Anstey Local History Society

Welcome to the first Anstey Local History Society newsletter.

Thank you to those of you who were able to make it to our first AGM in January. It was a really interesting evening discussing the objects and photos that were brought along. There were even some photos brought along that Brian hadn’t seen before!

The committee were re-elected for a further year:

Jane Cole (Chair)                  Kath Farmer

Alison Briars (Treasurer)       Paul Day

Beck Nickolls (Website)

As you know Beck is busy with baby no 5 and although she has remained a committee member has stepped down from her role as minute secretary and is unable to make many meetings. This means that there are only 4 active members at the moment. If there is anyone who would be willing to join the committee either as minute secretary of just as a member you will be very welcome.

The history society has now been up and running for nearly 18 months. We have had a variety of speakers whom we hope you have enjoyed. There is a full programme arranged for 2019 and the first half of 2020 is also planned.

If there are any of you who would like to lead a meeting or speak to the group, you would be very welcome.

ALHS is a member of the Leicestershire and Rutland Heritage Forum. This means that any of our members can attend their meetings. These are held at various locations throughout the county. Meetings coming up are at the Records Office in March and Bruntingthorpe in the summer. I can forward the information to anyone who is interested. Please let us have your E mail address.

The WW1 project is coming to an end, although the next stage is to research those men who died who are not on the War Memorial as well as the WW2 names.

Most of the poppy crosses that were displayed on Remembrance Sunday have still not been claimed. If you know of anyone who you think would like one please let me know.

Our next project is to produce a series of history trails around the village. This is still in its early stages, but is already progressing well.  There is so much history in the village and the challenge is to pass this knowledge on in an informative and interesting way. Vicky Ball from the Parish Council has joined the Trail Group: it is good to have her as a liaison between us and the Parish Council as well as her expertise from her work with Charnwood Roots.

If anyone is interested in being part of the group please let us know.

At the AGM the question of a dedicated museum/ heritage centre was discussed. Brian (Kibble) announced his intention of passing the whole of his archive to the group. This is an exceptional gesture and means we need somewhere to store/ display it. In addition to Brian’s archive, the society is being offered many artefacts; my back bedroom is already crammed and we need somewhere for people to come and be able to view Anstey’s rich heritage!

The ideal would be a museum area to display artefacts and tell the story of Anstey plus a room where people could carry out research etc. It would also be a place where the village schools could visit as well as other groups and organisations.

We approached the library when we knew Sure Start was leaving but their committee felt that it wouldn’t fit in with their plans and turned us down.

After a long discussion at the AGM it was agreed that this would not have been the best solution and we should look to buy/ rent and convert our own premises or even buy land and build our own. Obviously, this will be a mammoth task involving many layers of expertise. The first step will be to secure funding through grants, sponsorship etc and ideally, we need to form a separate steering group to see us through the process. If there is anyone who thinks they can help or knows someone who can, please come and have a word.

Exciting times!

Jane Cole (Chair)