Gloucestershire Archives

Who are we?

Gloucestershire Archives is a Gloucestershire County Council service. We also provide an archive service for South Gloucestershire Council. The geographic areas of these councils were once a single county, now known as the historic county of Gloucestershire.

What do we do?

We gather, keep and share historic archive collections relating to Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, and local and family history resources relating to Gloucestershire.

The archives are kept at Gloucestershire County Council’s Alvin Street premises in Gloucester and you can use them in our public research room at the same location.

The local and family history resources are spread across Gloucestershire.  The core collection is kept at our main site and area-specific collections are kept at Local and Family History Centres based at libraries in Cheltenham, Cinderford, Cirencester, Stroud, Stow and Tewkesbury. You can use them in the relevant venue.

You can discover more about us at gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives

Part of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

As the lead founder of the newly launched Gloucestershire Heritage Hub network, initially comprising ‘For the Record’ key stakeholders, Gloucestershire Archives is working hard to develop on-site Heritage Hub facilities.   These will be based at the County Council’s Alvin Street premises, which are already home to the Archives, Gloucestershire Family History Society and Gloucestershire Registration Service. The new on-site Hub will be a place where people with an interest in the documented heritage of Gloucestershire can support each other to gather, keep and share their personal and community archives.

From the architect’s drawing below we can start to imagine the modern and exciting future we are going to have.

The preparations for building works are well underway and most of the ground works exploration is now complete. Specialist site investigators have been making trial pits and bore holes around the main Archives building.  Thankfully, most of the work was outdoors.

But we could not avoid the one hole in the Archives’ visitor coffee lounge! 

These geological investigations are telling us about the engineering and environmental characteristics of the areas we plan to develop or build on.  The ‘For the Record’ project architects are using this information to fine tune decisions about building design, including the sorts of foundations we’re going to need for the Heritage Hub spaces and the three new Archives strong rooms that will be built at the same time. It is a complicated business because the strong rooms need to be built to a particular specification and there is archaeology and proximity to the railway line to consider too.

Whilst all this has been going on, Archives staff have moved hundreds of maps from the strong room that will eventually become part of the Archives’ new research room in the Heritage Hub. We’ve also emptied several other rooms that will be re-modelled during the building work. And we have started to kit out a temporary research room that we will occupy during building works. This will be in the Frith Centre, adjacent to the main Archives building and next to the Family History Centre.

All being well, we hope to begin building work early in the New Year. This is a bit later than expected but we are sure the end result will be worth the wait.

New Community Heritage Development Officer

There is a new face at Gloucestershire Archives: Sally Middleton, the newly appointed Community Heritage Development Officer for Gloucestershire Heritage Hub.

Sally has lived in Gloucestershire for over 20 years, and spent 12 of those years working with the county’s Libraries & Information service, most recently as a Group Manager based in Gloucester. She has also worked for Gloucester City Council as a Neighbourhood Manager, working in local communities.

Sally trained in social and community work, and has worked in community development projects at home and abroad. Last year she helped commission a street art project in Kingsholm to celebrate the Rugby World Cup 2015 and Gloucester’s role as a host city. She has also worked with older people in New York, with homeless people and with disabled people in a variety of settings.

Sally is passionate about: ABCD community development – looking at what is strong, not what is wrong with communities and building on those strengths; reading (especially social history from the Georgian to post-war periods); and contemporary figurative and impressionist art.

She says the most useful piece of advice she has ever been given is that everyone should “treat each day as if it’s an adventure” and intends to do this in her new role. She is very much looking forward to getting to grips with her new job and to working with partners and individuals to make Gloucestershire Heritage Hub a reality.

Sally’s post is being financed by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Sally Middleton, Community Heritage Development Officer

Archives Anniversaries

We’re celebrating two important anniversaries this year: the 80^th birthday of record keeping in Gloucestershire; and the 90^th anniversary of the Alvin Street building we occupy. The building was originally designed as Kingsholm Council School and formally opened by the mayor of Gloucester 90 years ago on 11 October 1926. You can discover more about it, and our plans for celebrating, in the next article of this newsletter.

