Old School Archive and Heritage Day
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- Old School Archive and Heritage Day
July 4 2011
Old School Archive and Heritage Day
Friends reunited over old school days
Moretonhampstead Parish Hall was buzzing last Saturday when over 150 people came out to see an exhibition about the town’s old primary school, put together by the Development Trust and local History Society.
Currently undergoing extensive refurbishment, the old Victorian school house is soon to re-open as Green Hill - an Arts and Heritage centre, with community offices, resources room, artists studios and a dedicated youth club.
“The development is a great opportunity to open up the community archives and to stage a series of exhibitions on local life through the ages” said Julia Darby, manager of the Trust. “For our first event we focused on the old school itself and had an amazing turnout, with long lost friends meeting up after decades apart. We were also given a lot of new information, which will help to paint a more complete picture of old school life.”
Lovingly put together with material from the archive, the extensive exhibition featured over 150 years of photographs, documents, artefacts and archive film footage. There were also plenty of opportunities for people to contribute to the archive. Visitors brought in old photographs and documents and related their stories to trained volunteers who captured their memories on digital voice recorders. One of the photographs donated was quite rare. Taken in 1944, it shows an American GI standing beside a local lad, Jack Loram (aged 11) on a donkey, outside The Bell Inn.
The show included new work from local artist Carol Harvey, whose evocative large scale photographs triggered a range memories, from old school dinners to visits to the dentist. “It’s been a lively and thought provoking day. While memories of school days are happy for many, for others there is definitely a sense of having survived a shared ordeal!” The project has been possible thanks to the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Photographs from the day are available to purchase – contact Julia on 01647 440855.
If you attended the Archive and Heritage Day we would be very grateful if you would complete a short on-line survey to provide us with feedback of the day. Please go to:
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