The Meeting Minutes will be add to this page with the most recent first The AGM minutes are included in date order.

Leekfrith Bygone Days

The meeting on 25th January 2016 had fewer members than normal but we did enjoy the company of 3 new people joining us from Butty Fold and Nether Haye.

The discussion about the flooded properties of the parish started as we recalled some of the kitchen floor tiles of the garage house being exposed when the water was low in the reservoir this summer. The Fountain Inn used to be above the garage at the top of the old road. This can be seen on the 1923 map. George Bailey and his wife Nancy (Goldstraw) used to run it during the war. There was some grass with a finger post at the spot known as “The Triangle.” Some people used to spend a couple of hours there on a Sunday evening!!

Edward Robinson, a second cousin of Don Robinson, told us about his time at New Grange and his father, Tom. It was part of the Westwood Estate. His grandfather had told him that there was another house there a long time ago. The old building at the bottom of the yard had a granary above it, but there were no windows. Some of the buildings were built in stone and some in hand made brick. Frith Bottom was similar. He also explained that there was a gate called the Butty Gate as it was shared between 2 households, Butty meaning shared.
When they went out they had to go down to the stream and across the stone flags where the water flowed. “On days of heavy rain we were fast in”

Norman Docksey told us about the stone used for the dam and about how South Hillswood and Abbey Hall Farm’s land joined. The piped water goes through his farm up to Foker and to Longsdon. The pipe is 30 inches diameter. When the reservoir was built people said they would never fill it! There used to be flow meters on all the streams in preparation for the extension. The water bailiff, used to go round checking them.

School days were mentioned and some people remembered the names of the teachers. Miss Horton and Miss Flood were the first. Then Miss Thurston and Mr Brazil the head teacher. John Hyde came next and his wife had the Hide Out shop in Leek. His brother, Norman Hyde was the next head teacher and his wife is Olga. If anyone can add to that list it will really help us.

We are meeting again on Monday 25th January at 7.30pm in the village hall.

The following meeting will take place on Monday 21st March, as the last Monday of the month is Easter Monday. We shall need someone else to take notes that evening and to do the write up for the Meerbrook Chronicle.

Irene Kirkpatrick

Leekfrith Bygone days

The meeting in November 2015 was well attended with several new people.
Many different parts of the parish were represented:-

Upper Haddon
Abbey Hall Farm
New Grange
South Hillswood Booth
Lower Wetwood
Windy Gates
Old Hag
Roche Side Farm
Pheasants Clough

Some people have lived in more than one of these properties.

We are meeting again on Monday 25th January at 7.30pm in the village hall.

Irene Kirkpatrick

At the Annual General Meeting(20 Sept 2014) of our local history group it was agreed by the 11 members present that we should change the structure of the meetings so that they will be less formal in the future and hopefully more welcoming to new members. It was decided that we should abandon the original constitution and the structure of the group. We have no need of officers nor do we need to keep funds. Bob has till June to link the Leekfrith website to the Roaches website so that it will be less expensive in the future. Anne will look after any petty cash for us if and when it arises. Irene will no longer keep any minutes but will send our news to Noreen for the Chronicle.

In November we put up a small exhibition in the church for Remembrance weekend, detailing the war records of the men from the parish who are remembered on the memorial plaque in St Matthew's church. It was very moving to research their lives in this way.

We shall be re-visiting the work of Gwen and Wayne this year to see if we can add more information about the properties, which were flooded when the reservoir was rebuilt and extended. If anyone can help us with photographs and memories we would love to hear from you. When the water was low Mary Day was able to show 2 members where some of the original buildings used to stand.

We normally meet at the Lazy Trout but as it was shut in November Christine and Fred Bradshaw invited us to their house. We talked about the Italian PoW camp on the Roman road and the camp at Blackshaw Moor.

Alan Weeks has sent us a copy of baptisms, marriages and burials for St Matthews, which are really interesting. It reminded me of a search for the schoolmaster's grave so Gill Goldstraw and I looked at a few at the East end of the church but with no luck. There is a memorial window on the north side of the church but we haven't found the grave yet although the number is in the burial records. It would be great if we could tell their descendants in Australia where it is.

Therese let us have a school photo for the website. It was taken when Mr John Hyde was the head teacher. Therese was able to name everyone in the photo. Maybe you are on it!

We shall not be holding our January meeting as a few members will be away and the Trout will still be shut but we have some more dates for your diary. The next meeting will be on Monday 30th March at 8 o'clock in the Lazy Trout, hopefully back in the heart of our village. There will then be meetings in May, July and September. We do hope you'll be able to join us and maybe share some of your memories of Leekfrith and what it was like in Bygone Days.

I.K.

Minutes of the 38th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 28th July '14

Present: Heather Ashworth, Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies: Ivy and Norman Goodwin, Joyce Matthews, Margaret Moss and Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 37th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Bob and seconded by Don.

Matters Arising

Flooded properties. Bob has made a PDF file of the dam and its context from 1953 and has put it onto the website.
WW1 – The exhibition was up as planned from the Saturday morning till the end of the festival. Comments were made about it not being there on the Friday. Most of the people who looked at it were from further away and not from the parish.

Recent Research
Karen Cope came to tell us about the research which has been undertaken in        Swythamley, Wincle and Rushton, including the Commonwealth War Graves site and           the old copies of the Leek Post and Times which are held at Leek library. We were all very impressed with her own work, which she brought to show us.
She suggested that we may like to ask someone like Cathryn Walton to speak at a           future meeting.

  The website
See above.

4. Finance
It was noted that once the subscriptions were paid for the night that there would be enough to pay Bob for the running costs of the website.
AOB
Irene said that we should need to appoint someone else to do the minutes and posters for the meetings, when we meet at the AGM as she has been doing this since February 2008. She will continue to act as secretary for enquiries on the website.

Date of next meeting
Monday 29th September '14 in "The Lazy Trout" following the AGM.

Minutes of the 37th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 19th May '14

Present: Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, Don Robinson, Alan Weeks and Christine Woodward.

Apologies: Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Margaret Moss.

Minutes of the 36th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. In the absence of the Chair, the Minutes were signed by Bob Foster.

Matters Arising

Meerbrook School - No further work has been undertaken this month.
WW1 – Bob will speak to Frank Belfield about his grandfather.
It was decided that the exhibition should not be put up at the time of the church fete as we shall have little completed by then and it is a lot of work for one day. The exhibition will go up in the week of the flower festival in July.

Recent Research
Christine brought in a document covering the technical details for the building of the reservoir. Bob will scan this and add to the topic on the Flooded Properties of Meerbrook.
3. The website
Bob requested that the WW1 information be sent to him for the new page.

4. Finance
£5 was paid in subscriptions.
AOB

Two documents have been gifted to our history group. The Indenture of 1857 is in an easier script this time and we shall ask Fred to summarize it for us.
The second is a typed copy from a document of 1830 relating back to 1214. Bob will scan any sections, which are relevant to Leekfrith.
Alan suggested that we look for Tittesworth Cottage on a census. He also said that old maps can be viewed on the internet at

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html

Minutes of the 36th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 31st March '14

Present: Heather Ashworth, Christine Bradshaw, Ivy Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Anne Nadin Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies: Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Norman Goodwin, Joyce Matthews and Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 35th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. In the absence of the Chair, they were signed by Ivy Goodwin.