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Onsite Heritage Hub coming soon

We are thrilled to have a funding package in place which is allowing works to start.  We need to continue fundraising but would particularly like to thank all those whose who have contributed to the project so far.  Also to thank the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives who have worked extremely hard in leading the fundraising campaign.    

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Archives’ public service during building works

We will run a temporary research room from the Frith Centre whilst the main Archives building is adapted and extended.  We are aiming to provide as normal a service as possible in the run up to, and during, building works. So our research room will remain open to the public on Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays between 9:00am and 4:30pm. We’ve established a ‘pre-order’ system for managing access to our precious original documents during this phase. You can find details about this at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/preorder.

Gloucestershire Family History Society’s Family History Centre will continue to operate as normal in the run up to and during building works.  

Onsite parking will remain unchanged until works start in the New Year. After this and until works are completed, it will be restricted to blue-badge holders. Other visitors can use local on-street parking (limited), public car parks at Hare Lane and Great Western Road or public transport. The car parks and bus / train stations are all an easy 10-minute walk from the Archives.

 

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Archives Service Celebrates 90th Anniversary of the Kingsholm School Building

If you have ever visited Gloucestershire Archives you might have twigged it is based in an old school building. In fact, the Archives premises were originally built for Kingsholm Council School and formally opened by the mayor of Gloucester 90 years ago, on 11 October 1926.

Image of the opening ceremony on the front steps from the Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Graphic, 16 October 1926

The red-brick, single storey building is a significant feature of the local landscape in Kingsholm. The original layout is still recognisable, despite many changes over the years. So it brings back memories of old friends and shared experiences for visiting former pupils.

The Archives celebrated the building’s special anniversary by holding a free ‘drop-in’ event in Roots Community Café in Alvin Street on Tuesday 22 November.  This featured a small display about the history of the school and Gloucestershire Archives service, which is celebrating its 80^th anniversary this year. 

The building’s history is quite well documented through personal memories and a variety of written material that details the original building work and the school’s working life.  It was the first school built by Gloucester City Council after World War 1 and its completion represented a triumph over what the mayor described as ‘extraordinary difficulties’.  These included the sudden death of the architect and shortages of both manpower and materials in the economic depression following the end of the war.  The first pupils appreciated its innovative, modern design and state-of-the-art facilities including central heating and hot water on tap.  Amenities we take for granted today but which few of the pupils would have enjoyed at home in the 1920s.

After the school closed in 1973, Gloucestershire County Council bought the site and adapted the building to house the County Record Office, now known as Gloucestershire Archives. 

It seems fitting that as it enters its 10^th decade the building is to be given a new lease of life. Re-modelling and construction works are due to start in the New Year and it will reopen as the home of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub in 2018. You can discover more about this in the Gloucestershire Archives section of this newsletter.

 

   

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Archival Box Donation

Clive Andrews, a trustee of the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives, very generously donated archival boxes to Gloucestershire Archives for storing community archives. Local people taking part in ‘For the Record’ community cataloguing activities will be first to use them. Thank you, Clive!

 

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Diocese of Gloucester

Who are we?

The diocese is the Anglican (Church of England) family of God in and around Gloucestershire.

The Church touches almost every person’s life in Gloucestershire, whether they are regular worshippers, occasional visitors or passers-by. Our buildings are important focal landmarks and significant community and historic assets.  We have over 300 parishes and 390 churches in Gloucestershire and beyond, and a core set of records about every community in Gloucestershire, which we keep at Gloucestershire Archives. The records cover every one of our parishes and include parish registers dating back to 1539, records relating to policing, road maintenance and looking after the poor (formerly a parish responsibility), Parochial Church Council minutes and parish magazines. People use them for family and local history research.

