Minutes of Inaugural Meeting, September 18th 2009
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THE Barningham Local History Group was set up at a meeting in the village hall on September 18th, prompted partly by interest generated by the recent production of the Barningham graveyard book. More than a dozen people have expressed interest in joining the group, and the inaugural meeting discussed a wide range of possible activities.
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Among the ideas put forward were:
l. Gathering additional information for inclusion in the graveyard book. Sources could include personal and family details from interviews with villagers, census information, cremations records, births and marriage registers, hearth tax records, Barningham church records, and other local church sources such as Scargill Chapel, Methodists and Quakers.
2. Surveying Barningham buildings and producing of a guide to the village development since prehistoric days, including details of houses, their history, ownership and occupation.
3. Compiling family trees of local families.
4. Researching the Milbank family archives, which Sir Anthony Milbank has said he would be willing to make available for study.
5. Creating a photographic archive including old pictures and cine/video footage, and perhaps digitalising cine film made by Neil Turner in the 1960s, to be shown to the public and/or sold on DVD. It was suggested that a film should be made of the village today as a record for future generations.
6. Creating an aural archive of villagers’ memories and knowledge.
7. Other possible research areas included local schools, the Barningham/Scargill railway project, and the village’s memories of the first and second world wars.
8. Researching local agriculture–: historical development, land use, enclosures, etc – and local industry and trades – occupations, shops, inns, etc.
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Members agreed to investigate setting up a website giving details of the group, to make contact with other similar interest groups in the area, and to contact the Teesdale Mercury with information about the formation of the group and an appeal for information about Barningham.
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The following officers were appointed: Chair, Jon Smith; Vice-chair Kay Duggan, Secretary Ann Orton, Treasurer Eric Duggan.
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It was decided to hold meetings in the village hall at monthly intervals, with a fairly early start to help those working in the evening and to encourage younger members.
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Next meeting: Thursday October 22nd, 6pm in the Village Hall.
MINUTES of the local history group meeting held in the Village Hall on Thursday October 22nd 2009:
Present: Jon Smith, Tony Orton, Ann Orton, Margaret Heslop, Louise Ferrari, Sheila Catton, Ed Simpson, Neil Turner, Beverley Peach, Mike Peach, Diane Metcalf and Phil Hunt.
Apologies: Andrea and Tony Lewis, Kay and Eric Duggan, Ann Hutchinson, Robin Brooks, Greta Carter.
1 Minutes of the September meeting were read and agreed.
2 Matters arising:
i Jon Smith had written a piece for The Teesdale Mercury asking for photos and information. The only response so far was from a Mr Travis who was coming to talk to Jon and Ann Orton soon.
ii Jon had produced the first Archive, a newsletter with photos and stories for all members. It would also be available to non- members for a small donation.
2 Treasurer’s report
Nothing to report as Eric was away. It was agreed that each member would pay £1 per meeting towards the hire of the hall. Jon said he would like to buy the Teesdale Record Society’s historical resources directory which costs £20.
It was suggested that we could produce a book of old local recipes to raise funds.
4 Progress reports
i Church records: Tony and Jon had looked at these (and disposed of lots of rubbish!) but also found some interesting information in the Barningham charity records, the Application to Bury book, and the Burial Register. There were also several Special Licences for Weddings. Their next project is to examine the Remembrance Book.
ii Barningham houses and families: Margaret Heslop had received a letter from someone who has records regarding the sale of Newby House in 1975 which she will pursue. Beverley Peach had details of all transactions at The Hollies since 1901. Louise Ferrari had discovered that in 1875 Heatherlands was owned by three people: one had five-ninths, one one three-ninths and the other one-ninth.
It was decided to start collecting information about all the houses in Barningham, starting at the top of the village and working our way down, with Neil’s help, to try to record all that is known about each house and its occupants.
We began with West End and Prospect House (details later in this Archive).
iii Photo library: Jon was sorting through Neil’s photos, and Kay would scan the most interesting ones.
iv Aural records: There were several volunteers to approach people willing to give aural histories. Ann Orton would ask Sue Prytherick about a tape recorder.
v Website: Jon had paid £50 for a domain for our website for a term of two years. The address is www.barninghamvillage.co.uk. Empty at the moment, but not for long.
Other projects were left until the next meeting as the people involved were not present.
5. Any other business
i Jon had transcribed A Child of Hope, the book by Mary Martin of West Hope which was now available to anyone who would like one. A donation of £2 was suggested to help with funds.
ii Ann O had spoken to the village hall committee and secured the use of a storage cupboard for any donated items.
iii Margaret H and Sheila C were going to research Land Girls in Barningham.
6. Next meeting: Tuesday December 1st at 6 pm,, in the village hall.
The meeting closed at 7.30pm.
ANN ORTON, Secretary
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MINUTES of the group meeting held in Barningham Village Hall on December 1st 2009:
Present: Jon Smith, Eric Duggan, Kay Duggan, Neil Turner, Greta Carter, Phil Hunt, Sheila Catton, Ann Hutchinson, Tony Orton, Dianne Metcalf, Ted Andrews, Corrine Andrews, Ed Simpson, Janet Wrigley, Anthony Milbank, Sally Ridgeway, Louise Ferrari, Elaine McDermott plus children, sorry, we ‘re not sure .
Apologies: Ann Orton, Sue Prytherick, Robin Brooks, Beverley Peach, Margaret Heslop.
Minutes of the last meeting were agreed.