Matters Arising

Meerbrook school Members reported back on their findings at Stafford Record Office regarding the Plans and map, the instrument of management, the managers' meetings (including H.T.'s reports and the HMI reports between 1905 and 1934

2. WW1
Members gave an update of research so far:

Len Bourne has agreed to write about his father's service in the war.
Don Robinson's Uncle Edward is buried at Ypres after dying in action on 09/05/1916.
Thomas Robinson, husband of Ethel and brother of Edward, was killed in action on 20/04/1918.
William Brunt died in a hospital in Cairo on 20/10/1918.
James Arthur Carter (son of Mary Alice Carter) was killed in action on 21/10/1917.
Frederick Brooks (son of Mrs. E. Brooks from Bridge Terrace, Upperhulme) died in a hospital in Rouen on 26/04/1918.
Joseph Bratt (son of Cyril and Edith Bratt, from Pool End) was gassed and died of his wounds on 15/05/1918.
William Howell was killed in action on 27/11/1917.
Ernest Prince (son of Ernest and Margaret Prince from High up Cottage) was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme on 27/07/1916.
Horace Mycock (from Tittesworth Cottage) served in France and Flanders and was killed in action on 24/04/1917.
Samuel Bowyer was killed in action on 18/08/1916.
Isaac Wain was killed in action on 22/04/1917.
Alan Weeks has sent us a photograph of Joseph Whittaker, from Turner's Pool, in his army uniform.

Recent Research

Christine brought in a largescale map of the Hillswood area, showing the line of the water before the reservoir was enlarged. This will help to add more information to the project on "Flooded properties".

3. The website
This topic was left because of Bob's absence.

      4. Finance
Update – Anne reported that we have £35.64 following the payment of £7 in          subscriptions.
AOB Alan Weeks raised a query by e-mail about Back Dane, arising from the    census of 1891 but no one was able to offer any help apart from suggesting that Frank Belfield may know.

Date of next meeting
This was re-arranged for Monday 19th May '14 in "The Lazy Trout" at 8.00 pm.

Chris and Fred send their apologies in advance.

Minutes of the 35th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 3rd February '14

Present: Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Norman & Ivy Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Margaret Moss, Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies: Anne Nadin and Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 34th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Heather and seconded by Bob.

Matters Arising

Meerbrook school
Stafford Record Office have several files about the school, including a plan of proposed alterations and additions to the school – 1891, and a plan, elevation and sections of the school - 1905. They also hold large, scale OS maps of the area dating from 1880s. Other files include inspectors' reports for 1905, 1907, 1909, 1913, 1924, and 1934. Two visits will be made by members to look at these documents.
The William Salt library does not have anything relating to the school.
Norman and Irene made a recording of Mr and Mrs George Mellor. George had lived at The Lea and his wife came to Meerbrook as an evacuee. Some of this was played back during the evening. This will be added to the website.

2.WW1
Members reported many more facts about soldiers who served

Irene will contact Len Bourne to enquire about his father's service in the war.
A photo of Don Robinson's uncles, Edward and Thomas, will be used in the summer exhibition and other enquiries will be made about Joseph Mellor and Ernest Prince who also served. Bob will ask Frank Belfield about his family's involvement.
Irene will contact the Post and Times.
Fred had found information on a grave of Ernest Prince who was buried in Meerbrook in1965 and he believes it was the son of Ernest Prince who died in the war, aged 21 years.

Recent Research

Some of the recordings of John Clulow's memories of his time at the school and in the village were played for the members. Bob will put these onto the website.

3. The website
Bob told us what had been added but explained that some sections are still quite sparse. We agreed that, we need to re-visit some of the original projects now that we have learned more about them and what needs to be recorded.

4. Finance
Update – Anne reported that we have £18.64 in our account and £10 was paid in subscriptions.

AOB

Bob and Fred will arrange a date for recording the copies of the burial records, which are now held in the church.
Irene read out some of the names from White's Directory (sent by Alan) and reminded members of the many directories held in the local history section of Leek library. She will forward the mail from Alan to Bob for the website.
Margaret asked about a grave of a child, found by Christine Torr, which has an inscription in Greek on the side.
Some members have asked that texts should be sent to remind them of the next meeting.

Date of next meeting
Monday 31st March '14 in "The Lazy Trout" at 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the 34th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 25th November '13

Present: Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Norman & Ivy Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Anne Nadin and Don Robinson.

Apologies: Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 33rd meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Heather and seconded by Norman.

Matters Arising

The trip to Bakewell was unsuccessful. We have been advised to try Stafford. Irene will contact them.
We were informed that the school log books are not at Stafford or Lichfield.
John Clulow's recording about his memories of Meerbrook school are excellent and will be added to the website.
Fred has been reading from "Roll of Honour" by Chris Sheldon, which named many men from the Leek area, who had signed up in 1914/15.

Meerbrook school
Irene will contact Stafford to see if they have any more files about the school.
Norman and Irene will visit Mr. and Mrs. George Mellor to make a recording.

WW1
Members reported many more facts about soldiers who served

Len Bourne's Dad was gassed.
Two brothers, uncles of Don Robinson, served. They were Edward and Thomas Robinson.
Joseph Mellor and Ernest Prince also served.

Other Research Undertaken
Bob Foster has been digitising the work, which was undertaken in 1981 and 1982 named "Monument/Tombstone Inscriptions - St Matthew's church. He brought his laptop to show us what he has done so that people far away will be able to search the document to see if their relations are buried in Meerbrook.

Finance
Update - £9 in subscriptions were paid.

AOB - The copies of the burial records are now held in the church and will need to be photographed for further research.

Date of next meeting
Monday 27th January'14 in "The Lazy Trout" at 8.00 pm.(Now postponed till 3rd February.

Minutes of the 33rd meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 30th September '13

Present: Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Norman Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin and Don Robinson.

Apologies: Ivy Goodwin and Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 32nd meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Norman and seconded by Heather.

Matters Arising

The exhibition during August was well received by visitors to the church. It was in a good position next to the font.
Irene and Lynne will be going to the offices of the Peak National park in Bakewell to view a plan of the school, dated approx. 1710.
A group will be visiting Stafford to see the school log books – date to be agreed.
Joan Wooliscroft and John Clulow have agreed to make a recording about their memories of Meerbrook school.
Fred has looked further into records of men from Leekfrith who served during the Great War. He read from a Roll of Honour, which named many men who had signed up in 1914/15. Members were reminded of the tours of the monument and the work of the British Legion.

Other Research Undertaken
A recording was made of Mary Day (Nee Turnock) and her daughter Janet Andrews as we retraced Mary's walk to and from Gunside to Meerbrook village school.
Finance
Update - £8 in subscriptions were paid.

AOB - None

Date of next meeting
Monday 25th November '13 in "The Lazy Trout" at 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the AGM of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 30th September '13

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Norman Goodwin. Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin and Don Robinson.

Apologies
Ivy Goodwin and Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 4th AGM – 244h September 12:
Minutes of the last AGM were read and signed as being accurate.
Proposed by Heather and seconded by Christine.

