All Categories

LATEST DISPLAY AT SPRINGFIELD CAMPUS

28/3/2015

We’ve given our latest Heritage Display at Springfield Campus the title “Corsham’s High Street Changes – Even in 6 Years!” Perhaps you’ll wonder why. It’s really very simple.

The various pieces that form the display are the handiwork of Wyndham & Kathy Thomas. It was first erected as a display in February 2009, in the Heritage Centre at Arnold House, 31 High Street, Corsham. It therefore must be appreciated that care has to be exercised when interpreting the “now” where this display is concerned. That “now” is already 6 years ago! Some things have changed in that short time – but not so very much compared to the changes between the “Past” and the “Present”.

Prior to mounting the original display, Wyndham & Kathy had created and published, beginning in 2005, a series of Greetings Cards and an “Anniversary Calendar”, both using the title Corsham – Past and Present, taking as the theme the comparison of what was once and what is “now” at various locations around the town centre. Both were branded “Corsham Civic Society” and were offered for sale at the Corsham TIC. (Many of us bought some of both items. They were / still are extremely attractive. A copy of the Calendar is to be found at the end of a wall cabinet in the CAH Chairman’s kitchen. He and his wife use it to record their family’s key dates – marriages, births and deaths, etc. He says he and his wife wouldn’t be without it!)

It is clear that Wyndham & Kathy put a huge amount of effort into researching and presenting the material in this work. We salute them both and are so pleased they decided to make Corsham their home.

With the help of our good friends at Corsham Print and Right Angle Picture Framing, this new display goes ‘live’ Monday, 30 March. We aim to keep it up there until 2 May – at which point we’ll replace it with another from our series depicting Corsham over more recent years. We’re working on it right now. They just keep on coming!

PAT WHALLEY BOOK SIGNING AT THE SPRINGFIELD CAMPUS

17/3/2015

Pat is well-known for her authorship of numerous books on Corsham. There is one that is particularly relevant to the display that has been created by Corsham Area Heritage and will run over the course of March 2015. The display is entitled “Corsham’s Prefabs + the Pickwick Road Library Construction”. (Both of these aspects of Corsham’s history relate to the time-frame 1965-6. Please forgive us, we couldn’t resist calling this display, “And in the Beginning………, bearing in mind that the Campus is actually built on the very site of many of these prefabs, while the New Library which is part of the Campus has replaced the one that, until recently, operated from the building next to the Mansion House.)

One of Pat’s books – an obviously relevant one to this display – is entitled “Corsham Memories 2: The Prefab Years, 1930/40”. Many of us have a copy, but not all will have been signed by the author. Now is the opportunity to rectify that. Pat will station herself in front of the display between the hours of 10 and 1 on Saturday, 28 March. Why not come along? A chance to ‘network’ with old friends, perhaps, or meet some new ones.

A word of explanation. Pat’s book comprises 12 ‘chapters’, each bearing the name of a person who once lived in the town. All will be familiar to you. Note, however, some have ‘moved on’ and not all ever lived in a prefab, in Corsham or otherwise. They are just people who were known to Pat as living in Corsham in the 1930/40 period.

SPRING FORWARD?

14/3/2015

The AGM/Open Meeting held 25 February 2015 was always going to be a special event for the reasonably young group that is Corsham Area Heritage. We had decided that the meeting should be open-to-all, not simply for CAH Members only. We had cast a wide net inviting people to attend – using email, our website (www.corshamheritage.org.uk), word-of-mouth, and even coverage in an article in the 19 February edition of the Gazette & Herald. We received 14 formal apologies for absence ahead of the day! Gratifyingly, the number of attendees easily exceeded this. The Arnold House venue was only just big enough to hold them all.

The audience listened attentively to the “CAH’s Review of 2014”. It led into the fact that the organisation was dying on its feet. It badly needed New Blood. The result was that none of the officers, and none of the present Management Committee, were willing to offer themselves for re-election, without that essential ingredient becoming evident. They all had other activities to pursue. They would, of course, be delighted to assist that New Blood in every conceivable way, if only it stepped forward.