The Diocese of Gloucester is one of the founder members of the fledgling Gloucestershire Heritage Hub network, initially comprising ‘For the Record’ key stakeholders

Parish of Haresfield Register 1558 - 1654

Part of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

We have been working with Gloucestershire County Council since the early 1900s to care for our parish and diocesan records, continuously depositing these at the County Archives since 1974. So we are delighted to be joining Gloucestershire Archives and other ‘For the Record’ stakeholders as members of the newly launched ‘Gloucestershire Heritage Hub’ community. This new working arrangement secures provision for local archives, including future Diocesan records, both physical and digital. 

‘Name the Strong Room’ for Diocese of Gloucester

As part of our involvement in the ‘For the Record’ project, Diocese of Gloucester is excited to be naming one of the new strong rooms that are due to be built at Gloucestershire Archives.  We have organised a competition for this, inviting parishes to send in suggestions. The parish that comes up with the winning name will be offered a group tour of the new Gloucestershire Heritage Hub facility at Alvin Street, Gloucester, including a peep at the three new strong rooms that will house the next generation of archives. They will also get to see a unique display of archives relating to their area.

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

The Dowty Group Archive Project

Who are we?

We are a small and growing group of people interested in the history of The Dowty Group and keen to share this with others.

The Dowty Group was formed in 1931 by George Dowty, an innovative Worcestershire-born engineer and former Gloster Aircraft Company employee. At its height, this worldwide aerospace and hydraulics business employed around 10,000 people in Gloucestershire and thousands more elsewhere in the UK and overseas.

The business remained independent until it was taken over by the TI Group in 1992. It was subsequently fragmented into a number of legacy companies under US, UK, French and other ownerships. The only company still to bear the Dowty name is Dowty Propellers, part of GE. The largest remaining legacy company in the UK is Safran Landing Systems.

Dowty Propellers

Dowty Propellers has played an important role in the development of regional transport aircraft, the creation of highly capable military transport aircraft, and the evolution of fully-amphibious landing craft.

The business originated in 1937 as Rotol Airscrews Ltd. It was formed by Rolls-Royce and Bristol Aircraft to take over their propeller interests. During World War II, Rotol Airscrews supplied wooden and aluminium-bladed propellers for such legendary fighters as the Spitfire and Hurricane, along with many other aircraft. Rotol became part of the Dowty Group in 1960.

What is the Dowty Group Archive?

Sitting in a strong room at Gloucestershire Archives, preserved safely but otherwise inaccessible, is the Archives’ single largest uncatalogued collection – the Dowty Group Archive. This charts the story of the engineering firm from its origins in George Dowty’s 1930s Cheltenham workshop, through a worldwide expansion and up to the break-up of the Group in the 1990s. As such, Dowty represents a big part of Gloucestershire’s industrial heritage. And as a major local employer it touched many lives.

 

Dowty Group Archive: annual reports 1949 and 1952 (GA ref D8347)

Part of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

The Dowty Group Archive was deposited at Gloucestershire Archives in the 1990s but so far there haven’t been the resources to catalogue it. The ‘For the Record’ project is changing this. It will create dedicated project workspace for community cataloguing activities in the refurbished Archives’ research room at Gloucestershire Heritage Hub. And it will allow the Archives to employ a Dowty Archive project archivist between 2017 and 2019. This post holder will sort and catalogue the contents of the Dowty collection and support Dowty Project volunteers to add extra detail to the final online catalogue and improve the way the collection is packaged and labelled. All of this will be happening in part of the new project workspace.

A message from John Herring, former employee of Safran Landing Systems and volunteer for the project

As the largest ‘legacy company’ from the Dowty Group in Gloucestershire, Safran Landing Systems recognises its moral duty to help preserve important industrial heritage. So it is supporting the Dowty Archive project to make the documented history of this heritage widely available in perpetuity. As a recently retired Safran employee, I am enjoying the opportunity to oversee this activity on a voluntary basis. The newly accessible records will help the thousands of local people that either work or have worked for Dowty and its legacy companies, along with their families, friends and other researchers, to understand the impact of the business – locally, nationally and internationally.