Matters Arising
None

Reports

The Chairman reported on the work of the year and thanked Bob Foster for his continued work on the website. The full report is on file.
The treasurer reported on the payments for the website and that income was from subscriptions. The full report is on file.

Election of officers
The Chair, treasurer and secretary, being willing to continue, were re-elected unanimously.

AOB
The dates for the meetings for the following year are

25th November 2013	May 2014 To be decided
27th January 2014	28th July 2014
31st March 2014	29th Sept 2014– also AGM

Date of next AGM
Monday 29th September 2014 at 8.00 pm, in the Lazy Trout, Meerbrook.

Minutes of the 32nd meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 29th July '13

Present: Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies: Bob Foster and Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 31st meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted.

Matters Arising

The meeting at the Old School was very successful with some interesting discussions taking place during the evening. Lynne and Stuart were thanked for their time and co-operation before and during the evening.
There was a good response to the exhibition during the flower festival. Several people commented on the importance of recording the information and many happy memories were triggered by the photographs.
Fred agreed to put up the exhibition in the church during August.

Future Research
1) The old village school

This work is to continue. Lynne has informed us that there is a map at Bakewell which has a small building marked in the position of the school. She and Irene agreed to investigate this.
The head teachers' log books at Stafford need to be examined.
More people need to be involved in recording their memories.

2) 2014
It was suggested that some research should be started on the lives of people involved in the 1914-18 war, not only on the men who died.

Finance
Update - £6 in subscriptions were paid.

AOB - None

Date of next meeting
Monday 30th September '13 in "The Lazy Trout" following the AGM

Minutes of the 31st meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 20th May '13

Present: Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Ivy and Norman Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Anne Nadin, Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies: Joyce Matthews and Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 30th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Christine Bradshaw and seconded by Don Robinson.

Matters Arising
The meeting at the Old School, 27th May '13.
It was agreed that people should gather at 6 o'clock so that we can view the outside of the building and see where additions have been added and a section removed.

Research
1) The old village school

The National archives at Kew - we are continuing to study the photographs of the documents but people who were unable to attend the last meeting were informed of some of the main points noted. Comparisons were made between then and now.
Leek library – Heather has been in to look for more information and 2 printouts were circulated.
Deeds of the building – Irene brought in copies of some of the deeds. The oldest ones related to the release of the land by George, Earl of Macclesfield. Subsequent documents name the trustees who were replacing original trustees until the last documents, which were referring to the sale of the building and land to the Potteries Water Board. Several official search requests were also made in 1971. A discussion then took place about the feelings of some of the trustees at the time.

2) Horseylands and Thorneyley
Judy and Alan Weeks made some documents available for Irene to photograph before they are sent to the county record office, for safekeeping. These photographs can be used as and when they fit into an area of research or if we are tracking families across the parish.

Website
Update – Much more has been added recently, especially for the project on the School. The message board is used more now, by people researching their family history.

Finance
Update - £9 in subscriptions were paid, making our total £49-89 which will cover the costs for the website for the year.

AOB
The exhibition will take place during the week of the flower festival 19th – 23rd July.
It was agreed that we will not put it up for the church fete but we can do it when the church is open in August for the showing of the embroideries.

Date of next meeting
Monday 29th July '13 at 8.00pm in "The Lazy Trout"

Minutes of the 30th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 25th March '13

Present: Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Irene Kirkpatrick, and Don Robinson.

Apologies: Owing to extremely bad weather, Heather Ashworth, Bob Foster, Joyce Matthews, Alan Weeks and Christine Woodward were unable to attend.

Minutes of the 29th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting (19th November) were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Christine Bradshaw and seconded by Don Robinson. No meeting took place in January.

Matters Arising – The meeting at the Old School, Meerbrook.
It was suggested that this should take place later in the year when the evenings are lighter and it will be easier to look at the outside of the building as well as the school rooms. The possibility of a date following our meeting in May was proposed and Irene will discuss this with Lynne and Stuart.

Research undertaken on the old village school

The National Archives at Kew. Alan has sent us 78 photographs of documents, which are held at Kew, concerning Meerbrook school. Some of these relate to the documents, which we had studied at Stafford about whooping cough and the appointment of a new teacher, but the extra detail has highlighted the relationships between the vicar and the rest of the managers as well as the County's concerns about the actions of the managers.

Photographs. Don brought in his school photo c1938/9. He has named all the pupils and where possible has added the names of the farms or houses where the family lived. Ursula Pickford, one of the pupils, used to live at the school and may wish to be invited to the meeting.

Don has also written an account of his memories of the school between 1938 and 1942. This includes the names of the teachers and the vicar, information about the heating, school milk, the pump, the school dentist, evacuees and the reorganization of the teaching of the different age groups in 1940.

Finances
Subscriptions of £4 were paid.

Correspondence
Alan has asked us if we would like to photograph some documents about Horsely Lands and Thornyley (Charles Moss). Date to be arranged.

AOB None

Date of next meeting
Monday 20th May '13 at 8.00pm in "The Lazy Trout"

Minutes of the 29th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 19th November '12

Present: Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Ivy Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies: Bob Foster, Joyce Matthews and Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 28th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Christine Bradshaw and seconded by Heather Ashworth.

Matters Arising
None
Research undertaken on the old village school

Staffordshire Record Office - Christine, Fred and Irene went to look at a variety of files, which needed to be ordered ahead of time.
Fred told us about a file from 1924 which had correspondence between the Vicar and Mr. William Brown about Miss Hanmer, the head teacher. It concerned the use of corporal punishment and the fact that 96 events had been recorded in the Punishment book for that year.
Christine reported that one file was about whooping cough and the school closure. Another file, contained information about the school well, the installation of electricity, the resignation of Miss Horton in 1950 and the appointment of Mr. Brazil as head teacher in1951.
Irene had read the file on Headship, which contained correspondence between the managers, Director of Staffordshire Education committee and the Board of Education at Whitehall, concerning the appointment of a new head teacher, following the resignation of Miss Hanmer.

Photographs – We have been loaned a small number of photographs for scanning. Most of them appear to be formal school photographs and Ivy handed us a list of the known names for one of the earlier ones.

Parish magazines – Irene has recorded information about the school as a timeline for 1902-03. This is now on the website.

Census records – In 1881 the schoolmaster was William Thomas Gines and his wife Emily was the schoolmistress (Rev William Nicholson was the Vicar). In 1891 George Neaves and Mary Neaves were the teachers and the school was referred to as an Elementary school.

The National Archives – Alan has sent us links for records, which are held at Kew and has offered to copy relevant items when he is there in a few weeks time. Irene may be able to visit the archives before this and will seek his help about procedures there.

Leek Post and Times – Heather has made the photos available for scanning.

Open Day at the Old School – The date will be arranged at the March meeting after speaking to Lynn and Stuart.

Finances
Subscriptions of £7 were paid.

Correspondence
A notice concerning the meeting of the Heath family was read out.

AOB

An introduction is needed for the webpage.
Ivy has loaned the family copy of Victoria History of the County of Stafford so that footnotes can be added to the early history of teaching in the parish.
Christine and Fred Bradshaw and Irene Kirkpatrick have offered apologies for the January meeting so Irene will ask Bob Foster if he is prepared to run the meeting.

