Our first decade
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Our first decade
Barwicker No. 36
December 1994
Ten years ago, in September 1984, Barwick-in-Elmet Historical
society held its first meeting at the home of Jane Deacon and its
beginnings are told in 'The Barwicker' No.l. The original group
was small but very active and its lofty aims were, in brief, to
research, record, preserve and publish the history of Barwick-in-
Elmet, in its widest geographical sense.
Since that time, the society has grown to a membership of over
40 and its activities in pursuance of these aims have been
considerable and varied. The Society meets twice a month in the
winter and arranges outings to places of historical interest during
the summer months. Members and guest speakers give talks on
aspects of Barwick history and related topics and other meetings
are given over to discussion, displays and information gathering.
In March 1986, the first edition of our journal 'The Barwicker'
was published and this has come out quarterly ever since. About
50 past and present inhabitants of Barwick and others have
contributed articles and we thank them all for their help. The
journal is read widely at home and abroad. We have been aided by
the gift by Raymond Franks of audio equipment that we use for
recording the recollections of some of our contributors.
In addition to 'The Barwicker' we have published:
'Bygone Barwick', a book of historical photographs.
'Pen Sketches of Barwick-in-Elmet', drawn and hand-lettered by Bart Hammond.
'The Maypole stayed up', a history of Barwick in World War II compiled by Harold Smith.
'A Greater Wonder', a history of Methodism in Barwick by Arthur Bantoft.
We have in our archives an impressive collection of documents,
photographs and audio tapes of past and present Barwick. We have
contributed to the programmes of many societies in Barwick and
elsewhere and have played host to them when they have visited the
area.
Our tenth anniversary meeting described elsewhere was the best
attended of any of our gatherings and, we hope, presages a
continued active life for the Society.