Gloucestershire Local History Association
Despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, GLHA has been continuing to operate, though in very different ways than usual. Its last quarterly ‘in the room’ Forum was held last March. Since then its AGM has been held by email and its December Forum by Zoom, including a video presentation by Paul Evans on ‘Gloucestershire Voices’, based on the Archives’ collection of oral reminiscences.
Sadly, the Association’s April 2020 Local History Day on the History of Education in Gloucestershire had to be cancelled (although we hope to re-arrange it as soon as circumstances permit), as was our Summer Afternoon meeting at Nailsworth, which is now scheduled for June 27th 2021. We were, however, able to offer two afternoon walks around Alney Island in Gloucester, led by Dr Ray Wilson of the Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology, to whom we are most grateful, even though the prevailing restrictions meant that only five places were available for each walk.
Although the pandemic has inevitably caused disruption for all the County’s local history groups, many have risen to the challenge by offering on-line talks for their members. In order to assist and encourage GLHA members in this, two documents on using Zoom were prepared and circulated to members: one by Ray Wilson and the other by GLHA Secretary, Vicki Walker, who also compiled a list of those speakers on the GLHA website’s Speakers List who are offering talks by Zoom - to access this, take a look at www.gloshistory.org.uk
Feedback from those groups who have organised Zoom talks (and from many of their members) has been very positive, and a measure of their popularity is the overwhelming success of the Association’s first Zoom lecture, on ‘Gloucestershire’s Industrial Archaeology’, generously organised on its behalf by GSIA and delivered by Ray Wilson in November: the 100 places on offer were quickly snapped up, with a waiting list of 70 people who will be offered ‘priority booking’ for a repeat of the talk on January 25th 2021.
The Association is now looking forward to a far happier year ahead and is in a strong position to continue its work, both financially and in terms of its membership of almost 50 local history groups and societies.