Date of next meeting
Monday 28th January '13 at 8.00pm in "The Lazy Trout"

Minutes of the 28th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 24th September '12

Present: Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin, Don Robinson and Irene Kirkpatrick.

Apologies:
Alan Weeks and Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 27th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Bob Foster and seconded by Heather Ashworth.

Matters Arising
Dates of the meetings for the next 12 months are:-
19th November 2012                       20th May 2013
28th January 2013                          29thJuly 2013
25th March 2013                               23rd Sept 2013 – also AGM

Research undertaken on the old village school

We have received an email from friends in Australia who have researched the history of Samuel Berresford, the master of the free school at Meerbrook in1860, until at least 1871. This will all be added to the timeline.

Staffordshire Record Office and William Salt Museum– Christine and Fred went to look at the Minutes of the Managers' Meetings. These were not held regularly and the matters, which were in the minutes seemed to vary considerably in importance. There was a change of head teacher in 1932 from Mr. Carter to Miss Ward and in 1940 evacuees had been admitted and defense volunteers were using the playground for drill practice. Fred will type all the relevant facts and distribute them.

Leek Post and Times – Heather spoke to Geoff. Browne. Many negatives have been destroyed but he shared 2 with us, which were taken about 1920-22 and showed the children with 2 female teachers. One showed the children wearing buttonholes. She also showed us a copy of a programme for a concert, which was held in the schoolroom on October 7th 1869 and the paper's account of the events at the opening of Blackshaw Moor Primary School.

Church Magazines – Irene looked at the Parish magazines for 1902/03 and found many references to village activities, which had taken place in the school and the close relationship between the school, the church and the local community. She will draw up a timeline for these and distribute them.

AOB None

Date of next meeting
Monday 24th September 2012 following the AGM at 8.00pm in "The Lazy Trout"

Minutes of the 27th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.

Monday 30th July '12

Present: Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Don Robinson and Irene Kirkpatrick.

Apologies:
Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 26th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Bob Foster and seconded by Heather Ashworth.

Matters Arising

Map of the old part of St Matthews graveyard. We were informed by Lichfield record office that if the map is in existence it would be held in their office. However, despite searching the faculty, which was held for 1868, no map was found. Bob reminded us that there is a map in the tombstone book for St Matthew's graveyard so a check would need to be made for the area covered.

The exhibition. Irene was disappointed with the lack of numbers of people looking at our work this year, compared with 2011. However, poor weather may have contributed to this. Fred had noted that most people were interested in the pictures rather than the text. This was also noted in 2010 when there were less photographs, so our new area of research may be more appropriate for next year.

Research
The work will be shared in the following way until September

Staffordshire Record Office – Christine and Fred will look at Minutes of Managers' Meetings.
Leek Post and Times – Heather will speak to Geoff. Browne.
Church Magazines – Irene will look for references to the school.

Finance
Bob has been paid for the Hosting and Domain costs for the website. Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £6.

AOB Bob requested that dates for the meetings are compared with those of the discussion group, which also meet on a Monday.

Date of next meeting
Monday 24th September 2012 following the AGM at 8.00pm in "The Lazy Trout"

Minutes of the 26th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days.
Monday 21st May ‘12
Present:
Heather Ashworth, Don Robinson, Norman Goodwin, Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, and Anne Nadin.

Apologies:
Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 25th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and signed as being correct.

Matters Arising

Wedding records.

Norman brought a list of the documents held by the County. This will be copied so that more people can access the information.

Spreadsheets

We shall continue working on these, as it will be easier to search for names and places of abode when they have all been digitalized.

Memorandum and inventory of Joan Armitt 1667.

Fred has worked on the memorandum and the resulting documentation was read out to the meeting. Copies of the notes for “Reading old documents” are available if required for future transcriptions.

Research undertaken since the last meeting

Bob is digitalizing Ivy’s copy of the tombstone book for St Matthew’s Graveyard.
Irene has not checked to see if the old map of the churchyard is held at County archives, but will do so this month.

Exhibition
Fred has agreed that his stand may be used. Suggestions were made for the areas to be covered. These included

Village tombstones. A small selection to be printed out.
The village school – asking for information or copies of photographs.
A competition based on wills of local benefactors.
Village records. A small selection to be printed out.

Finance
Subscriptions were paid. Our funds now total £70–33.

AOB
Norman suggested that future research should be based on the village school, as many people will be able to contribute to that.

Date of next meeting
Monday 30th July 2012 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout.

Minutes of the 25th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 26th March ‘12

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Don Goodwin, Norman Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, and Joyce Matthews.

Apologies:
Janet Andrews, Bob Foster and Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 24th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed and accepted. Proposed by Norman Goodwin and seconded by Christine Bradshaw.

Matters Arising

Wedding records. Norman will ask about earlier records and Irene will check with the record office at Stafford as well as Hanley museum.
Spreadsheets – Fred and Bob will liaise and Irene will request more records for transcribing.
Old wills – Christine and Joyce have made a good start on this work and Fred will try to fill in some of the missing blanks. There are several more which can be attempted.

Research
Bob is working on Ivy’s copy of the tombstone book and Norman and Irene will check to see if the old map of the churchyard is held at County archives.

Finance
Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £7. Our funds now total £64 – 28.

AOB

The booklist of local history books is being updated and Irene would like to complete this soon so that it can be distributed to all members. Norman told us about his book on Coal mines of Buxton which contains some information on mines within our parish.
On 12th May Swythamley history society will be undertaking a walk of local paths and members were encouraged to attend.

Date of next meeting
Monday 21st May 2012 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout. Please note that this will not be on the Bank holiday Monday.

Minutes of the 23rd meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 21stNovember ‘11

Present:
Janet Andrews, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Don Goodwin, Norman Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, and Joyce Matthews.

Apologies:
Alan Weeks and Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 22nd meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were distributed. Bob Foster proposed that they be signed as being accurate and the motion was seconded by Fred Bradshaw.

Matters Arising

Dates of the meetings for the year.

Irene gave out lists of the meetings for the year as the date for May which was circulated earlier was incorrect. The correct date is 21st May ’12.

Research

Church records

A wide ranging discussion took place about the records which are no longer in the church. It has been requested that a photocopy should be made by the Records Office so that visitors can see it while in Meerbrook. Staffordshire Record Office will be microfilming any registers which start 1925 or earlier and the public will be able to view them at Stafford, Stoke and Lichfield, during office hours. Leekfrith Bygone Days are starting the work of transcribing the marriage records as they wish to give easier access to them through the group’s own website. A year ago, in November 2010, the vicar, Fr Carl Peters was asked by the County Archivist to wait until the Diocese and the Archive service had decided what to do.

Wills of Local Benefactors

Joyce and Christine have a page each of two documents relating to the wills. They will be working on them during the winter months. However, it was suggested that an article should be written about the wills and their link to the bread charity, (now known as “Leekfrith Relief In Need Charity”) and the link to Church Cottage. Don informed the group that the three cottages were always called the “Bread Cottages” in the past.

Finance
Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £8. Our funds now total £53 – 28.

Correspondence

Emails have been received regarding Arthur Armitt, who lived at Marsh Farm and according to local residents, also at Upper Haddon. A member of his family is researching his history and has emailed a copy of his work so far. With his permission, this will be circulated to the group.

