Sherington Historical Society 5th AGM.

Tuesday 8^th March 2005 Sherington Village Hall

Present: Norman Arnold, Pearl Teasdale, Mark Vale, Ella Field, Don Macfarlane, Irene Macfarlane, Enid Pepper, Edward Pepper, Oliver Powell, Anita Arnold, Philip Smith, Eileen West, Ian Collinge, Gail Wood, Caroline Leslie and Kay Turrell.

Apologies: Shelia and Pat Quinn, Roy Eydon.

Chairman's Report: A copy of the Chairman's report is attached. The following points were made:

1. Norman acknowledged the fact that the society was about to start its 6th year.
2. The membership stands at 26 members with another two possible members.
3. The year has been successful both with the amount of material we continue to get, and a very interesting programme.
4. Norman was kept busy making Christmas cards depicting Enid's embroidery and the Edith Lucas notelets also proved to sell well. Norman lost count of how many he made.
5. The school log books are transcribed and Norman wished that these historical documents should go to the Aylesbury record office.
6. Norman reminded us that this years Fete was to be on the 25th June and we would present a stall based on family history.
7. On the 1st October the society would plan an open day to be held in the Village Hall.

Treasurer's Report: Pearl presented the balance sheet and read through the accounts. The balance was very similar to last years £1,429. 37. Norman thanked Pearl proposed by Don and seconded Ella. Mark offered to audit the accounts, this was proposed by Don and seconded by Ella

Secretary report: Norman read out the report on behalf of Shelia. Her main note was a comment about the community raffle. As a society we were unable to get a group of four members to sell raffle tickets in C.M.K. We only "earned" £49. This was not as much as last year but Sheila thought it a worthy scheme to support, so nearer the time this year we need to discuss what to do.

Election of Officers: Nomination were invited, Chairman - Norman Arnold, Treasurer - Pearl Teasdale, Secretary - Shelia Quinn, Assistant Secretary - Kay Turrell, IT Consultant - Mark Vale. Nominated by Edward Pepper and seconded by Oliver Powell.

Sherington Historical Society, A.G.M cont.

Any Other Business

1. Donations to SCAN, It was decided to pay a donation to SCAN immediately after every A.G.M every year.
2. Because the film and slide shows have been so popular it was agreed to as Peter Gardener and Philip Smith to show more this year.
3. Continue to collect information on all village groups.
4. The subject of royalties was raised ref. Peter Gardeners film, and Philip stated that the payment made to Peter went to the production company of one of the films he had shown.
5. Philip mentioned that he had had a conversation with Stuart White From Look East TV about the occasion of 'The Burying Of The Hatchet'. This year is 70 years since it took place. (24th February 1935). There would be no feature this year but he assured Phil that Sherington would appear on the screen at some time in the future.
6. Philip thanked Norman and the committee on behalf of the members for making the meetings interesting.

The AGM finished at approx. 8 30 pm, with giving thanks to Anita, Kay and all the others who throughout the year helped with the refreshments.

N.A.& K.T

The AGM was followed by two short talks, one by Norman Arnold and the other by Gail Wood. Both were about tracing their Family History.

Norman's Talk On Family History

Norman started by saying how important it was to get as much information from immediate family members NOW!!!. The information from these relatives may be partial fiction but was usually based on fact. But if fact or fiction family anecdotes do add colour to the families' history. It was about 2 years after Normans mother had died that he decided to start investigations for his family tree. He had one remaining aunt left, she was stone deaf, and he had to use his cousin, her son, to act as interpreter to obtain any information from this aunt. On some old photographs Norman recognised some people but he didn't know where they lived. An old change of address postcard gave clues to where they had lived. This put him in touch with a relation in Sheffield, who helped find some lost relations in Wigan. Other photos he guessed could be his fathers parents, by a stroke of luck some other photos arrived by post, pictures of a wedding in 1901 and this confirmed the fact. But also raised other queries, that have not been resolved.

Norman displayed his family tree, which showed 600 plus relatives. Research he said had become easier using the Internet and a new programme on the BBC called 'Who Do You Think You Are?' had created great interest for any one and every one to start researching their family history. It is now the fastest growing hobby in the country.

Gail's Talk On Researching Family History

Gail started by saying, "Where do you go for the information to get you started?" A question asked by any one who wants to research family history. There are all sorts of publications, local newspapers, parish registers, information on birth and death certificates, places such as the local studies centre at the MK library, local record offices, lists giving info about cemeteries and peoples occupations.

Also like Norman she could not stress the importance of asking questions of family members, but she also gave a cautionary warning that people lie, but not necessarily deliberately

People who wrote information down could have made mistakes, either by misspelling or not writing down properly what they think they may have heard. This could be because of a local accent.

Gail circulated a photograph given to her by her mother of her maternal Grandfather John Jenks/Jinks, (a name she found spelt differently on several occasions), one of 13 children, who lived in Devon. The photo was taken in 1883. On the photo was a child dressed in black, and a man, who was a stonemason who was smartly dressed.

Gail finished her talk by giving an example of mispronunciation and misspelling of a girls name, Elsie Dawn Hobbs was mistakenly written and pronounced "Elsie door nobs". So remember do try to speak clearly and check what is written.

 

The talks finished at approximately 9pm.

Norman thanked Gail for her talk, also wishing Gail and Kay a Happy Birthday and invited the members to partake in the refreshments. Norman reminded members about the Fete on the 25th June, the display for the event would need working out, deciding which local families' history we were going to use.

N.A.& K.T.

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