providing fascinating details to look back on 20, 30, 50 and 100 years from now.

Do any of our readers have photographs which show illuminating aspects of Christmas when they were children? If you would allow us to scan them, there would be some interesting comparisons and contrasts!

On  26^th January the Society will be holding an Open Day in the Parish Room as our contribution towards the opening ceremonies to mark the reopening of the building after its major refurbishment. Drop in any time between 10.00 am and     4.00 pm to look at the results of the painstaking renovation and to see the work of the Society. Exhibits will include display boards showing the work of the Society in the local community, a ‘Tickhill Then and Now’ slideshow and demonstrations of how old photographs and documents can be enhanced using modern computer technology. We hope people will bring along photos they are prepared to lend us to add to our collection. We hope also to be able to include some of the work being done by our local primary schools and by the Tickhill Explorer Scouts in conjunction with the Society.