AOB There was no further business.

Date of next meeting
Monday 30th January 2012 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout

Minutes of the 22nd meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 26th September ‘11

Present:
Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin, Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Janet Andrews and Alan Weeks

Minutes of the 21st meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

The church records

Bob will send files to Fred, Alan and Irene for transcribing.

Payment for the stand headings

The payment has been made.

Wills of local benefactors

Christine and Joyce will take a photograph each and try to decipher the writing and language used.

Future research
It was agreed that we should continue with the work on wills and their link to the bread charity throughout the year.

Finance
Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £8.

Correspondence
Irene read out an email which she has received concerning Highfield Hall and a visit by King George V in 1913.

Dates for next year’s meetings

21st November 2011	18th May 2012 (not 25th)
30th January 2012	30th July 2012
26th March 2012	24th Sept 2012 – also AGM

AOB

Fred suggested that the keyword “Meerbrook” should be added to the website.
Don brought in information about Leekfrith, some of which came from “Place names in Staffordshire” by D. Horovitz.

Date of next meeting
Monday 21st November 2011 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout.

Minutes of the AGM of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 26th September ‘11

Present:
Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin, Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Janet Andrews and Alan Weeks

Minutes of the 2nd AGM – 27th September 10:
Minutes of the last AGM were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising
None

Reports

The Chairman reported that the link with Swythamley Historical Society, through Alan Weeks has helped us with our research and exhibitions. He thanked Bob Foster for his continued work on the website and reminded the group of the work started on some wills in the parish. The full report is attached.
The treasurer reported that the payments for the signage and the website were the only expenditure and income was from subscriptions and the council grant. The report is attached.

Election of officers
The Chair, treasurer and secretary, being willing to continue, were re-elected unanimously.

AOB
There was no further business.

Date of next AGM
Monday 24th September 2012 at 8.00 pm, in the Lazy Trout, Meerbrook.

Minutes of the 21st meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 1st August ‘11

Present:
Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, Anthony Robinson, Don Robinson, and Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Janet Andrews, Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Joyce Matthews and Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 20th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

The church records

It was decided that the transcriptions of the church records will begin at the end of September, following the next meeting.

Payment for the stand headings

We had no information at this meeting.

Lichfield Record Office
Four members made the journey to Lichfield to view original wills which are relevant to Leekfrith parish. The record office is easy to find in the library and is well worth a visit. The will for Thomas Wood (1760) was not available but notes were made on the other four where possible and a photographic record was also made. Irene has found it easier to read the wills and inventories on the computer screen when they are enlarged, so members will try to transcribe them over time and make them available on the website. It will be interesting to research the history of will making generally as it had major implications for people in the past having to travel to Lichfield with the methods of transport available to them at the time.

Exhibitions
There was considerable interest in the photographs we had on view at the church fete and during the flower festival. Some people were just interested in looking at old photographs but several local people and past residents were able to give us names of people we were unable to identify before. Links between local families were also noted as well as the movement around the parish to larger farms or following marriages.

Finance
Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £5.

AOB

Date of next meeting

Monday 26th September 2011 following the AGM at 8.00 pm, in the Trout

Minutes of the 20th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 23rd May 2011

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Ivy Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin, Don Robinson, Christine Woodward and Joan Wooliscroft.

Apologies:
Alan Weeks.

Minutes of the 19th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Recordings.

None were made this month.

The church records

Bob will contact the volunteers when ready.

Payment for the stand headings

Anne is organising the payment to Fred.

Wills of local benefactors

Irene took names of people who wished to go to Lichfield Record Office to look at the relevant wills and will notify each of the date selected.
The bread charity. See below

Research completed

Spread sheet. Joan gave Irene a name for 1901.
Fred and Irene went to Alan’s and he helped them to select several images which will be relevant to our parish for the exhibition
Ivy and Joyce brought in old photographs which will be used in the exhibition.

Exhibition at the church fete

Helpers will arrive at 10 o’clock on Saturday 4th June to erect the stand and display the photographs. This will be repeated for the Flower Festival when the stand will be erected on the Friday and removed on the following Wednesday

Talk by Mrs. Wooliscroft
Joan Wooliscroft told us about the bread charity and the meetings which are held to decide who should benefit from it. Money was left by Thomas Wood (1760) and property was left by James Mobberley (1832) so that bread could be distributed each week. She answered our questions about the work of the committee in the past and their important role in re-acquiring the 3 Church Cottages after the compulsory purchase by Staffordshire Potteries Water board. Previously they were occupied by her Grandma, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Foster. When they were no longer required for the building of the reservoir Joan and Hilda Allen ensured that they were not sold on the open market but were purchased again by the charity, from Severn Trent for £6000. Our Chair thanked her for coming to the meeting and for her help.

Finance
Anne informed us that we have £58 after the cheque has been paid
Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £10.

AOB
Jill Goldstraw asked for the use of pictures while the embroideries are on show in the church.

Date of next meeting
Monday 25th July 2011 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout.

Minutes of the19th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 28th March ‘11

Present:
Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin, Don Robinson and Alan Weeks.

Apologies:
Heather Ashworth, Bob Foster, and Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 18th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Recordings.

Anne will phone May Keeling.
Fred will make arrangements to speak to Gill Heath.

The church registers

Fred will pass the memory stick to Bob. Alan, Fred and Irene agreed to help to transcribe the records on to the spreadsheet.

Local Grant

The cheque for £50 has been paid into the building society and it was agreed at the meeting that the full amount of £84-15 should be paid to Fred to cover his expenditure for the
signs.

Wills of local benefactors

Irene will go ahead and organise a visit to Lichfield Record Office to view the documents available. Readers cards will be required but can be obtained on the day. An interesting discussion took place on the “Bread Charity” of the parish. It was suggested that Anne should ask Joan to talk to us about it in the future.

Research completed

Fred has read the Indenture of 1871 for North Hillswood Farm. He was asked if he would be willing to compile a short glossary of some of the legal terms used in such documents.

Meerbrook Chronicle

Fred is prepared to continue contributing items from the old parish magazines for the Chronicle. A short discussion took place about the difficulty some people have in finding a copy.

Swythamley History Society

Alan and Judy Weeks have just given a talk about Courtney Brocklehurst. Members who went remarked on the interesting facts and the high standards of the presentation.

Finance
Anne informed us that we have £135-29 in the account but this includes the money from the grant. Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £7.

Further Research
Irene asked for contributions to a spreadsheet which she is creating on the residents of the parish. It is based on the local electoral role but columns will be created for each decade, naming the residents of each property in the parish.

AOB
Irene reminded members about the exhibitions in the summer. The church fete is on 4th June and the flower festival starts with the service on Thursday 14th July. Many visitors seem to be more interested in the pictures or old photographs than long pieces of text so we agreed to place the emphasis on these this year.
Fred and Irene will go to Alan’s to look at some of Courtney’s negatives taken within the parish.
Fred suggested that he e-mails Noreen requesting a mention in the Chronicle in case parishioners are willing to loan any old photographs for photocopying.

Date of next meeting

Minutes of the18th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 31st January ‘11

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Bob Foster, Norman Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Don Robinson and Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin and Alan Weeks

Minutes of the 17th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Recordings.

