Heritage (Bells and History) Project Update
Following discussions it was decided to form a
Long Preston Heritage Group
as an
official body to formalise the Village History part of the Project.
This group could
operate as co-
in managing the project.
Why the Logo ?
Click on it
to find out.
In June 2008 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £47,200 to restore the historic bells in St. Mary’s Church at Long Preston and to uncover the history of the village. The history part of the project is to last 5 years. Click here for details of the grant.
The aims of the project are as follows:
- Develop the church's history and restore the bells.
- Oral History Project.
- Research into and publication of Long Preston's history.
- Outreach activities such as work with school, workshops, exhibitions and talks.
- Involvement of the community in their heritage.
We will be organising social as well as educational events, such as the Victorian Evening in December to tie in with a public exhibition in January about Victorian Long Preston which we are preparing as support for the school children's studies.
Groups are developing to collect oral history, to prepare walks, to research the history of the railway, to map the Victorian village,to do bat counts, and to arrange publicity & publications such as a calendar of old photos.
It is planned to record the activities of these Groups on this website
-
If you would like to get involved then see below.
The Heritage Project Meeting
held on Monday 20 October 2008
in the Long Preston Village Hall,
became the first
Annual General Meeting
of the
Long Preston Heritage Group.
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
held on 20 October 2008
Introduction
The Rev. Rachel Wilson welcomed 24 residents to the meeting. She explained that a
recent discussion had taken place with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) regarding
the relationship of the proposed Long Preston Heritage Group (LPHG) to the Parochial
Church Council (PCC) over the delivery of the HLF funded heritage project.
She said
it was possible that the LPHG could become a joint signatory to the contract that
HLF presently has with the PCC, thereby formalising LPHG’s role in helping to deliver
the heritage part of the project. Further discussions would take place. The Rev.
Rachel continued to chair the meeting until item 3.
Item 1 Apologies
Apologies were received from Heather Thomas-
Item 2 Adoption of the draft constitution
Comments were invited on the draft constitution that had been prepared by the Steering Group set up at the July Heritage Project meeting. Details regarding the numbers required for the AGM/SGM to be quorate were debated and agreed. It was also agreed that there was a need for both full and associate membership. With these amendments, the constitution was agreed and adopted.
Item 3 Appointment of Chairperson
Keith McBride was proposed, seconded and confirmed as Chairperson by a show of hands. He then took the Chair.
Item 4 Appointment of Secretary
Gillian Jones was proposed, seconded and confirmed by a show of hands as Secretary.
Item 5 Appointment of Treasurer
Janet Benzie was proposed, seconded and confirmed by a show of hands as Treasurer
Item 6 Appointment of 6 Committee Members
The following people were proposed, seconded and confirmed by a show of hands as Committee Members:
Nita Dewar, James Finch, Philip Johnston, Kath Lord, John Sellers, Rev Rachel Wilson.
Item 7 Appointment of Auditor
Lisa Milnor was proposed, seconded and confirmed by a show of hands as Auditor.
Item 8 Determination of membership fees
The Chair proposed that the membership fee for the year 2008/09 should be £1. It was hoped that a low fee would encourage people to join. The fee would be the same for full and associate members. Members would be entitled to receive a reduction of £1 off the cost of entry to talks organised by the Long Preston Heritage Group and would receive priority booking for social events.
It was agreed that the membership fee for 2008/09 would be £1 with the benefits detailed above.
Item 9 Date of first committee meeting
Tuesday 11 November 2008 in the Heritage Project office starting at 7.30pm.
Item 10 AOB
It was agreed that if any significant amendments were required to the Constitution arising from discussions with the Heritage Lottery Fund, a Special meeting would be called.
Minutes of the General Update Meeting
20th October 2008
Repair of Bells
Repair of the church bells will begin in November, with anticipated completion by
Easter.
A Project Office
Has been created out of the old cloakroom in the Village Hall and will provide valuable working space to allow the project to develop over the next five years.
Progress Report from the Project Groups
Oral History Group: Eight interviews have been carried out with our older residents.
The first four are on the website and the other four being edited ready for publication.
(These
can be heard on the Oral History page. )
Walks Group: The Group has prepared 8 walks of varying lengths based on the village and these are now ready for publication. Edward Wilkinson lead a successful walk onto Long Preston Moor on 6th September, attended by 20 people.
Railway Research Group: As the railway will be 160 years old in July we are looking for someone to lead a group to pull together all existing information and photographs to mount an exhibition in July 2009.
Victorian Group: This Group has been working with the school to build a picture of the village in Victorian Times; the aim is to have an exhibition early in January 2009.
Copy/Index/Archive Group: The scanning of old photographs and documents has progressed, many of which can now be seen on the website in the Old Photographs gallery.
Trees Group: The survey of trees in the churchyard has started and a programme of work is planned.
Publicity/Publications/Social Group: This group is assisting with publications such as the calendar, Christmas Cards and walks leaflets and organising social events.
Forthcoming Events:
Activities planned to date can be seen here.
For further information,
or to offer any help, please contact:
Gillian Jones: tel. 01729 840 505
Email:
gillian@longpreston.info
Rev. Rachel Wilson: tel. 01729 840 513
Email:
rachel@longpreston.info
