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The History Group
Leader: Ronald (Yogi) Godwin - history@ashbyu3a.co.uk - phone 01530 467840
Yogi is ably assisted by Jane Barnett, Barbara Ball, Colin Ellis, Jane Harris and Isobel Salt
All Ashby u3a members are welcome at our meetings.
All meetings with speakers will be held at Packington Memorial Hall on the 4th Thursday of the month.
Doors open for Packington meetings at 2.15pm. Admission £2
Due, in part, to the cancellation of the trip to Leeds, the History programme has been revised as shown below.
Future programme | ||||
| Date | Time | Venue | Speaker & Subject | Details |
| Thu 27th Aug | 2:15 pm | Packington Village Hall. | Colin Ellis - 'Stockton and Darlington Railway' | |
| Thu 24th Sep | 2:15 pm | Packington Village Hall. | Yogi Godwin - 'Ashby Heroes 2 - Rawdon Hastings' | |
| Thu 22nd Oct | 2:15 pm | Packington Village Hall. | Bill Devitt - 'Ashby’s transport problems and how they were overcome' | |
| Thu 26th Nov | 2:15 pm | Packington Village Hall. | The History Team - 'Christmas Whoopsies' | |
Thursday 25th June.
Artefacts from Ashby Museum
On one of the hottest days on record, 17 Historians turned out to listen to our own Michael Hardy talk about and show us a collection of artefacts from Ashby Museum.
He is a part-time volunteer there and brough a wonderful collection of oddities which mark the history of our town and its surrounds.
First, he talked us through the display items, naming them and giving us a potted history. Then we had the chance of handling them ourselves and reading the fuller descriptions that came with them.
Too numerous to list all of them, we had sections of rail and tramways, the last tram ticket issued on the Burton and Ashby Light Railway, a scale model of one of the trams, small-scale potters’ models of sanitary and plumbing ware, a brick with the interesting logo of ‘DUR EX’ stamped inside the ‘frog’, a whimble (other words are whimple, wimbrel, with variations, throw-crook, or scud winder, or even Womble) used for winding straw into cord to secure sheaves of corn for stooks, a 78rpm recording of ‘Ashby de la Zouch Castle Abbey by the Sea’, soaps from the old soap factory, and an ingenious analogue board for noting what items were need in the kitchen of a stately home (just like the one in Downton Abbey!). There were more, but we spent a lot of time handling these things from a by-gone age and asking Michael questions about them.
As an event for a very hot day, it could not have been better. The museum is always worth a visit as there is much to see there, and the staff are extremely helpful and knowledgeable about Ashby. Of note is the very large collection of photos of the old Light Railway, which, unusually, was operated by the Midlands Railway, which explains its title of ‘Railway’ rather than Tramway. You can see the last of the original tracks in the approach to the offices which now occupy the old station buildings.
Yogi skipped his usual ‘Anniversary’ notes in favour of a quick recap of forthcoming events, including a replacement for the cancelled visit to Leeds, all of which are now on the website.
Thank you, Michael: a real treat!
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