Dowty Archive project volunteers are currently gathering the personal memories of Dowty employees and ex-employees through recorded audio interviews. They are also working with Archives’ staff to permanently preserve these records as an addition to the existing Dowty Group archive. Safran is helping to mobilise willing interview participants through its pension links and retirement networks.

We expect the Dowty Archive to grow even bigger in the future as ex-employees and Safran itself are likely to share different types of work-related records over time.

  

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Gloucestershire Local History Association

Who are we?

GLHA is a voluntary organisation made up of around 50 local history groups, societies and organisations across Gloucestershire. It was formed in 2012, following the winding up of the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council’s Local History Committee, which had operated since 1948.

What do we do?

GLHA aims to promote local history throughout the county and to encourage as many people as possible to become involved with the history of where they live.

We are very good at helping with a range of local history enquiries and we can put you in touch with our wide network of relevant local history groups.

The Association acts as a ‘portal’ helping to distribute information about local history activities throughout the county to its members.

Our website www.gloshistory.org.uk  is home to a lot of useful information such as:

• Details of the Association’s own events and activities;
• A list of the county’s local history organisations (wherever possible with links to their own websites);
• Details of member groups’ regular meetings;
• Local history speakers;
• Tours and visits offered by a range of organisations;
• Book reviews; and
• Downloadable PDFs of all 120 articles included in the Local History Committee’s annual publication, Gloucestershire History, between 1987 and 2011.

Part of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

GLHA has had a close relationship with Gloucestershire Archives for a considerable time: our quarterly Forums are held at the Alvin Street building and are always attended by at least one member of the Archives’ staff.

We look forward to welcoming our member groups to Hub activities and helping to spread the word about the work other Hub partners are doing also.  We encourage our members to get stuck in at every available opportunity by undertaking projects at the Archives.  We often link collections of original material more closely with the collections at Alvin Street, promoting correct care, conservation and documentation in order to preserve our finds for the future.

GLHA is looking forward to maintaining and strengthening this relationship as a partner in the Heritage Hub. We hope to get more people involved in discovering and researching local history as part of a community.

How do I get involved?

The Association organises a number of events throughout the year.  These include:

• Four Member Forums, at which representatives of member groups meet to discuss matters of common interest, and to hear a presentation from a speaker on a specific local history-based topic. These have recently included presentations on the Gloucestershire Constabulary Archive, the ‘Know Your Place West of England’ project and the Gloucestershire Gardens & Landscape Trust;
• A Summer Local History Afternoon of talks and tours hosted and organised by one of its members; recent meetings have been held at St Briavels, Lechlade and Chipping Campden;
• An annual Local History Day on a specific theme, which features a number of talks and displays on the chosen theme prepared by some of GLHA’s member groups. Recent Local History Days have focused on ‘Gloucestershire’s special houses’ , ‘The effects of World War 1 on Gloucestershire communities’,  and ‘Immigration and Emigration, to from and within Gloucestershire’.  The next Local History Day, to be held on 18 March 2017, will have ‘Gardens for food, fun and flowers’ as its theme; and
• A summer evening visit to a place of historic interest within the county; recent visits have been made to the Stroud textile mills, Sharpness docks and Llanthony Secunda Priory.

Cheltenham Local History Society history day 2016.

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Victoria County History (VCH)

The Heritage Hub will provide a new home for VCH researchers, volunteers and the regular meetings of the Gloucestershire VCH Academy. You can read more about our activities and latest publications here:

http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/counties/gloucestershire/news-events.  

