2002 | January 2003

April 2003 Newsletter

Notice of Annual General Meeting
Exhibition
Programme
Summer Outings
Butler's Foundry site
Review of Past Activities
Hunter Archaeological Society
Derbyshire Archaeological Society

Notice of Annual General Meeting

The next meeting of the Society will be the Annual General Meeting which will take place on Thursday 24 April 2003 at 7.30 p.m. in the Edward Lucas Hall of the Peel Centre. (This is a change to the original date as printed in your membership card.) Elections will be held for the Committee and nominations are invited. Anyone wishing to stand should notify the secretary in writing seven days prior to the meeting.

Following the business meeting there will be a quiz! Please come along and participate!

Your subscription is due from 1 April and remains the same at £3.00 for 2003/2004.

(The Society is delighted to report that membership this year has topped 100 - and we hope to maintain this three figure level.)

Exhibition

DID YOU OR YOUR FAMILY GO TO SCHOOL IN DRONFIELD? The Society is holding an exhibition in the Peel Centre over the weekend of 10/11 May in connection with Local History Week run nationally by the Historical Association. Entitled 'The Happiest Days of their Lives?', it is about school days in Dronfield and district (including Coal Aston, Dronfield Woodhouse, Holmesfield, Unstone and Apperknowle) and will include material from the 16th century to the present day. Any photographs or souvenirs that may be copied or borrowed would be appreciated. Please contact Ann Brown or Margaret Mace.

The exhibition will be opened by the Town Mayor at 10.00 a.m. on Saturday 10 May and will be open between 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. DO COME AND SUPPORT THIS SOCIETY EVENT - AND BRING A FRIEND!

Programme

The meeting on 22 May will have Carol Brindle, a local Blue Badge Guide, speaking on Famous Derbyshire People.

This meeting will be held as usual in the Edward Lucas Hall of the Peel Centre. Transport can be arranged if you have difficulty getting to meetings and if you would prefer to use the side entrance with its less steep staircase, please either contact a committee member beforehand or ask for assistance on the night.

Summer Outings

The evening outing will be on Thursday 5 June and will be a walk following part of the Norfolk Trail which goes through parts of Sheffield where traces still exist of the estates owned by the Dukes of Norfolk. Accompanied by one of the Sheffield Park Rangers, we shall walk from the Cholera Burial Ground on Norfolk Road, look at the Shrewsbury Almshouses and then walk up through Norfolk Park to the new Centre where we hope refreshments will be available. The walk will start at 7.00 p.m. and will take about an hour and a half (allowing time for explanations) and sensible shoes are advisable. Please park on Norfolk Road - see attached map, square G3.

Saturday 19 July is an all day outing by coach to Tickhill and Roche Abbey. The coach will start from Dronfield station at 9.00 a.m. and go to Tickhill where we shall be shown around by Brian Buckley. A buffet lunch is arranged at the Carpenter's Arms at a cost of £3.50 - please advise any special dietary requirements on the return slip.

We shall leave for Roche Abbey at 2.15, arriving about 2.30 and leave at 4.00 p.m. getting back to Dronfield around 5.00 p.m. There is no tea room at the Abbey but there are toilets and a shop which should have drinks and ices for sale.

Entry to Roche Abbey is £2.00 (full), £1.50 (concessions), members of English Heritage - free.

Again, comfortable walking shoes are recommended for this day trip.

Cost of the full day trip will be £8.00 plus the relevant entry fee for Roche Abbey which please include in your payment.

Please email ods@thateden.co.uk for further details.

Members will be aware of the work going on at the former Butler's Foundry site on Lea Road/Church Street. An exciting discovery has been made in the cottage nearest to the churchyard facing on to Church Street where signs of a timber framed building with lath and plaster infill have been uncovered. This would indicate that the building is much older than previously thought, possibly having been a substantial hall perhaps with a central hearth. Samples from the timbers have been taken for dendrochronology and English Heritage have also been invited to have a look. We await with interest to hear the opinions of the experts. The developers are keen to incorporate the timbers as a feature of the new building.

Review of Past Activities

Marjorie Dunn drew a large audience to the January meeting and all were swept along by her enthusiasm for her subject. She sees little difference between local and family history in that local history is about families who changed the environment and you cannot separate the two subjects. Family history is becoming ever more popular and people are lucky if they have 'Granny's old tin box' as a place to start. This might hold documents, cuttings, photographs, medals, brooches, - all items kept for a reason and from which one can put flesh on the bones and bring people to life. Once you get started, there is quite a lot of detective work to put in, tracing births, marriages and deaths not only from certificates but from newspaper reports, parish records, and even service records for the military as well as using maps, census returns, wills, inventories, all of which are likely to be available in the local archives. Altogether Marjorie conveyed the fascination of a hobby which can become addictive!

At the March meeting Maureen Beniston and John Smith continued their history of Sheffield Theatres from 1843 when there was only one theatre of any importance in Sheffield, namely "The Sheffield Theatre" which subsequently became the Theatre Royal. However, as developments in industry led to a huge surge in the population, there was a demand for entertainment and music halls were set up though these 'attracted the wrong sort' and received a bad press for the kind of activities they provided. The Surrey Music Hall, for example, had a dancing platform on the roof, a house of curiosities, a menagerie and a proprietor who sold strong drink. It came to a sticky end, however, eventually burning down, under-insured. The Theatre Royal meanwhile was refurbished with the introduction of a glass and iron awning for the convenience of the carriage trade and redecorated in the Louis XIV style, unfortunately wiping out its original Georgian character. Sheffield was well provided with theatres and music halls in the latter half of the 19th century but sadly nothing remains of these except the Lyceum built in 1897.

Hunter Archaeological Society

The Hunter Society has two summer full day excursions this year. The first, on Saturday 5 July, is to Kingshaugh (which the Old Dronfield Society visited last year) and the second, on Saturday 6 September, to the site of a lead mine near Windmill (on the road from Bradwell to Tideswell).

There may also be a few places left on an excursion to Lincoln Cathedral on Saturday 7 June which includes tours of the tower and the roof as well as the library.

Please email ods@thateden.co.uk for further details.

Derbyshire Archaeological Society has an extensive summer programme of walks and visits.

Please email ods@thateden.co.uk for further details.