The recordings of May Keeling and the niece of Enoch Sheldon need to be arranged.

The church registers

The photographic records of the church registers need to be transcribed so that they can be searched more easily. We shall be looking for volunteers once again. This is not an arduous job if it is shared by several members.

Local Grant

Cllr. Heath informed us that £50 is now available. Irene has submitted the paperwork, requesting help for our community project.

Finance
Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £6.

Research

Fred is working on the draft conveyance of George Davenport for Christine.
Members were reminded that Fred has asked for ideas/help for the articles for the Meerbrook Chronicle.
Irene raised the subject of researching the wills of local benefactors of the parish. [Joan Armett (1668), John Stoddard (1675), Edmund Brough (1680), Thomas Wood (1760) and James Mobberley (1832)]. She will look into the practicalities of visiting Lichfield for this purpose if a small group would like to go.
Bob will need the names of members who wish to help with transcribing the photographic records over the next few months.

AOB

Alan has requested that members are reminded of the meeting at Swythamley about Courtney Brocklehurst, on 22nd March. The availability of new photographs will make this particularly interesting. Irene has some spare seats if you need a lift.

Date of next meeting
Monday 28th March 2011 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout.

Minutes of the17th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 22nd November ‘10

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Ivy & Norman Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews and Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Bob Foster and Alan Weeks

Minutes of the 16th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Recordings.

The recordings of May Keeling and the niece of Enoch Sheldon need to be arranged.

The church registers

We have made a photographic record of the church registers which are to be sent to the Staffordshire Record Office. Our request to place them on our website was referred to the County Archivist who has requested that we “hold off mounting any images of our registers online” while the Archive Service and the Diocese discuss the issue. They “are supportive of providing wider access to registers but (we) want to do this in a way which safeguards the images and provides proper context and background for the information contained within them”. We shall liaise with our webmaster over this issue.

Local Grant

Irene has approached Cllr. Heath, who will find out about the paperwork needed. The receipt for the four board headings has been passed to Irene in the meanwhile.

Finance
Subscriptions were paid. These amounted to £8 and brought our total funds to £78.23.

Research

Fred has transcribed the document on North Hillswood Farm (1778). It was written on parchment and, as we all witnessed, extremely difficult to read. Each member present was given a copy and more will be circulated by e-mail, so that we can discuss it in the January meeting.
He has also written another article for the Meerbrook Chronicle based on information from the parish magazine 0f 1902. He is happy to continue with this work but would welcome suggestions for future articles as well as input from members with the research.
Irene has started some research on the history of written wills and drew our attention to the wills of Joan Armett (1668), John Stoddard (1675), Edmund Brough (1680), Thomas Wood (1760) and James Mobberley (1832). All were local benefactors of the parish. It was suggested that this should be added to the next agenda.

AOB

Christine showed us a conveyance of George Davenport, which Fred has taken away to study.
Fred reminded us of the document relating to Frith Bottom. When we passed through on the village walk David Hine explained that the 12 acres related to” Ditchfield” and “The Common land”, (meaning poor soil).
Members were reminded of the meeting at Swythamley about the Staffordshire Hoard and told of the request from Alan for more information about Courtney Brocklehurst. Norman told us an amusing story of his Uncle Tom and Enza Barks and an encounter with one of Courtney’s dogs.

Date of next meeting
Monday 31st January 2011 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout.

Minutes of the16th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 27th September ‘10

Present:
Heather Ashworth, David Bradbury, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, Anne Nadin and Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Joyce Matthews

Minutes of the 15th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Recordings.

David has made his own recording of his childhood recollections.
The recordings of May Keeling and the niece of Enoch Sheldon need to be arranged.

Website

Fred will speak to Brian about the church’s decision on the records.

Meerbrook Chronicle

Fred has now written 2 articles for the Chronicle and the next ones will include local surnames, which will be of interest to the whole village.

Future plans

A wide ranging discussion took place about possible future research.

The name of Bess Bowyer was added to the list of famous sons and daughters of Leekfrith.
Christine showed us several documents relating to her home. Great interest was shown in these and Fred volunteered to translate one of them into modern English. It was then decided that subsequent research would follow up any queries which arose from the document e.g. writing of wills, as these could be pertinent to other local properties.

Finance

Subscriptions were taken in. These amounted to £8 and brought our total funds to £70.23.
We were reminded that we have a debt of £70 still owing for the headings on the exhibition boards which are used at the time of the church fete and the flower festival. These help our group to share with a wider audience the facts discovered about the parish. A member queried whether or not this would be a valid use of the grant available. Irene agreed to follow this up and report back.

Research

Fred has put the second draft conveyancing document (1861), concerning Samuel Beresford and The Leigh into everyday English. He noted that it referred to a will of M Edge from 1773.
Irene has finished her work on Lud church and passed it to Bob for inclusion on the website.

AOB
It was suggested that a flip chart would prove useful for sharing information with larger groups.

Date of next meeting
Monday 22ndth November 2010 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout.

Minutes of the15th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 26th July ‘10

Present:
Heather Ashworth, David Bradbury, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Donald Goodwin and Irene Kirkpatrick

Apologies:
John Ashworth, Margaret Moss, Anne Nadin and Christine Woodward

Minutes of the 14th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Recordings. Bob will make arrangements to speak to the niece of Enoch Sheldon.

David will make his own recording of his childhood recollections.
Anne will speak to May Keeling

The exhibitions

Both exhibitions were well visited with people showing interest, particularly in the pictures. It was suggested by members that the print used should be bigger with possibly less text. We also need to advertise the exhibition e.g. “What’s on?” & Sentinel website.

Website –

Bob will ring Brian about the church’s decision on the records.

Wider communications

Fred has written his first contribution for the “Meerbrook Chronicle”. This made known to a wider audience the information gleaned from the draft conveyancing document about The Fountain Inn. He will continue to add something on alternate months, possibly using the information from the old parish magazines as well as announcing the dates of future meetings.

Finance
We have £55-23 in the building society. £7 in subscriptions was added.

Research

Fred showed us his work on the second draft conveyancing document (1861), concerning Samuel Beresford and The Leigh. It was obvious that he had spent many hours on it but he will continue to do more work and put it into language which is easier for us to understand. Irene will send a scanned version of the 1900 map to Bob.
Irene has been looking at the reservoir while the waters are lower and trying to find the position of some of the flooded properties.

AOB
Possible projects for the future - Famous sons and daughters of Leekfrith e.g.

Roger Morrice, http://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/academic_staff/projects/roger-morrice.html
Richard Hassall – sculptor
Edward Ash – sculptor, nephew of Richard Hassall
Rev William Beresford. http://www.beresfordfamilysociety.org.uk/beresfordofberesford.html

(It was also suggested at an earlier meeting that we investigate the routes of roads and tracks across the parish.)

Date of next meeting
Monday 27th September 2010 AGM at 8.00 pm, in the Trout, regular meeting to follow.

Minutes of the14th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 24th May ‘10

Present:
David Bradbury, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, Anne Nadin, Brian Wainwright, and Mr. & Mrs. Griffiths.

Apologies:
There were no apologies.

Introductions
As we had 2 visitors we all introduced ourselves, stating our interests in the history of the parish.