Some expressions of “willingness to serve” had been received ahead of the meeting – from those unable to be present on the day. Attendees received cards to complete, giving them the opportunity to do likewise.

One thought was forthcoming. Why not seek some form of collaboration with the Civic Society, it being another local group having an interest in Corsham’s history? The Chairman stated he understood from the Civic Society’s own Chairman that it too was facing uncertainty. Its present Chairman and Programme Organiser would both be standing down at its AGM on 15 May. If so, collaboration did not look to be an easy option.

Stop Press:
Some new information has just emerged. It is now understood that neither of the above two Civic Society “standings down” will take place. Perhaps a way forward can be found.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

28/2/2015

With such a distinct air of uncertainty regarding the future of CAH evident around the organisation, it was indeed convenient that the production schedule for this particular edition of our newsletter did not require the writing of this Front Page Story (‘FPS’) until a week or so had elapsed after the AGM/Open Meeting held on 25 February 2015 had gone by. However, that schedule did require a decision be made as to whether we would actually publish a Spring 2015 edition of Arnold’s News, at all. It was decided that we would – knowing that it could be constructed such that only the content of the FPS needed to take account of the outcome of the meeting. The rest of the newsletter could be the same as it would have been.

The decision was aided by the fact that both the Autumn 2014 edition and the Winter 2014-2015 edition had proved to be extremely popular.

The timing of ‘deadline dates’ for other local newsletters to which we endeavour to make regular contributions meant that, even before the AGM/Open Meeting, we had had to submit articles for the Feb/Mar edition of Corsham & Box Matters and the March edition of Spring Spirit. Both went in.

It was clear that the AGM, due to take place on 25 February, was going to be key to the future of CAH. For this reason, we made it an Open Meeting, i.e. not paid-up CAH members only. While it would only be these who were entitled to vote on anything formally proposed, we were keen to gather the views of as wide a cross-section of the local community as we could. Accordingly, we cast a wide net when sending out the “invitation to attend” communications – direct emails, group emails, even a piece in the 19 February edition of the Gazette & Herald. We actually received 14 formal apologies! Rewardingly, they were out-numbered by the 20 persons who attended.

Everyone had something to say – which was good. The way forward is now clear on a number of matters. There is one big one that requires the existing (and, for the moment, still operational) Management Committee to deliberate upon. The vast majority of those present urged the Committee to give consideration to forming an alliance with another Corsham group known to have an interest in researching and presenting the history of Corsham and its surrounding towns. A meeting of the Committee will be convened to examine how this might be done – who, when and how.

As a significant contributor, CAH was formally invited to attend the launch of the first showing of the Wiltshire at War exhibition at the Springfield Campus on Friday, 27 February. We duly attended.

We have continued to make good use of the Exhibition Space at the Springfield Community Campus. The Quarrying display that we mounted over the 5-week period commencing early October 2014 was followed by a WW1 display that we erected at the very beginning of the New Year (2015). It was replaced by one showing Corsham’s prefabs and the building of the (Pickwick Road) Library, both with a time-stamp of approx.1965. It is due to remain in situ until the end of March. What happens then rather depends on whether there is still a Corsham Area Heritage group!

CHAIRMAN'S REVIEW OF 2014

25/2/2015

I will structure my Report into three sections:

What has been achieved in 2014.
What’s our present problem.
Where this leaves us – and what might be done about this.