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

 

 

Gloucester Rugby Heritage

Gloucester Rugby has a long and proud history and every corner of its Kingsholm ground has a story to tell. These accounts are revealed in a new book “Kingsholm: Castle Grim, Home of Gloucester Rugby”, which will be on special offer (£15.95 instead of £19.95) at the Club shop from the end of November. The book is the first in a series of five books planned to chart the history of the Club.

“Kingsholm: Castle Grim, Home of Gloucester Rugby” is the work of Malc King and a dedicated team of Gloucester Rugby fans, all members of the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives. It is the latest in a series of outcomes from Gloucester Rugby Heritage, a network set up in 2007 by the Friends, the Archives and Gloucester Rugby, and now a charity. Earlier successes include a website gloucesterrugbyheritage.org.uk and heritage displays in the Club’s Kingsholm premises, both funded by Heritage Lottery.

You can discover more about the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives in the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives section of this newsletter.

 

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

News from Know Your Place – West of England

Know Your Place (KYP) is the digital heritage mapping project to help you to explore your neighbourhood online through historic maps, images and linked information. The Heritage Lottery funded project runs until June 2017 and will map the historic counties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset.

Our partners

The project is led by South Gloucestershire Council in partnership with Gloucestershire County Council and colleagues within Gloucester City Council, with support and generous match-funding from the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives and the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, among others.

Map conservation and digitisation

Just over 1500 maps have been conserved and scanned from archives around the region, including 679 held at Gloucestershire Archives for the counties of Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.

Volunteer work

We have c.50 active volunteers working from home across the region who are preparing digitised map files. Volunteers have donated over 3182 hours – or 455 days – of work time to the project so far.

 

Thumbs up! Volunteers and staff at Gloucestershire Archives at training to add archival records onto Know Your Place, June 2016.

Already mapped

South Gloucestershire is already mapped on Know Your Place, covering an area of 537 square kilometres. Gloucestershire KYP and other county areas are in development and the project will map an estimated 18,190 square kilometres area in total!

This has made historic maps from Gloucestershire Archives and statutory Historic Environment Record data publicly accessible, and a variety of historic data records are now being mapped onto KYP by a range of individuals, local history groups, and volunteers at Gloucestershire Archives.

Exhibition in development

We are working with 24 different museum and heritage partners across the region to develop content for the exhibition and tour it to 12 venues from November 2016 to April 2017. Venues include Museum in the Park, Stroud; and Dean Heritage Centre in the Forest of Dean; and exhibition content for the Gloucestershire region has been offered by these as well as from Gloucestershire Archives, Corinium Museum, the Jet Age Museum and Thornbury & District Museum.

Know Your Place needs YOU!

Can you tell others about KYP? The more people that use it, the richer a resource it will become.

Can you help us map the heritage of your area? Share your research on KYP – It is quick and easy to add a record.

Further information about the project, tips on exploring KYP and a link to the map can be found on our project website: www.kypwest.org.uk.

News

Receive the latest project news and developments at www.kypwest.org.uk/newsletter/; follow us @KYPWestEngland on Twitter and Facebook; or email enquiries to: kypwestofengland@southglos.gov.uk

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Gloucestershire Family History Society

Who are we?

Gloucestershire Family History Society (GFHS) promotes research into family history and house history. It concentrates on Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire and the towns and parishes listed on the UK and Ireland Genealogical virtual reference library (GENUKI).

GFHS is a registered charity, run by a group of volunteers that form its committee and act as trustees. It has around 2,000 members worldwide and is a member of The Federation of Family History Societies.

What do we do?

GFHS has been working with Gloucestershire Archives for many years, more closely since moving to its current premises, adjacent to the main Gloucestershire Archives building, five years ago.

Our Family History Centre has a suite of computers which are free to use, and a well stocked library. It is staffed by expert volunteers who help visiting members of the public with their research. Visitors can use the computers to access a range of online research facilities free of charge, including Ancestry, Find My Past, The Genealogist and British Newspapers Online. The Centre is entirely funded by membership subscriptions and donations.

