Explore The Past

Within the archives are details of the County Farms & Smallholdings. Worcestershire Farmsteads Projects, with the support of our HER team, have been investigating these and recording some of them #OpenFarmSunday https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/…/coun ty-farms-smallholdi…/

At the end of Volunteers Week we want to say another big thank you to our amazing volunteers who contribute over 3200 hours a year. Over the past 7 days we've shared 7 different ways they have helped us and helped users who have access to more indexes and information. https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/…/volu nteer-week-conserva…/

Does anyone remember going to buy fish & chips from Laslett Street? These wonderfully evocative photos were taken by Michael Dowty 3rd August 1968 at 1:10pm as part of his Worcester in a Day project, which became a book. #NationalFishAndChipDay

During the World War One Worcestershire project we've had some great from volunteers. Some helped us create the Woodbine Willie Trail, taking in sites associated with him in across Worcester, and the leaflet can still be picked up from the Explore The Past desk in The Hive and from Worcester TIC. Other volunteers went through over 4 years of newspapers to help create the daily diary feature which the Worcester News published each day, highlighting stories from the home front and Worcestershire Regiments on the front line. Once again we are very grateful for the time and effort people put into this to enable these to be produced.

Hazel has had a long association with us. As a 16 year old she worked for us when we were at Shire Hall, before a career teaching computer skills. She then returned as a volunteer 5 years ago, and has been helping create online indexes of our records. Firstly she worked on manorial documents, and currently on Absent Voters lists for Stourbridge. She likes the interesting work we give her and the fact she makes a difference, and she likes that she can come in anytime to do the... work.
Absent voters registers were created to list the servicemen who were away at the times of the 1918 and 1919 elections, and gave details of their regiment so it a great resource for family historians, especially once indexed. So we (and many of our users) and very grateful to hazel and other volunteers. You can search some of our Absent Voters indexes online at https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/…/arch ive…/our-collections/ and go to the name indexes. Other absent voters indexes and registers are available in The Hive.
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D-Day is being marked this week with the 75th anniversary. As part of the WWII oral history project in the 1990s we interviewed a number of people who had been involved. Some of these were soldiers who went across, whilst two were meteorologists who helped plot the wind. Some of them are no longer with us, but their stories have been preserved within the archives. https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/2019/06/ remembering-d-day/

As part of the Marketing Gardening Heritage project we have volunteers helping us investigate this important part of the Vale of Evesham's history. As well as recording hovels others are doing historic research in the archives and libraries. One is Richard, who has been looking into transportation of produce. Moving large quantities of fruit, veg and flowers around the country quickly took a lot of organising and local railway stations were set up to facilitate this. Small village stations were receiving incredible amounts Richard has been uncovering details about the railways which we'll be using as part of displays and in an education resource. We're really grateful for those who carry out research for projects like this. #volunteersweek https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/…/mark et-gardening-herita…/

We've just started a new project conserving and cataloguing health records, thanks to a grant by the Wellcome Trust. We'll be working on collections from hospitals, chemists and other health organisations to make sure they can be used and are accessible for people to use. https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/…/worc estershires-health-…/

We have a fabulous team of volunteers who help us with our archaeological finds, including Mary. She has been coming in most weeks since 2010, washing finds which have come off site and marking them up with the site code so every piece can be tracked back to where it came from. Mary was prompted to volunteer by a love of archaeology (her knees prevent her from digging). That love of archaeology is what keeps her coming back most weeks over the past 9 years, along with companionship and a feeling that they have made a different and are useful (which they certainly are). Her highlights are being in the same room as a mammoth tusk (although that was one find she wasn't allowed to clean!), and a gorgeous Bronze Age urn which she worked on. Our Finds volunteers do fantastic work for us and we'd like to say a huge thank you to them.

One of the long serving volunteers in the Historic Environment Record team was Neville, who many of you will recognise from helping at the welcome desk at our annual Archaeology Days. Neville sadly died last year after over 13 years of volunteering. His interests lay mainly in the County infrastructure: roads, bridges, canals and the railway. He spent many months, for example, tracing the toll roads and toll houses in the archives to create a more accurate record in the HER.... Most recently he had been involved in the 20th century heritage project. Neville was focusing initially on cinemas and theatres, signal boxes, car garages, coach depots, petrol stations and car manufacturers, telephone exchanges, bandstands, fire stations and buildings and structures associated with public utilities. His enthusiasm for infrastructure and the research that he compiled for us has had a lasting impact on future protection of the historic environment. He will be missed professionally and personally. #volunteersweek
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Are there any relatives of Doctor Arthur Geoffrey Veasey Aldridge still in Worcestershire? We have just received his copy of Pinocchio which was left behind in a POW camp in WWII and are intrigued to know if any family members are still around. https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/…/can- you-help-us-solve-a…/

Some of our volunteering opportunities provide the chance to get out and about the county. For the National Lottery Heritage Fund Market Gardening Heritage Project http://bit.ly/2V7Tpcc we have a team of 20 volunteers helping us with our hovel survey. Hovels (although there are other terms too) are sheds built by market gardeners on their land where they would do jobs, and store equipment and produce. They were an important part of the landscape of the Vale of Evesham but declining as most have no purpose now. Volunteers have been trained and are in the middle of going around 12 parishes looking at potential hovels identified on old maps to see if they are still there, and if so to record them. This will then be added to the Historic Environment Record. We are very grateful for the time and effort they are putting into the project.

It's the Elgar Festival, and here are a couple of images from the archives, of Elgar himself and the family shop on the High Street opposite St Helen's on the High St. Part of All Saints Worcester. The story goes that he used to have the job of ringing the hour bell in St Helen's as a boy but he sometimes got into trouble by deliberately ringing the wrong number. There are a number of festival events around Worcester and if you're in Worcester look at our small display in The Hive.

It's Volunteer Week, and we thought it's a great opportunity to thank you amazing volunteers (who give us over 3,000 hours a year!) and highlight the variety of the work they do. Ian Martin is one of the conservation volunteers. He's been with us for 4 year, inspired to volunteer by an interest in history. He keep coming back due to being able work with historical documents, plus meeting people and the biscuits! This week he was replacing staples with stitching in St Wulstan hospital magazines before they rust. Rhonda has written a blog about her volunteers who assist her in caring for our precious documents which need some TLC. https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/…/volu nteer-week-conserva…/

Did you spot us on ITV news the other night? If you missed our guided walk near Pershore, fear not!
More events are planned for this Heritage Lottery Funded project to preserve, share and celebrate the market gardening heritage of the Vale of Evesham. Find out more about the project and upcoming events on our website: www.explorethepast.co.uk/project/market-g ardening-heritage/

It is the Elgar Festival this weekend with lots of events across Worcester https://elgarfestival.org/. To coincide with this we've put some photos, Three Choir Festival programmes and documents in the display cabinets on Level 2 which will be there until the end of July. Want to find out more about Elgar? We have a couple of shelves full of books about Elgar in our Local Studies Library!

The Cricket World Cup starts today. Sadly they're not playing in Worcester unlike in 1999, but we thought we'd share a couple of cricketing photos from the archives, both from around 1900 - a Worcestershire team photo and the familiar shot of new Road with the cathedral in the background.

Today is Oak Apple day. The day, the birthday of Charles II, was made a public holiday after the Restoration in 1660, and it lasted until the 19th century. Across the country there are various traditions associated with it. Here in Worcester the gates of the Guildhall are traditionally decorated with oak leaves. Here is an image from our photo collection of the oak leaves being attached to the gates c1940.