Achievements in 2014

We presented 8 Lunchtime Talks, the last one on 26 August.
We mounted a total of 8 new displays, 7 in the Pictor Room at Arnold House and 1 in the Entrance Foyer of the Springfield Campus (a 2nd one was prepared in 2014 and erected 3 January 2015).
We led Corsham Area’s participation in the following History Centre (Cocklebury Road, Chippenham) projects:
Pass It On (centred on Corsham’s Maternity Home).
Wiltshire at War (Corsham’s involvement in WW1).
[We have recently been invited to lead Corsham Area’s participation in the ‘Story of Wiltshire in 100 Objects’ project.]
We participated in Corsham Town Council’s “Corsham Commemorates” project, marking the town’s contribution to WW1. Our representative on the steering group has been Pat Whalley. She personally took responsibility for “delivering” the highly-successful WW1 Concert, held on18 October.
We provided Heritage Support to the First Corsham Walking Festival (participating in the walk that went to Lacock and back).
We began collaboration with the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) in September, initially motivated by our interest in the John Hanning Speke memorial on Neston Park estate and its relevance to the Second Corsham Walking Festival, now scheduled for 12-14 June 2015. (Speke was one of the ‘Nile Explorers’, currently a project being undertaken by BRLSI.) The collaboration resulted in CAH being invited to broadcast live on BBC Wiltshire Radio – affording us the opportunity to express the merits of our town with appropriate awareness and enthusiasm.
In the interests of keeping the name and purpose of Corsham Area Heritage in the Public Eye, we submitted, and had published, articles in the following:
5 editions of (the bi-monthly) Corsham & Box Matters.
8 editions of (the monthly) Spring Spirit.
We published 4 editions of our flagship newsletter, Arnold’s News (the 4 seasonal ones). Per edition, we distribute 150 hardcopies around the town. We also distribute over 700 copies “electronically”, i.e. as email attachments. It is also uploaded to our website www.corshamheritage.org.uk
We met with Corsham Town Council to discuss its Strategic Plan priority, ‘Destination Corsham’. They made it clear that the history and heritage of Corsham is key to that initiative and that they would look to CAH to take the lead in representing these in their plans to encourage Tourism and visitors.

We have continued to develop and enjoy supportive relationships with Corsham Print and Right Angle Picture Framing. Both provide their services FOC to CAH. We are extremely grateful for this.

The Present Problem

Basically we are suffering from having too much to do with too little resource – resource of the human kind. We’re not short of cash. We’re short of people who have the enthusiasm to identify how to spend it and ability/interest to make those “things” happen.

It was not always this way. Our situation has changed over the last year or two. Our ‘stalwarts’ have served us well. They have brought us to the point where we can declare the above “Achievements” with some satisfaction, even pride.

However, for a variety of reasons, they are now looking to reduce their commitment. Some have other interests that they feel they have ‘let slip’ for too long. If they don’t get back to them now, they never will.

Some have interests which are capable of bringing them in an income – ‘capable’, but only if they get started now. Perhaps the opportunity hasn’t been there over recent years, but it is now – and pursuing that opportunity now might make all the difference to their later life.

Some simply want to complete a task they have set themselves, but never seem to get to grips with. Pat feels she has another book in her – and is eager to crack on with it!

None are burnt out. All want a life where “things CAH” are not so all-consuming and where the achievement of CAH objectives does not revolve exclusively around them.

CAH needs New Blood. Without exception, every one of CAH’s current stalwarts is willing to tutor those new resources – just as long as there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Where this leaves us / what’s to be done?

Without that light at the end of the tunnel, the present CAH Team has collectively decided that it is prepared to throw in the towel. It feels that the present CAH is going nowhere – better to ‘end it all’ now than to struggle on, increasingly frustrated and lacking in satisfaction. None of its Management Committee members are prepared to offer themselves for re-election.

The thought occurs that perhaps CAH has the wrong structure for what it tries to do. Presently, it is a membership, subscription-paying group – having a Constitution appropriate to such a group. Maybe it would be better if this were abandoned, and that a ‘looser’ form of structure were adopted – with no formal Constitution and no expectation that an annual subscription should be paid. That wouldn’t prevent those ‘driving’ the group addressing the present members as if their right to receive news concerning CAH’s activities by electronic means and by such methods as newspaper articles and postering remained, but the ‘quid pro quo’ aspect of the relationship would drop away. Perhaps we would see a greater willingness on the part of the ‘members’ to contribute towards ‘making things happen’, if this were the situation.