Part of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

Once building works are complete, GFHS will be moving into Gloucestershire Heritage Hub’s new premises. We are looking forward to becoming the first port of call for many people beginning their family history journey.

Our new home will have better facilities to support new researchers, as well as those who are already well underway on their journey of discovery. Also, because we’ll be sharing premises with Gloucestershire Archives, we will be able to swap skills and knowledge with Archives staff and volunteers.

All of this puts us in a better position to meet one of our main objectives, which is ‘to promote and encourage the public study of British Family History, Genealogy, Heraldry, and local history with particular reference to Gloucestershire’.

Being part of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub means we can work even more closely with the Archives staff, other partners and volunteers in the future. Together we’ll be able to offer a range of opportunities for visitors to the Hub. We’ll help them to learn more about the county’s heritage and how they can become actively involved in research or contribute to the many projects we organise.

Find out more

The Society produces a quarterly Journal which is mailed worldwide, or available as a download.

We also hold monthly meetings with talks subjects that are of interest to family and local historians. Visitors who are not members of the society are welcome to attend free of charge.

For more information visit our website http://gfhs.org.uk/

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Bristol and Avon Family History Society

Bristol and Avon Family History Society (BAFHS) provides contacts between members with regular meetings, quarterly Journals and assists members with research.” The Society covers Bristol and the area formerly within the county of Avon. For more information visit the website http://bafhs.org.uk’

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Friends of Gloucestershire Archives

Who are we?

The Friends of Gloucestershire Archives (FoGA) were established in 1993 to provide help and support to the Gloucestershire Archives (then called Gloucestershire Record Office) and to educate people in the importance of preserving the county's archives.

What do we do?

Gloucestershire Archives focuses on gathering, keeping and sharing the documented and digital history of the Gloucestershire & South Gloucestershire. And so the Friends of Gloucestershire Archives focus on protecting and promoting this rich heritage and participating in events and activities with an archives & heritage theme.

We help protect archives by buying records that come up for sale, where they may be at risk or if they would enhance Gloucestershire Archives' collections. We also raise funds towards the purchase of larger or more important collections. We buy equipment that can help preserve things or that can enhance people's experience of visiting the archives. We also promote and participate in our county’s rich heritage by organising outings, meetings and discussions, holding seminars & other events.

Fundraising

One of our most important roles is to enable Gloucestershire Archives to apply for grants from national funding bodies by generating the required “matched funding”. For the past two years, we’ve been leading on the fundraising for the 'For the Record' project and to date have managed to raise a little over £95,000. This has come from major organisations, parish councils, the Archivists’ Marathon and generous individuals.

And we have fun too…

We visit historic buildings and other heritage destinations during the year (often with tea!), put on talks and also get together at an annual social evening. Many Friends also enjoy the opportunities and training that the Archives provide for their volunteers.

Find out more at http://www.foga.org.uk

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Gloucestershire Registration Service

Who are we?

Gloucestershire Registration Service is a Gloucestershire County Council service. Part of this, our Copy Certificate service is based at Gloucestershire Archives.

What do we do?

Our Copy Certificate service provides copy certificates of births, marriages / civil partnerships and deaths registered in Gloucestershire. You can order these online at gloucestershire.gov.uk/certificates

Our other services, run from different premises, are: registering births and deaths; taking notices of marriage and civil partnership; conducting marriage, civil partnership, baby naming and renewal of vows ceremonies, enabling civil partners to convert their partnership into a marriage; and citizenship ceremonies for those achieving British nationality; registering buildings for ceremonies; nationality checking; and European passport return.

For more information please visit gloucestershire.gov.uk/registration

Part of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

Our Copy Certificate staff will have a purpose built office in the new onsite Heritage Hub, just off the main reception. They’ll also have quicker access to the registers needed for making copy certificates. So they’ll be able to offer even better levels of customer service.