Minutes of the 13th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Irene has made contact with all the people who left their names at the exhibitions last year. One recording has now been made. Bob has agreed to speak to the niece of Enoch Sheldon, who used to live at Fountain Inn. David will make his own recording of his childhood recollections and Anne will speak to May Keeling who has a family connection with Church cottage. It was proposed that we ask Brenda Wood to speak to a meeting about her time at the cottage beside Fountain but Bob emphasized that we must not neglect to make a good recording as well.
It was agreed that the exhibition should be under 4 headings

Burial records
Lud church
The chapel
The church tower

On the morning of 5th June Fred will be available at 10.00 a.m. and will bring the stands. Chris, Bob and Irene will also be there. Irene will contact group leaders to make them aware of the plans. Texts will be accompanied by photographs where possible. Irene will seek permission of owners to take photographs of farms used for non-conformist worship.

Website –

Bob informed us that the conveyancing document which Fred has deciphered has been added to the site and it was noted that another request has been made to look at a document concerning Samuel Beresford and The Lea. Fred has agreed to look at it.
The text on non-conformity in Leekfrith from 17th century has been added.
The burial records contributed by Mr. Griffiths have been added but Brian will ask Rev Carl if we can take more photographs of the records and add those to the website as well. There was a short discussion about them being public documents but it was also agreed that we would be helping by maintaining a copy for the parish.

Finance
We have £82-34 in the building society. Subscriptions were added but it was noted that the website fee of approximately £36 is due soon. We still owe Fred for the work for the exhibition stand heading.

Recent contacts
On Thursday 20th May, Brian, Anne and Irene met Mr. & Mrs. Bennett, visitors from Australia, who were in the area tracking down connections with Samuel Beresford the head teacher of Meerbrook school. They were keen to find the grave of Mr. Bennett’s great, great grandfather after having found the record of his burial when they were here 2 years ago.

Research groups
There was no additional work to report but Brian had brought in copies of photographs of children at school around 1940 and at the time of their confirmation in 1947.

AOB
Irene reminded members of the list of local books which is being collated.

Date of next meeting
Monday 26th July 2010 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout.

Minutes of the 13th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 1st March 2010

Present:
David Bradbury, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Heather Ashworth, Wayne Stephens, Margaret Moss.
Part time Gwen Stephens and Christine Woodward
Apologies:
John Ashworth, Irene Kirkpatrick, Alan & Judy Weeks. Anne Nadin

Minutes of the 12th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Information which was gathered at the Flower festival. - We now have names of people with connections with the school, Fountain Inn, Church cottages, Waterhouse Mill and Upperhulme. We have telephone numbers for everyone concerned and need to agree times for the sharing of their memories. Irene has the information and we will arrange how to share out contacting these people. Action Irene
Swythamley history society’s meeting on February 22nd 2010 on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was attended by many at the meeting and was deemed to be excellent and very worthwhile.
Fred has transcribed the conveyancing document which was bought by Karen Turner at a car boot sale at Heaton House. The handwriting and also the language used was very difficult to decipher and Fred is to be congratulated on his tenacity. Fred gave a summary of the document. Fred agreed to write down the summary and send the summary and transcript to Bob who will transfer them to the website. Action Fred and Bob

Finance

£7 was collected at the meeting.

Flower Festival and Village Fete

The fete is on 5th June and the festival on 16-20th July. We decided to put on an exhibition as last year. Details will be discussed at the next meeting.

Research groups

St Matthew’s church – Nothing further to report.
Lud Church – nothing further to report.
The Chapel – Christine Woodward has uncovered from A History of Staffordshire an interesting passage about Nonconformity in the Leekfrith area from the 17th century on. Bob offered to convert the passage into electronic form. Action Bob

AOB
Bob showed the meeting a spreadsheet of the transcription of Burial records of St Matthews church which Irene, Alan Weeks and Bob had completed during January. These records were on a CD given to Fred. Though every page is not included there are pages from 1815 to 1958. Bob has sent these out by email and will put them on the website. Action Bob

Date of next meeting – Monday 24th May 2010 at 8.00 pm, in the Lazy Trout.

Minutes of the 12th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 4th Jan 10

Present:
David Bradbury, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Anne Nadin and Irene Kirkpatrick.
Apologies:
Heather & John Ashworth, Alan & Judy Weeks, and Christine Woodward,

Minutes of the 11th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Fred gave us the information which was gathered at the Flower festival. We now have names of people with connections with the school, Fountain Inn, Church cottages, Waterhouse Mill and Upperhulme. We have telephone numbers for everyone concerned and need to agree times for the sharing of their memories.
Swythamley’s next meeting is on February 22nd. It links strongly with our research on places of worship, being about Lud Church and the historical connections with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Names to Irene if you wish her to collect tickets.

Finance
We have £67-28 in the building society, not including the evening’s subscriptions.

Correspondence
Irene has received a telephone call from Australia regarding the message board on the website. It’s good to know that one of our contacts will be visiting in May, searching for more information on the Beresford family (memorial window in St Mattthew’s.)

Research groups

Fred has further researched the architect of the present building of St Matthew’s church as there was some doubt about this. He has discovered that the Andrew Capper mentioned in the Lichfield records also designed the church at Acton Trussell. A photograph of St James’s church shows several similarities with St Matthew’s.
Irene read her updated work on Lud’s church. Another section will be added after the meeting at Swythamley.

AOB
Anne showed the group a draft of a conveyancing document regarding the Fountain Inn. Fred agreed to take it away and try to transcribe it.

Date of next meeting – Monday 1st March 2010 at 8.00 pm, in the Lazy Trout.

Minutes of the 11th meeting of the Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 26th October 09

Present:
Heather Ashworth, David Bradbury, Bob Foster, Don Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Gwen Stephens.
Apologies:
John Ashworth, Christine & Fred Bradshaw, Anne Nadin, Wayne Stephens, Alan & Judy Weeks, and Christine Woodward,

Minutes of the 10th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Exhibition during the flower festival. It is believed that Fred may have the list of contacts. Irene will verify. It was suggested that Freda Sweatmore be contacted.
A list is being compiled of historical books owned by members. It was agreed that many books are too precious for the owners to loan them out but we need to be aware of their existence.
Website – Bob informed us that it has not been necessary to purchase the software yet but he will do so if more items become available which require it.
Different members have attended the meetings at Hollinsclough, Swythamley, Leek Arts club and Leek & District Historical Society.
Members with internet access offered help to members without.

Finance
We have £52-81 in the building society, after paying for the running costs of the website.

Correspondence

Swythamley Historical Society has made arrangements for the meeting on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Date to be arranged.
Members were informed about the current threads on the message board and asked to respond to them if possible.

Research groups

Two groups were unable to report back on this occasion because of unavoidable absence. A request was passed on from Christine about her missing papers concerning the chapel. Members were asked to check their paperwork from earlier meetings.
Irene showed the group her work so far on Lud’s church.

AOB
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9.30 pm.

Date of next meeting – As our regular date for meeting falls near Christmas, the date has been changed to Monday 4th January 2010 at 8.00 pm, in the Trout.