So what would this new ‘body’ require? It would need New Blood to contribute towards the following Needs;

Basic Historical Research.
Lunchtime Talks organisers.
Meeting the Need for the Scanning-in of Documents (ongoing).
Mounting displays in the Pictor Room (Arnold House) and at Springfield Campus.
Editing/Assembling Arnold’s News.
Distributing Arnold’s News.
Writing articles for: Arnold’s News, Corsham & Box Matters and Spring Spirit.
Co-ordinating the relationship with Wiltshire Council’s CMAS Group.

WE NEED NEW BLOOD

31/1/2015

CAH badly needs New Blood. Indeed, its very future is threatened if it does not attract actual contributing participation in the Objectives which we have set ourselves – and which the community now expects of us.

We have an AGM coming up on Wednesday, 25 February at Arnold House, 31 High Street, Corsham, starting at 2pm. While it is a Members Meeting as far as the election of officers is concerned, it is an Open Meeting as far as consideration of how the continued existence of CAH might be secured. (It is by no means certain that the present structure – i.e. one having a formal Constitution, a Management Committee and subscription-paying members – is sustainable beyond the present time. Things have to change.)

We hope that you will find it possible to attend this meeting. We need your views on this matter.

We also appeal to you to consider what you, working with others, might do to “deliver” our Objectives. Please do not hold back. Our experience shows that most people can contribute very effectively – and derive significant satisfaction out of doing so. Without exception, every one of CAH’s current stalwarts is willing to tutor any new contributors we attract and to assist them to become productive at the earliest possible time. As they see it, it’s in their best interests to do so.

We recognise that some of you will not be able to attend the meeting on 25 February. In the event that you cannot attend, please see below for the list of things that we do (in addition to taking to the airwaves):

1.     Basic Historical Research.
2.     Lunchtime Talks organising.
3.     Meeting the Need for the Scanning-in of Documents (ongoing).
4.     Mounting displays in the Pictor Room (Arnold House) and at Springfield Campus.
5.     Editing/Assembling Arnold’s News.
6.     Distributing Arnold’s News.
7.     Writing articles for: Arnold’s News, Corsham & Box Matters and Spring Spirit.
8.     Co-ordinating the relationship with Wiltshire Council’s CMAS Group.

Hopefully as encouragement, you might like to know:

a) We have just secured a position for the Corsham Area in Wiltshire Council’s “The Story of Wiltshire in 100 Objects” project. We have elected to fill the Quarrying gap that was unfilled in the previous 95+ objects already identified and being worked on. It’s the obvious one for us to cover.

b) We have just been told by Corsham Town Council that, under its Strategic Plan priority ‘Destination Corsham’, it expects CAH to take the lead role on the history and heritage aspect of this initiative, where representing its plans to encourage Tourism and visitors is concerned.

Please come on board, there’s real satisfying work to be done here.

Peter Tapscott - Chairman, Corsham Area Heritage (CAH)

CORSHAM’S WALKING FESTIVAL 2014

9/6/2014

The timing of this edition of Arnold’s News couldn’t be better. It should be with you just days before Corsham holds its first-ever Walking Festival, an event which could feature annually in the Corsham calendar. CAH is playing a special role in it.

This year’s festival takes place on Saturday, 28th June and comprises 8 different walks, ranging from the town-centre stroll to a more-challenging 10 mile cross-country ‘yomp’. The festival clearly meets a need. Pre-registration is essential (at the Corsham TIC). Bookings are already running ahead of expectations.

Frankly a Corsham Walking Festival is long-overdue. It will bring the community together. It is already doing so. The whole affair has been extremely well organised, with many previously quite separate groups playing a part. CAH is proud to be one of them.

