February 2007

Sat 17 Feb 2007

The Institute of Local and Family History held one of their excellent conference days at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.
The theme for the day was Lancashire Villages and the speakers were:
Andy Gritt: The Lancashire Village: an urban myth?
David Eaves: Sabden -the birth of an industrial village.
Boyd Harris: The social history of Withnell Fold, a Lancashire village.
Geoff Timmins: Textile colonies and settlement growth in Lancashire, 1780 - 1850

The Lecture Theatre.

Thu 15 Feb 2007

Five members of the Society attended the Shackleton Trans-Antarctic Expedition lecture at Darwen Library Theatre. The lecture was presented by Herbert Parkinson who used the script and images of the late Dr L.D.A. Hussey who was a member of the original expedition.
Wikipedia summarises he expedition as follows:
1914 - 1916 Endurance Expedition.
Shackleton's most famous expedition was planned to be an attempt to cross Antarctica from the Weddell Sea south of the Atlantic, to the Ross Sea south of the Pacific, by way of the Pole. It set out from London on August 1, 1914, and reached the Weddell Sea on January 10, 1915, where the pack ice closed in on the Endurance. The ship was broken by the ice on October 27, 1915. The 28 crew members managed to flee to Elephant Island, bringing three small boats with them. All of them survived after Shackleton and five other men managed to reach the southern coast of South Georgia in one of the small boats, from where Shackleton organized a rescue operation to bring home the remaining men.

Dr L.D.A. Hussey

Darwen Library Theatre.

The original lantern and glass plates used by Dr Hussey.

Tue 06 Feb 2007

Yarrow Valley Country Park, Chorley.

Joan and Boyd attended on of the quarterly group meetings at the Park Centre at Birkacre. The meeting was well attended and everyone participated with many positive suggestions. An interesting analysis of park visitors was circulated and I found the most disturbing aspect was the vast majority of  visitors were over 60.

Thu 01 Feb 2007

The Army Today.

By the Army Presentation Team at Kilhey Court, Standish.

A very interesting invitation arrived recently. It was from the Army Presentation Team at Sandhurst and six members of the Society turned up on Tue evening 1st Feb to find out what it was all about. The venue was Kilhey Court, Standish and we were to hear about 'The Army Today'. A very large group of visitors were there from all over the North-west and judging by the average age they weren't looking for new recruits. A short reception was held and then we moved to a much larger room for the main presentation.

The presentation.

Colonel Charlie Knaggs and Joan Dickinson.

This was introduced by Colonel Charlie Knaggs and the next hour was a slick presentation mix of audio visual images projected on a large screen and various Army personnel giving their personal experiences. They came over as a totally dedicated team trying to do the best job they can in some very difficult situations and locations. What also came over was how qualified Army personnel are suited to civilian jobs after they leave the service. So probably some of the audience were employers and during the question time at the end someone did say how they'd employed ex-personnel and been very happy with their commitment to the job. The only connection I could think of was to do with land access on their training areas at Holcombe and Warcop. I raised the question of making access dates and times available via a website and not the current phone-in system. I didn't get the impression my suggestion was high on their list of priorities.

Laura in conversation.

Lara with Colonel Knaggs.