L
 


 

 


CHAIRMAN’S REPORT: COUNCIL MEETING SATURDAY 25TH FEBRUARY

The February Council meeting will have a slightly unusual format.  The ANLHS Executive committee is eager to engage in a debate about the role and purpose of the Association.  ANLHS exists to promote the study of local history within the County and to encourage and assist individuals and local groups. We are anxious to establish how this function can be improved and expanded and the main business of the February Council meeting will be devoted to this end. It is hoped that a constructive and lively debate will take place.

The ANLHS programme for 2011 was varied and geographically dispersed across the county, a strategy which I consider ANLHS should continue.  The Day School on ‘Women at Work’ at Wooler in March was extremely successful, very well attended and enjoyed by all. We had three excellent speakers in a superb location and we are extremely grateful to Glendale LHS for hosting this event.  The ‘Round the County’ day at Corbridge in June was somewhat spoiled by the inclement weather but, again, had a reasonable attendance and received favourable feedback from the participants.  Our appreciation is due to the Corbridge Village Trust for organising this event.  The ‘Behind the Scenes’ visit to the County Archives at Woodhorn was not well supported with only 20 participants but the event broke even in financial terms.  In retrospect, it may have been better to hold this event as a ‘day-time’ activity or to wait for lighter evenings.  But, as the main repository for materials relevant for local history ANLHS should surely seek to develop and maintain closer links with Woodhorn?  The 2011 AGM was held at Longhorsley and although this was not particularly well attended (about 40 representatives) was a successful meeting. Chris Burgess provided a fascinating talk on the tactics and manoeuvring at the Battle of Flodden and the business meeting was constructive and purposeful.  In recent years the AGM has normally been held at Stannington but the Hall was booked for other activities, hence our switch to Longhorsley. In the course of the 2011 AGM we were invited to hold the 2012 AGM at Mitford (speaker Chris Hunwick, Alnwick Castle archives), an offer we were delighted to accept. Almost by default, therefore, we have moved to a situation of holding the AGM in different locations around the county. As noted at the outset, I am convinced that this is a positive and highly desirable policy and we would be happy to receive invitations from interested  local history societies with suitable facilities (Hall etc.) to ‘host’ the AGM in future.  All that would be involved would be to liaise with the ANLHS Secretary and Chairman about the venue, dates and speakers etc. 

It was particularly pleasing to see the wide range of contributors to the 2011 issue of Tyne & Tweed, and our editor Jane Bowen is to be congratulated on encouraging so many contributors and producing such an attractive issue.  The journal remains one of our main ‘outreach’ instruments and the more people and societies who feel it is ‘their’ journal and represents their interests, so much the better. It is probably true to say that there is something of a debate within the Executive about the style and role of the journal and we welcome observations and reactions from Council members on this.

The ANLHS programme for 2012 and beyond is substantially in place.  The Day School on ‘North East History through Art’ will be held on 24th March at the Newcastle Lit & Phil. We have four expert speakers in the programme which promises to be an excellent day. We ask member societies to promote the event to their members – booking forms are available at the Council meeting at South Gosforth, 25th February, from LHS secretaries and through the ANLHS website. The ‘Round the County’ day will be hosted by Alston Moor LHS on Saturday 30th June and will include a visit to Killhope.  We have yet to decide on a ‘Behind the Scenes’ event or outing for 2012 and would be pleased to receive any suggestions for such an event, probably to be held later in 2012. Norham and Ladykirk LHS have very kindly agreed to host the 2013 Day School, relating to Flodden 500 and Mitford LHS has also offered to organise the 2013 ‘Round the County’ day, including visits to the castle and Mitford Hall.  Looking even further ahead, Glendale LHS has kindly volunteered to host the 2014 ‘Round the County’ day.

As implied above, I believe that ANLHS needs to be considerably more proactive and energetic in relation to its existing and potential members.  We are anxious to encourage individuals who feel they may help in such endeavours to join the Executive. But in pursuance of a more proactive strategy a large number of ANLHS leaflets have been distributed to libraries and village halls in Northumberland, focusing on those where local history societies do not yet exist.  Similarly, booking forms for the March 24th Day School ‘North East History through Art’ have been sent to every branch library in the County, museums and village halls.  We have also sought to increase the distribution and sales of Tyne & Tweed and several village shops and museums have agreed to try and sell copies on a ‘sale or return’ basis. We would be most grateful to any members who can assist in this or have any suggestions for possible outlets for Tyne & Tweed.

In terms of the near future and in relation to a higher profile for ANLHS, the forthcoming BBC programme ‘The Great British Story’ with a local history focus may provide an important opportunity. Although details on this are, as yet, somewhat limited there appears to be a genuine desire to reflect the ‘people’s history’ and encourage as much involvement as possible. ANLHS could provide a natural focus for Northumberland’s contributions.

Dr. Mike Barke

(Chairman ANLHS) 

 

A Special 'Thank You' … to Corbridge Village Trust who hosted ROUND THE COUNTY DAY 2011, and provided several very interesting walks and visits, including a tour of Corbridge Church.The day was enjoyed by all who attended, despite very wet weather! Thanks are given to all who were involved in the planning of this event.

                      Members Visiting Corbridge Church during Round the County.

                   

**  Many members enjoyed a Day School in 2011 which was held at Glendale, the subject being Women's Work.  The event was very well attended and much satisfaction has been expressed by those who heard the various speakers.

 

Northumberland Record Office . . . formerly where archives were available for consultation at Melton Park, Gosforth, and Morpeth has re-located to the new WOODHORN complex near Ashington, and changed its name to the Northumberland Collections Service.

For further information see our 'Links' page.

 

Our annual journal, Tyne and Tweed, is now available: published October, 2012:: please contact The Editor , A.N.L.H.S. at the address on our home page if you could be interested in writing an article for consideration in the 2011 volume.  Articles should be no longer than 5,000 words.