Walk No. 5 is a round-trip walk to Lacock, starting, as all the walks do, at Arnold House. Each walk has a leader and a backmarker. Within its team, this walk additionally has a ‘heritage advisor’ – someone who can impart some of the history of the Corsham area to those who are not familiar with it. The advisor will be a member of CAH.

The route joins the Ladbrook at Byde Mill. At New Farm walkers will meet the owner whose family has farmed the area for three generations. The farm was a film set for Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Film companies still occasionally borrow from his collection of old farm equipment. At Lacock, the half way stage, the local History Group will give a guided talk about the village for an hour.

Make no mistake, this will really put Corsham on the map!

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE WITH NEW CONFIDENCE

21/3/2014

The effort we invested before, during and after the Open Meeting held on 14 January 2014 has paid dividends. We have discovered a rich vein of previously-untapped personnel resources – with several coming on to our Management Committee.

Nomination Forms were completed and an AGM was held on 11 March 2014. The previous Committee of 5 has become 10. A new member takes over the role of Treasurer, and we now have a Vice-Chairman. How has all this come about? By placing heavy reliance upon “virtual” meetings rather than “physical” ones. Easy, really – and very workable for most of what we need a committee for.

We’ve long recognised the value of publicity. We publish a newsletter. We contribute to Alison’s excellent Corsham & Box Matters. We’ve added the Corsham Churches magazine, Spring Spirit, to the list, making our first entry in the March edition.

We now have 3 separate wall displays in the Pictor Room. Do drop by and see what’s there. One shows John Fowler & his Steam Plough. Another comprises photographs taken by Mike Pope when his Hatt Farm was used for the filming of Lark Rise to Candleford. A third shows Corsham Town Centre in the 1960s. Local builder Martin Joyce has loaned us its photos. Martingate Centre had not yet been built and the soon-to-be-demolished Corsham Library was under construction!

Other matters for your attention:
- CAH is assisting with Corsham’s 1st Walking Festival
- We’ve started work on our “Corsham Places and People website”
- We’re investigating what facilities Springfield Campus will offer
And finally:
- Please keep your donations of old documents rolling in, and
- Likewise your membership renewals - numerical strength matters.

LUNCHTIME TALKS TAKE TO THE ROAD

23/10/2012

Do the names of Walter Sickert and Manolo Blahnik mean anything to you?

The next Friends' lunchtime talk on Tuesday 27 November will be given by Professor Ron George and hosted by Bath Spa University at the Corsham Court Campus.

Corsham Court has been associated with fine arts for many years; in 1947 becoming the home of the Bath Academy of Art. The campus is now the specialist centre for the University's postgraduate teaching and research.

Professor George is Director of Development at the University, where his specialisms include Fine Art, Art and Design and Education. He has a national and international profile and has agreed to talk on the University's presence at Corsham, past present and future.

As usual pre-registration at the TIC is essential. Admission is only £2.00, with Friends enjoying free entry.

CARDS FOR GOOD CAUSES RETURNS

27/9/2012

Corsham shoppers buy once and give twice at Corsham Cards for Good Causes charity Christmas shop.

Shoppers can buy Christmas cards from more than 25 national and local charities in Corsham. Cards for Good Causes – which sells charity cards across the UK every year opens its Corsham shop on Monday 1st October at Corsham Area Heritage & Information Centre.

Beryl Mould and Cheryl Gibbs, Joint Managers said, “Everyone is so generous and really helps us raise more for our charities. Charity cards are a great way to buy once and give twice – once to the person who receives your card and once to your favourite charity.”

Corsham charity Christmas card shop is one of a countrywide network of shops. Cards for Good Causes Limited (CFGC) pays the participating charities (or their trading subsidiaries) at least 75p in every pound for their card sales, less the VAT payable on the amount retained by CFGC.

The shop, staffed by local volunteers, is open 10 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. from Monday to Saturday.

Look out for the red triangular Santa sign!

<<Previous