Chairman’s Report 2010/11 presented at the AGM on 17th March 2011
The past year since the AGM has seen the Society continue with an interesting programme of talks and visits. I was able to kick-start the year with a talk on the Lunar Society at the AGM on 18 March. This proved a useful introduction for the visit we made on 2 June to the Birmingham Museum and Soho House, the former home of Matthew Boulton, one of the key figures of the Lunar Society who heralded the industrial revolution.
The year continued with Ruth Thomas’ talk on 15 July on the subject of Entertainment in Northampton, outlining the various leisure activities enjoyed by local people in times past. On 16 September Derek Smeathers gave us a copiously illustrated talk with many artefacts upon the Postal Services in Northamptonshire during the First World War. Christmas Past was the title of Ruth Thomas’ talk on 18th November, a useful prelude to our annual Drinks Party on 17th December. Brian Giggins gave a very lively and beautifully illustrated talk on Northampton Castle on 20th January bringing to a full circle a year of interesting historical topics.
The website continues to be used by many looking up Milton Malsor’s history. We had 4,132 visits from 3,076 different visitors, making an average of 11 visits per day. Visitors came from 48 different countries; India, USA, Pakistan and Australia were the most heavily represented after the UK!!! 22,049 pages were viewed - an average of 5.3 pages each visit. The most popular pages were the Publications page, the photographic Archive, and the Census entries. 22% of the visits were from folks who knew the web site address, 45% from Search Engine look-ups, and 33% from other web-site links. On our busiest day we had 36 visits and served 466 pages. Thanks go to Steve Hunt for maintaining such an informative and professional website.
Thanks go to Steve Hunt, John Brice and Richard Jenks for producing a CD from our audio archives entitled Adolf Hitler: Milton’s part in his downfall! This 43 minute audio CD gives a sense of what wartime meant for Milton as recalled by six villagers: Edie Borley and Marjory Carter, whose husbands were called up into the Royal Navy and Army respectively; Joy Meakins, Ken Johnson and Bob Kingston, who were schoolchildren at the time; and Tom Paul who joined 41 Commando and saw action in Sicily, Italy and Europe - including (as he describes it) the bedlam of D-Day! 50copies of the CD were made and sales are continuing.
The photographic archive is being continually enhanced by further images, and (conscious of the ever-changing environment around us) the photographing of the present is continuing as a record for the future.
Membership remains at a healthy fifty although it is sad to record that Olive Munday has died. The Society has continued to meet at Raynsford House which is warm and comfortable yet at times it has been difficult to squeeze everyone in. The committee has been strengthened by the recent addition of Mick Tack, and I record my appreciation for the work that all the members of our committee do to keep things running smoothly.
Malcolm Deacon