Heritage volunteers needed!

We are honoured and privileged to have been given a collection of ledgers – account books and copy estimates – some more than 100 years old.  But we need some help to discover and record what they contain.

Have you a little time to spare? What about spending an autumn afternoon each week at the pub, with tea and biscuits, helping to finding out about our village history?

George Barber and William Ackland’s ledgers

George Barber was the village blacksmith, wheelwright and carpenter and his “Bill book” dates back to 1889. It appears that after he died in 1904, brothers John and William Ackland ran the business together before William took it over, having completed his apprenticeship in Uffington. He later became the Clerk to West Deeping Burial Board as well as the Parish Council.  He and his wife Susie lived opposite the cemetery (now 29 King Street) but from 1930 until his death in 1969 at the age of 82, he lived at Stoneleigh, 1 King Street, which we know today as Wheatsheaf Cottage.

His letters, estimates and bills have a wealth of detail to reveal about his customers, the jobs he undertook and the price of materials and labour – covering 50 years of business as a “Carpenter,Wheelwright and Undertaker”. 

Can you help – perhaps just by reading through, maybe making an index or perhaps looking for a particular customer or a particular building where William Ackland did some work?

Give it a try and come along to this FREE event at The Red Lion, King Street, West Deeping on Wednesday afternoons, from 2 pm to 3.30 pm, starting on Wednesday 2nd November. Complimentary tea and biscuits provided

 

Last but not least of our meetings

It’s more than West Deeping Heritage Group’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 16th May 2018. After the briefest of meetings, starting at 7.30 p.m. at the Village Hall, there will be an opportunity to have a “Delve into the village archives.”

There’s no charge, the weather forecast for Wednesday is dull and cool and we have many interesting things to show you – so do join us!

We have picked out just some of the archives in our collection for you to look at:

 – our oldest original documents – including some found by John Watts, a lodger for a short time in the room above the garage of West Deeping Rectory in 1955 when he was lodging there. 60 years later Mr Watts’ daughters Sandra Edwards and Linda Reed of Coventry contacted West Deeping Heritage Group and made the trip to the village to return the package. The oldest is a church warden’s bill from 1758 – for “4 times washen the linin”  he was owed 10 shillings!

– the file of information about village buildings – including all our listed buildings and research on the Figg family and the Moleceys.

West Deeping School pupils in the late 19th century when Mr Mann was the schoolmaster

 – archives for the village school –  from when it was first endowed by Miss Molecey in 1845 and opened in the stone cottages on King Street near the Red Lion. When the new West Deeping Church of England school opened in 1900, the original building became the Reading Room and later was converted into a family home. Most of the school records are at Lincolnshire Archives but we have copies which have been transcribed.  The log book was kept right up to the school’s closure in 1972.

 

– the Archaeology archive, including aerial photographs, maps and photographs of excavations at Rectory Farm starting in the 1990s and copies of talks given to West Deeping Heritage Group by the archaeologists.

and last but by no means least:

–  the “Boaty Archive” – many of the information resources we collected for the Heritage Lottery-funded project on the Stamford Canal.

If there are other aspects of West Deeping’s history in which you are interested or if you have information to share, please get in touch by commenting on this post.

Announcing the AGM

West Deeping Heritage Group will be meeting on Tuesday 19th April 2016 for the Annual General Meeting, at  7.30 p.m. in West Deeping Village Hall. The Agenda  includes the usual round-up of the year’s activities and finances as well as a special item – to propose a couple of amendments to the original Constitution.

We will try our best to deal with the business as briefly as possible!

This will be followed by: Delving into village archives – an informal, participative session to look at some of the group’s collection – old photographs, property deeds, Parish Council minutes, the village undertaker’s account book and more. Here are some examples:

Mr Ackland’s Ledger 1927 to 1960

Plan of the gardens shared by 30 and 32 King Street dated 1923

Aerial photo of the corner of The Lane and King Street taken in the early 1970s?

If anyone has a particular interest or a query that might be answered from the collection, please contact Maggie Ashcroft before the meeting. Bring your own village or family archives if you have them!

 

 

On this day …

Key

September 15th 1969 – 46 years ago – one of the 16 pupils at West Deeping Church of England School filled in the weather chart – it was the first entry for the Autumn term, which had started on September 9th.

The day was cold with showers (not unlike today!) and the wind was from the north-west.

How do we know? When the school closed in 1971, a former pupil at the school, Nick Sandall, retrieved 3 large wall charts on which the wind and weather had been recorded.  Earlier this year, the charts  came to light when the family was clearing the garage at 41 King Street before the house was put on the market.  They are now in the safekeeping of West Deeping Heritage Group.

Wind and Weather chart Sept 1968 to July 1969

Wind and Weather chart Sept 1969 to July 1970

Wind and Weather chart Sept 1970 to April 1971

There are not many ‘memorabilia’ from the school left – or are there?

If you were a pupil at West Deeping and have anything at all that brings back memories, maybe just a photograph – do contact us!