The Copy Certificate service will operate as normal during works to create the Heritage Hub at Alvin Street, due to begin in the New Year.   Onsite customers will be able to reach them by following directional signage to the Archives’ temporary reception.

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

South Gloucestershire Council

The region currently known as South Gloucestershire was once part of the historic County of Gloucestershire, the area served by the newly launched Gloucestershire Heritage Hub.

South Gloucestershire Council is one of the founder members of the Hub network. Its representatives are Jane Marley, Museums and Heritage Officer, and David Hardill, Community Heritage Officer at Yate Heritage Centre.

SGC commissions Gloucestershire Archives, which has collections relating to the historic County, to deliver its archives service.   It is pleased that, by means of the ‘For the Record’ project, the Archives has risen to the challenge of meeting the projected needs of society and will remain resilient in the 21^st century.

At a community level, the Treasurer, Membership Secretary and Newsletter Editor of Avon Local History and Archaeology has agreed to represent South Gloucestershire’s historical societies in Heritage Hub decision making. He is currently contributing by email and you can find his contact details at http://www.alha.org.uk/aboutus.html.

You can discover more about museums and heritage in South Gloucestershire in the Local History section of this newsletter.

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

South Gloucestershire Local History

Who are we and what do we do?

South Gloucestershire Council’s Museums and Heritage Officer, Jane Marley supports a network of volunteer led organisations with an interest in South Gloucestershire history. The groups listed here have a specific interest in the documented history of South Gloucestershire, which was once part of the historic County of Gloucestershire, the area served by Gloucestershire Heritage Hub.

South Gloucestershire Heritage Partnership

SGHP is a relatively new venture set up by South Gloucestershire Council. It is a forum for sharing South Gloucestershire heritage news and listening to people’s views and concerns about local heritage and an incubator for ideas that make local heritage accessible to local people. Membership is open to Council officers and councilors, members of the heritage community, parish councils and other organisations / individuals with an interest in the heritage of South Gloucestershire.

It is envisaged that Heritage Partnership meetings will take place once or twice a year.   You can keep up to date at http://www.southglos.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-and-galleries/heritage-partnership-meetings/

South Gloucestershire Museums Group

SGMG is an unincorporated association. It aims to promote inspiration, learning and enjoyment through the exploration of museum collections, which include archives, for the benefit of local communities and the general public. Membership is open to museums and heritage centres that open to the public and have a collecting area that is wholly or partly within South Gloucestershire.

The Group meets about five times a year at different museums. You can discover more about it at http://www.southglos.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-and-galleries/south-gloucestershire-museum-development/

Avon Local History and Archaeology

ALHA was founded in 1976 with the then new County of Avon. Avon County has long since been abolished but ALHA still flourishes as an independent organisation. It is managed by an elected Executive Committee, which meets once a quarter and operates through a small number of voluntary officers.  

There are around eighty societies in ALHA, with a collective membership of about 10,000. Some are region-wide but with special interests like the Bristol & Avon Family History Society. Others are parish or district based. (See Groups for lists and locations). The Society also has links with local institutions, such as Record Offices, Libraries, Museums and Universities.

ALHA has its own programme of events, which includes a Local History Day biennale.

Website: http://www.alha.org.uk/events.html

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AvonLocalHistoryandArchaeology

Membership of ALHA is open to groups or institutions for £7 a year and to individuals for £5. Group members receive a free copy of the Speakers List and all members receive a copy of the Newsletter. There is a £2 discount for members who choose to receive their Newsletter by email. Members also benefit from the concessionary rate for admission to the Local History Day and are welcome to attend Executive Committee meetings.  

