This new group is being kicked-off on Tuesday at 2pm in Tod College.
The following is a copy of the email detailing Jim's thoughts about the scope of the group.
Good Morning - this email is going out to all 52 members of Todmorden U3A who expressed an interest in forming a Local History Group. An initial meeting has been arranged for Tuesday 12th March, starting at 2 pm, in the Pex Tenement Room at Tod College (just come to the Reception in the college and they will direct and assist you). I hope you will be able to attend.
The purpose of the meeting will be to try to develop a future format and likely process for the group that will most satisfy the various different interests of its membership. In view of the potential size of the group as a whole it seems most likely that can be achieved by dividing into various smaller sub-groups focussing on different topics.
Bearing this in mind, it would be helpful if you could reply to this email and, as well as confirming whether or not you intend to come to the meeting on the 12th, try to give some idea of what you would like to achieve or experience through your membership of the group, your particular areas of interest etc.
Just as examples, a group might be formed to:-
Act as a mutual support-group for those interested in researching local family histories.
Transcribe or index archival material working in collaboration with other local organisations.
Research the history of particular physical aspects of local history, such as the formation of the landscape or the development of the roads, railways, canals, footpaths and causeways, field-systems, patterns of ownership, building-styles etc. Possibly involving out-door reconnaissance, taking photographs etc.
Research the history of local organisations and businesses, such as the chapels and churches, the mills, the quarries, the markets, the high streets, the pubs and taverns, local government.
Research the way of life in a particular period, looking at living conditions and employment, income and expenditure, and the typical technology in use, or typical recreations and membership of musical and theatrical, sporting or other mutual-interest and self-help groups
Research a particular period in local history, such as the Civil War, the Chartist movement, or the resistance to the introduction of Workhouses.
These are just broad suggestions made to get you thinking about what it is that you find most of interest. Membership of sub-groups need not, of course, be exclusive; you could be working in two or three different, perhaps related, areas with different colleagues. At this stage everything is up for discussion, so please contribute to help us shape a way forward.
If you have any particular suggestions or questions, I will of course be only too happy to receive the first and to try to answer the second.
Looking forward to past discoveries.
Jim Botten