Minutes of Huttons Ambo Parish History Group - Thursday 28th June 2018.

Minutes of Huttons Ambo Parish History Group meeting held on Thursday  28^th June 2018.

Present at meeting

Philip Barraclough (PB), Rona Charles(RC), Sam Milsom(SM), Diane Savage (DS),  Susan Millward(SuM) Joyce Parker (JP), Ann Sanders (AS) and Alan Sanders (ALS)

1. Apologies for Absence

Andy Doorman (AD) Michael Sessions(MS), Denise Doggett (DD) and Philip Stone (PS)

2. Actions from last meeting

PS stated that he had scanned very few of the documents relating to the history of the village.

MS has made available a list of the plant species on his land which were recorded in April 2017.

AD had not yet had the opportunity to approach the Huttons Ambo estate.

DD had not yet  had the opportunity to investigate possible sources of funding.

3.  Discussion

PB started the meeting by showing the group the Village Book compiled over a number of years by the Women’s Institute.

JP explained the background to the book and stated that it was never intended to be a history of the village. The meeting however recognised the importance of the book as a record. JP stated that the book should have gone into the WI records but that at the time the WI in Huttons Ambo finished the book was allowed to be kept in the village. JP had become the custodian and had made of photocopy for security.

RC showed the group an example of a hand written Minutes Book from the Parish Council which date from the end of the 19^th Century.

PB stated that there was a vast amount of material in many different locations and that this needed to be safeguarded for the future.

PB asked the group what they thought the outcome of the Project should be. Was it just  to safeguard the existing records, physically and digitally and make them more accessible or whether it should be taken a stage further and a more formal history of the village be compiled, covering all the areas detailed in the May meeting.

The group was strongly of the opinion that both the preservation of the records and the compilation of a “Village History” were necessary. As a first step all the records should be scanned.

The necessity of finding funding for this work was made clear.

AS stated that it would be an important first step to invest in secure storage for documents, either originals or copies to be housed in the Village Hall.

PB stated that an Exhibition of Photographs illustrating the History of the village should be staged. It was hoped that this would be of interest to the whole village and could generate further documents, records etc. and get more of the village involved in the project. A date in mid-September was suggested.

It was agreed that exhibition should be publicised at the Village Show and a flyer distributed, asking for photographs or any other material with a visual appeal.

This would be the main item for the next meeting which would take place shortly before the Village Show.

PB asked if any of the group knew the Monkman family as he had been told one of the family had written a history of the village some years ago. AS said she might be able to get in contact with them

DS and JP raised the issue of oral history and the importance of this “before it is too late”

4. Action points.

Funding streams (PB/DD)

Contact The Huttons Ambo Estate (AD)

Secure document storage (AS)

Borthwick Institute re Church Records (ALS)

Contact Monkman family (AS)

5. Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting is on Thursday 26th July 2018, in the Village Hall at 7pm.

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