Almondsbury Local History Society

Almondsbury Local History Society is one of ALHA’s many member organisations. It organises trips and displays of Almondsbury history, and runs a winter programme of events, which start at 7.30pm and are open to non-members. This season’s events are:

Monday 5^th December, Paul Barnett- The Severn Bridge Disaster

Monday 9^th January, Cyril Routley- Sailing to Australia on the SS Great Britain

Monday 6^th February, Jane Marks and Pauline Montgomery, Saints, Sinners and Suffering

Monday 6^th March, Dave Napier, Arnos Vale Cemetery

Monday 3^rd April, AGM and Buffet

Website: http://www.alha.org.uk/Almondsbury

Filton Community History Group

This Group is a keen supporter of the ‘For the Record’ project. It is gradually transferring its valuable archive to Gloucestershire Archives for safekeeping and working closely with Archives staff to make this accessible to the public.   One of the volunteers, Jane Tozer gave an informative talk about how to undertake such a transfer at the South Gloucestershire Heritage Partnership meeting on 21^st September. This was attended by around 45 heritage professionals, volunteers and interested local councillors. You can download a transcript of this talk from South Gloucestershire Council website: http://www.southglos.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/museums-and-galleries/heritage-partnership-meetings/.

Dyrham Park volunteer group

This is a new volunteer group, set up to research the history of Dyrham Park. Much of this is detailed in the estate’s archive, held at Gloucestershire Archives.  The National Trust will be using the findings to improve interpretation in this 1600s mansion and deer park, including new tours, exhibitions and programming.  Gloucestershire Archives has provided training for the volunteer researchers eg in note taking conventions, referencing, how to read 16^th and 17^th century writing and how to use a digital camera.  Currently, a small team of volunteers visits the Archives about once a week to photograph items in the Dyrham collection and then shares the images electronically with volunteer transcribers that work at home.

 

Part of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

South Gloucestershire Council’s Museums and Heritage Officer is supporting heritage organisations in South Gloucestershire to become part of the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub network. Benefits include:

• Getting to know and learn from others who are interested in historic Gloucestershire’s documented history;
• Working together to share the heritage of historic Gloucestershire eg grant funded partnership projects and joint programming / publicity; and
• On-site and online training in gathering, keeping and sharing archives eg in cataloguing and digital preservation.

You can contact the Museums and Heritage Officer at museums@southglos.gov.uk

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/

Gloucestershire Constabulary

Who are we?

Gloucestershire Constabulary is the second oldest county force in England with a proud history dating back to 1839. We are represented in the Heritage Hub by our Police Archive Group which plays a vital part in helping to preserve our rich police heritage.

What do we do?

At the heart of the Police Archive Group are our volunteers. They are based on Police premises where they look after a unique collection of photographs, diaries, memorabilia and artefacts donated by the good will of retired police officers, their families and the wider public. This rich community collection brings the story of the Force to life and complements the Constabulary’s formal administrative records which are held at Gloucestershire Archives. It deserves to be fully accessible to the public.

Part of the Heritage Hub

The Police Archive Volunteers, and the collection they look after, will have a permanent home in the onsite Heritage Hub at Alvin Street, Gloucester. The volunteers will be able to share their knowledge to help anyone who is interested in finding their police ancestors or delving into the development of the Force. The community archive collection will benefit from proper storage in one of the new Hub strong rooms and onsite visitors will be able to access and view it. Online visitors can start to explore the Constabulary’s past via the new Police Archive project website, which launched earlier this autumn. Our hugely popular Constabulary Open Day, attended by over 5000 people this year, is already a key date in the Hub community’s fledgling calendar. At the 2016 event, the Police Archive Group worked alongside Gloucestershire Archives and the Gloucestershire Family History Society as the “History Zone”, with complementary expertise and displays.

How do I get involved?

Why not dip into our new website http://gloucestershirepolicearchives.org.uk/ and let us know what you think? Or you might have items – or memories – which you’d like to donate to the project archive. We know there is still lots of interesting material out there in the community so get in touch. And, of course, we would love to hear from you if you would like to join our team of volunteers. There are lots of different roles – from adding content to the website to recording spoken histories or packaging fragile items, and you will be given all the training you need.

 

 

You can view our Gloucestershire Archives blog here at https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/