Sherington Historical Society.
A brief summary of the meeting held in Sherington village hall on Wednesday 23rd Feb. 2000.
Present at the meeting, were
Enid Pepper Helen Vale Norman Arnold
Sheila Quinn Mr & Mrs Jesse Line
& by invitation, Don Hurst, Chairman of Newport Pagnell, historical society.
Apologies for their absence were received from
Mark Vale Mrs Elliott Gail Waters.
This meeting was held to explore the possibilities of starting a Sherington Historical Society, following the open letter to the village from Norman Arnold, in the SCAN.
Don Hurst explained that the sole aim of NPHS, originally, was to set up a museum in the town of Newport Pagnell. This is not Sherington’s aim. The aim here appeared to be to save for posterity any & all existing data & also any future data that becomes available.
The NPHS has grown very quickly to a society that is able to put on shows. Talks, slide shows, exhibitions etc. So how NPHS runs now is not too relevant as to how the 6 people of Sherington saw this SHS at this time. But funding the start of a new society is relevant. NPHS have a membership fee of £10-00 per year, this seemed very reasonable, but it was felt not appropriate at this time, so a fee of £1-00 per person was settled on, this paid for the rent on the 23rd, with £1-00 now in the kitty. It was thought that as time goes on a yearly membership fee would be the best arrangement. All the persons present thought that, with the enthusiasm shown, that the project was worth pursuing further.
As to the aims of SHS it was again thought that ALL available information should be looked for, in ALL forms, until such times as a direction for the society becomes clearer.
Nothing that is offered should be turned away, all contributions to be gratefully received.
It was thought that one of the most important & interesting parts of this project would be the photographs, these would need to be gathered from any source available. copied both electronically (on computer) & physically (re-photographed) Then catalogued & indexed, but most importantly made easily accessible to all who need to use them. Photos gathered & displayed should have a good caption, with all that is known about the picture displayed as part of its character.
It was felt that the same rules must apply to ALL data collected. This would cover people, past, present & future. Buildings past, present & future, maybe a sort of log book could be built up for each building, with the relevant photos, copies of deeds, where available, owners, tenants or occupiers, alterations, etc. etc.
Anecdotal evidence should be gathered & stored, stories of ‘Characters’ past & present noted. There have been a few. Dr Cheyne, ‘Crump’. Mr Pateman. To name but a few.
It was decided that the recording of all this data needs to be in the 2 forms, physical so that people can view & refer to it. Also electronically so that it can be more easily indexed & cross referenced, therefore more easily found if the information is a bit more remote. The way this is to be done needs more investigation on the methods available, but by location, chronologically & by name, family, nickname etc.etc. This also needs to be tied to the physical form, which again needs to be indexed & cross referenced.
It was envisaged that at this time only paper data would be collected & collated. Any 3 dimensional objects large or small would be accepted but would have a decision made on their feasability, whether to be kept or possibly sent on loan to Stacey Bushes Museum or whatever. This is too forward looking at this time.
It was also decided that there should be at least 2 more meetings. Norman Arnold was to try to arrange a meeting with Derek George of Olney, at the Meeting rooms in Olney. Sometime mid March. There is also Don Hellings who is a leading member of Hanslope HS who would come to Sherington to give the benefit of his experience.
It was thought not possible to set any sort of planned future development, but just to let things form into a natural pattern. A lot will depend on how material is received.
Two things for the future were thought to be a good idea, to have a stall at the Sherington Village Fete on June 3rd, to be held in the village hall, displaying photos, memorabilia & anything else that can be gathered in. Also to have a similar stall at the bowls club exhibition on October 7th, again in the village hall.
Both of these events will bring some credibility to this upstart SHS. It should also give some confidence to the people in the village, that the SHS. is not a closed society run behind closed doors, run for an elitist few. Their help is needed & even essential if it is to succeed.
The next meeting of the SHS. interested persons, will be at Enid Peppers’ house, 38 Water Lane, on Wed. 15th March 2000. At 7-30 pm.
The subject of this meeting would be to bring along any thing that may be of interest, photos, postcards, deeds, plans, maps, etc. etc. This will help to decide how the future development of the SHS is seen by the people present. It is hoped, by then, to have some positive ideas of how to archive the material that is & will be available
The meeting closed at 9-30 pm.