Chairman’s Report 2009/10 presented at the AGM on 18th March 2010

It has been another satisfactory year with membership holding at about fifty members. Our meetings have been held bi-monthly on the third Thursdays of the month at Raynsford House. Attendance is usually good with well-over thirty people coming. On 15thJanuary we had an excellent talk by Ruth Thomas on Northampton during World War Two. During the AGM on 19th March there was a talk about the Air Ambulance Service, followed by a review of our photo archive and website and many expressed amazement at the way in which these resources have developed. On 21st May a group visited the Guildhall and on 16th July we learned a great deal from Derrick Smeathers about Posts and Railways. In September I gave a talk on the Elizabethans & Northamptonshire. On 23rd October a second visit was made to the Guildhall followed on 19th November by Ruth Thomas’s talk on Coaches, Carriages and Canals. On 18th December many braved the snow for our annual Drinks Party. The talk by Hugh Davies on Deception tactics during WWII on 5th December (sponsored by the Society and the Village Hall Committee) was very well attended, although bad weather led to a decision to cancel the extra talk on Women during WWII scheduled for January 2010.

The website has continued to be a major part of the Society’s interface with the general public and the statistics for the year are impressive. We had 6633 visits from 4242 different visitors, making an average of 18 visits per day. Visitors came from 25 different countries. Interestingly China was the 4th most highly represented - ahead of Canada in 5th spot!!! 28,359 pages were viewed - an average of 4.3 pages each visit. The most popular pages were the Photographic Archive, "Times Now & Then" and the Census Tables. 70% of the visits were from folks who knew the address, 25% from Search Engine look-ups and 5% from other web-site links. On our busiest days we had 48 visits and served 490 pages.

The Society has scored its first triumph in creating its own DVD and thanks are due to Richard Jenks, Steve Hunt ’ John Brice for the impressive work in putting this unique record of the village together. It is the culmination of work done way back when we walked the village and began to put together ideas of an historic trail for the village pointing out the items of interest and significance. The DVD package includes this original idea with so much more visual material with narration by Steve Hunt. A total of 190 DVDs are scheduled for production, 130 being sold so far with sales being extended perhaps to the Northamptonshire Record Office and the Guildhall Museum. The DVD points to the essential nature of such a society like ours where ideas are tossed around and left to germinate in the mind.

Progress has been made in getting space for an archive cupboard to be housed at the Village Hall and this project is in hand. This will be very helpful in placing items in one distinct accessible place and secured by a lock.

Let me put to you for your approval the committee’s thoughts as to some forthcoming projects:

  1. Christmas Cards. Three original paintings (c1937) by Mrs Tadman, the wife of a former Rector of Milton Malsor have been given to the Society. Mrs Tadman was an exceptionally good water-colourist and it is thought that we could reproduce them as a set of Christmas cards.
  2. Following the success of placing a blue plaque on the Manor House others could be placed on other significant sites in the village. A proposal is before us of placing a blue plaque on the Baptist Chapel. This is being sponsored by a member of the Society.
  3. Following some very useful work in recording the memories of older members of the village by Mick Tack we require help in actually transcribing the material by typing so that it is in a readable form.
  4. Following a visit by John Brice and Steve Hunt to the Blisworth Historical Society to show our DVD, the Blisworth folk have let it be known that they would welcome closer cooperation with ourselves. Is this a welcome development and, if so, what form could such co-operation take? Maybe a joint meeting or outing from time to time?
  5. The committee have discussed the issue of space at Raynsford House in case meetings get any larger and keep open the possibility that alternative venues are possible at the school and the village hall. At the moment with a judicious shifting of the bulky furniture at Raynsford House we can just cope although one recent meeting saw the possibility of the chairman sitting on the floor!

It has been a good year with some significant items of progress. We have maintained quiet momentum and have given enjoyment and increased knowledge of our own historical environment. Work on a booklet on the post-WWI saga of the village’s United Services is proceeding. We have kept a good relationship with the school and awarded the annual history prize. The name of Milton Malsor is more widely known and the Society has much respect from the wider local history community. I am pleased to present a very positive report for the past year which looks ahead to further progress.

Malcolm Deacon