Matters arising: We will carry on covering the history of the Barningham houses from the top of the village down, we this time covering Heath Cottages to Moor Lea. Lots of information was gathered from those present, on the layout of houses and past residents.
Beverley Peach sent a message to say she was working on the history of The Hollies.
It was suggested that we may get someone out from Beamish to look at places which we are not sure about, such as the kiln/ice house at the back of Heath Cottages. It was agreed that we would leave it until we had a few more queries for the expert to solve.
Correspondence: Jon received contact from Bill Hayes from the Teesdale Records Society wanting a copy of Where Lyeth ye Bodies. Members were invited to attend their meetings any time.
Treasurer’s Report: The forms to open a bank account on behalf of the society were ready, the signatories to be Jon Smith, Eric Duggan and Ann Orton.
It was agreed that members would pay £1 each at each meeting towards the hire of the hall. A fundraiser will be held at Braeside on Sunday January 3rd: a lunchtime wine and savouries, with tickets limited to 60. This will help any research/speaker costs.
Ed and Gaynor Simpson have generously given a £30 donation for a raffle prize for the event. Rolled-over funds from publications, have been used to fund the set-up of a website and some other costs so far.
Photo library: Can anyone with any photographs please give them to Jon or Kay to scan and include into our files.
Recipes: Ann and Greta to co-ordinate an old recipe file. A recipe book from 1691 had been found at the hall and it was agreed to transcribe and publish it to raise funds.
Milbank records: Kay has the Vestry records from 1861-1894 and is going through them and we will print anything of interest.
Aural records: Robin was not at the meeting but had obtained a contact number for Teesdale in Film which Kay will look into.
Publications: It was agreed that from January the Archive would be available for an annual subscription of £10, covering about eight issues during 2010.. Non-subscribers could obtain individual copies for £2.
Website: Set up but nothing on it yet.
Land Girls: Margaret left a message to say she had made a start.
Travis Visit: Bert Travis, who is connected to the Aldersons, visited the village and had a meeting with Jon, Tony and Ann and left them lots of family paperwork (see later in this issue).
Guest Speaker: Sir Anthony gave us a very interesting talk on the Barningham enclosures, and how the land was divided up. He is happy for people to view the documents by prior arrangement.
Next Meeting: Thursday January 21st 2010, 6pm, in the village hall..
Speaker: Jon to contact Neil Diment of the Hay Time project, which is interviewing old farmers up the dale about hay making in the first half of the last century.
Any other business: Sally Ridgeway is looking for people who are willing to do a four- day workshop with Teesdale in Film to discuss life in Barningham. The filming would take place possibly in February and each person would talk for four minutes on their chosen subject.
KAY DUGGAN, Asst Secretary
MINUTES of the meeting held in Barningham Village Hall on January 26th 2010:
Present: Jon Smith, Eric Duggan, Kay Duggan, Neil Turner, Phil Hunt, Ann Hutchinson, Tony Orton, Ted Andrews, Janet Wrigley, Elaine McDermott, Ann Orton, Robin Brooks, Bev Peach.
Apologies: Louise Ferrari, Sheila Catton, Mike Peach, Diane Metcalf, Greta Carter.
Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed. Matters arising were covered on agenda.
Treasurer’s Report: Income £738.35 (£453 from fundraiser), expenditure £124.84, balance £613.51. Our bank account was up and running. Agreed that signatures of any two of the three officials would be needed on cheques.
House Histories: Neil gave us lots of information about Hilltop and Hillside; features on these would appear in the next Archive.
Publications: The Vestry Minutes from 1869 to 1894 had been transcribed and produced a booklet available for £4 (£2 to members). They include some interesting entries. The Vestry Meetings were superseded by Parish Meetings and Jon hopes to start transcribing these next.
Website: This was now up and running, called barninghamvillage.co.uk. Jon had set up pages for group minutes, samples of burial records, old photos, publications and details of our current projects.
Film project: Sally Ridgeway was not present to update us on the progress of this project. The possibility of buying a small video camera was discussed. It was decided to see what was actually required before a decision was made.
Recipes: Sir Anthony had given Kay a recipe book which dates from 1691. It starts out as a recipe book by Mary Milbank but about half way through becomes a ledger for wages. Kay is trying to transcribe it but it is very difficult to read. It was suggested that Guy Howell at the Bowes Museum might help, and that scanning the pages it would be better than photographing them as this would cause less damage. Ann H gave useful advice on its care. It was also agreed that we need old recipes from local families, perhaps an appeal in the next Flyer might produce some.
Oral Histories: It had been hoped that Neil Diment, our guest speaker, would help us with this but unfortunately he had had to cancel his appearance at the last minute. It was hoped he could appear at a future meeting.
Cine Film to Digital: Robin had emailed contact details to Jon, who would pass them to Ann O for further investigation.
Evacuees: Phil agreed to research this project.
Any other business: Bev brought deeds for The Hollies for Jon to see what he could discover. She has been researching the history of The Boot and Shoe but with little success, any suggestions would be appreciated. She said the website nationalarchive.co.uk gave details of wills of local people, though there was a charge. There was some discussion about where the village archives are kept; some are at Durham, but there some still at Northallerton. Tony said that he had seen, at The Hall, a list dating from the 1800s giving details of stints on the moor.
Next Meeting: Tuesday March 2nd, 6pm.
Speaker: In Neil Diment’s absence, Jon recounted the story of John Todd, featured in this copy of The Archive – see opposite.
ANN ORTON, Group Secretary