Page 18 - Jigsaw June 2020

Glance at the past.............................................................................
Still going strong – Thrapston Heritage want your memories...
Thrapston Heritage was formed just eleven years ago in 2009 by a small group with the original aim of opening a Heritage Centre in town. Quite quickly it became apparent that finding suitable premises, that is, waterproof and dry, with good accessibility and some car parking and at an affordable rent was not possible. A rethink led us to consider a website instead, which had two advantages: it would always be open and would require minimal staffing, which can often be a problem for similar groups.
Our logo was designed to both stand out and to incorporate part of the towns’ history. Thrapston Harriers were one of the foremost cross-country running clubs before the Great War, their logo being
similar to ours, the official colours being green and aconite. The “TH” was an obvious choice for Thrapston Heritage.
Recognising that being online does not always give a full picture, we have often
held exhibitions both in Thrapston and in surrounding villages, to show some of the rich archive materials owned by us and Thrapston District Historical Society. Our first public display was in St James’ Sunday school hall on 13th November 2010, our four original members being shown. In those days, we were still hoping for a Heritage Centre, hence the banner.
Since 2009 we have had a stand at Charter Fair each year, whilst also having
a presence at events in town, including
the Sports Club beer festival and the
Town Councils’ annual meeting. I have
also mounted a display of the men from Thrapston who died during World War 1
in St James’ Church for Remembrance weekend. Two local history heritage booklets have been produced: the early years (1906 – 1914) of Thrapston Harriers who were cross- country champions both regionally and nationally, producing Olympic medal winners in 1908 and 1912; and “The Thrapston I
remember”, a local mans’ memories from the beginning of the 20th century”. I also write this monthly “Glance” as a Thrapston Heritage contribution to the life of our local area.
Until recent events caused the cessation of meeting together, our group of five met quarterly to review the organisation and plan for the future. Hopefully, we shall be back in public view next year.
One project I want to further next year
is to meet people and hear their memories of living in this area. We already have a number of recordings in our archives but I can always find time to make more. Already, I have one person wanting to do so; is there anyone else?
These months have been a time of looking inwards, especially as I have only limited opportunity to go out. I am in the process of writing my life-story, nearly 40 years of which has been spent in this area. If nothing else, it has reminded me of many photographs I have around home which I will use to illustrate it. Labelling them is time consuming, but as I have plenty of this, it’s not too onerous!
Next month will be my 50th of these items – I’m still debating what to do so watch this space. Keep well and safe.
Editor: I would personally like to thank Eric Franklin for putting together these brilliant features for Jigsaw – I love reading them every month and hope you do too!
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