Minutes of the 10th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 7th Sept 09

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine Bradshaw, Irene Kirkpatrick, Margaret Moss, Anne Nadin, Brian Wainwright, and Christine Woodward,
Apologies:
Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Gwen & Wayne Stephens, Noreen Wainwright, Alan and Judy Weeks.

Minutes of the 9th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Exhibition during the flower festival. It was noted that there had been a lot of interest in the display over several days.
It was agreed that we should contact the people who had left their names. Gwen will be asked if she has the list.
A list is being compiled of historical books owned by members, who may be willing to loan them to other members. Irene requested that details be given to her so that this can be completed as soon as possible.

Finance

Anne reported that we have £77-81 in the building society.
Bob has invoiced Anne for the annual costs for the running of the website.
Bob has asked us if we would like to buy a professional version of some software which will enable us to display scanned items on our Archives page of the website. The present file is free but leaves a banner across the image. Irene proposed that we pay the $20 as it will improve access as more items become available. This was seconded by Margaret.

Correspondence

Swythamley Historical Society has a meeting on Friday 23rd October at 7.30 pm in the Swythamley Centre. Irene can give a lift to anyone interested.
Geoff Browne wrote to tell us about the Leek Arts Club meeting on Tuesday 22nd September at 7.30 in the Dove Room in Moorlands House. It is about an important benefactor of our church, Roger Morrice.
We have received several e-mails from around the world from people researching their family history. Bob has added a message board to the website which should facilitate an exchange of knowledge once more people have registered. Members were asked to spread the news and to register themselves.

Research groups

The church. Christine B. told us how interesting her trip to the William Salt museum with Fred had been. She felt that we would all enjoy it. Brian told us about his photographs of the inside of the bell tower. Members expressed an interest in seeing them and/or the possibility of publishing them on the website
Christine W. reiterated, for members who had missed the last meeting, what she had discovered about the chapel and worship held in private homes.
Irene showed photographs and copies of old postcards (from Alan and Judy) of Lud’s church. She talked of the possibility of a link with Celtic gods, the probability of the link with a monk from Dieulacres Abbey and the story told about the Lollards’ use of the site for hidden services in a time of persecution.

AOB
A concern was expressed about members with no access to the internet. Views would be appreciated on methods of including all members more fully.

Date of next meeting - Monday 26th October 2009 at 8.00 pm in the Trout.

Minutes of the 9th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 22 Jun 09

Present:
Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Joyce Matthews, Gwen Stephens, Wayne Stephens and Christine Woodward,
Apologies:
Graham Robinson, Heather Ashworth, Ivy Goodwin, Margaret Goldstraw, Irene Kirkpatrick and Anne Nadin.

Minutes of the 8th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising
1.Exhibition – the Fete exhibition went well. There was much interest. The display board worked very well in spite of being knocked over on the Friday night prior to the fete.

2.Exhibition for the Flower festival – We will set up the stand on Thursday 2nd July at 4pm as before but will have to take it down on Friday at 6pm and store at the rear of the stage as there is a dance on the Friday evening. The stand will then be re-erected on Saturday morning. Fred will coordinate this.
Bob will arrange to put the advertising board out in the church yard.
The display will not be manned this time. Gwen will arrange forms for anyone interested in providing information to fill in.

3.No one had done a list of the historical books they own. So this action is carried over.

Finance
Fred has audited the accounts. £7 was collected from the attendees and Gwen will deliver this to Anne.
Bob has a receipt for £25.53 for the next years subscription for the hosting of the website.

Updates to the website
There have been no recent additions. Bob will include the pages necessary for the new projects shortly.

Projects
Christine W has started researching the chapel and found very interesting information in the History of Staffordshire and in one of Sheila Hine’s books. A number of houses as places of worship appeared in the texts too.

Joyce and Irene have visited Lud Church to take photographs. Joyce has spoken to Doug Pickford and he has agreed to supply Joyce with any references he has to Lud Church.

Fred and Christine are continuing to research the church.

Collaboration with other groups
We thought it would be useful to know the dates when Swythamley Historical groups meets.

AOB - Future plans
We discussed the BBC4 program ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ and its association with the area and Lud Church. Alan Weeks of Swythamley has suggested we collaborate and bring in a speaker on this poem. Alan has an expert in mind. This was accepted to be progressed by Bob.
Should we contact Simon Armitage, the presenter of the BBC program?

The meeting sends our best wishes to Irene for a speedy recovery

Date of next meeting - Monday 7th Sept 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the 1st Annual General Meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 22 Jun 09 8pm

Election of Officers

The secretary, treasurer and chairman were all willing to continue. Irene, Anne and Bob were all re-elected unanimously.

Matters Arising
None

Reports

The Chairman reported that the year had gone well with consistent interest throughout. We have 6 projects running with valuable information collected for all. The website is attracting visitors from around the world and proving to be a good repository for our work.
We have purchased a digital recorder and have recorded contributions from a number of people some of which is already on the website.
The exhibition we provided at the fete attracted a satisfying level of interest.
Joan Bennett as a speaker attracted considerable interest to her very interesting talk.
Two quiz nights at the Lazy Trout contributed to the society funds as well as being good fun.

The Treasurer reported (in her absence) –
Total money coming in                                  £150.00
Total money out                                     £ 79.19
Balance in the building soc                   £ 70.81

The accounts were audited by Fred Bradshaw

AOB

None

The meeting closed at 8-15pm

Minutes of the 8th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 27th April 09

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Margaret Goldstraw, Ivy Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Anne Nadin, Gwen Stephens and Christine Woodward,
Apologies:
John Ashworth, Graham Robinson, Wayne Stephens Brian Wainwright, Alan and Judy Weeks.

Minutes of the 7th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed as being accurate.

Matters Arising

Exhibition – It has been agreed that we may put our display on the stage in the village hall during the day of the church fete and the weekend of the flower festival.

Fred has organized the stands and we can mount our work on the morning of Saturday June 6th. Velcro type pads will be used to fasten papers to the boards.
Fred will supply the permanent title for the board.
Bob will make the subtitles for this year’s exhibition.
Gwen, Fred and Irene will take responsibility for the content of each group’s work.
Bob and Gwen will arrange publicity for the exhibition at the entrance to the village field.
Tables will be used in front of the boards for any handouts or laminated copies of maps or other items of interest which need to be examined more closely.
Requests for information and recordings will be displayed as well as publicity for the website.
Joyce and Anne will man the stand between 2 and 3 o’clock

Heather and Bob between 3 and 4 o’clock
Fred and Irene after 4 o’clock.

Members agreed to phone Irene (01260 227282) if they are available for the flower festival, especially Saturday and Sunday.

Visiting speaker – Joyce and Gwen will photocopy their copies of the information given by Joan.

Finance
Anne reported that we have £69-81 in the building society, after making payments to Bob and Irene for their expenditure. An attendance sheet will be used for the future when subscriptions are collected and Fred has agreed to check the finances in time for the AGM.

Updates to the website
More information has been placed on the well page and Bob’s recording of Edna Barlow is on the reminiscences page.
New research groups
We shall be researching information on The church, the chapel and Lud church with Fred and Christine doing the first, Christine Heather and Gwen doing the second and Joyce, Bob and Irene doing the last.
AGM
This will take place on 22nd June at 8.00 pm, before our normal meeting. Reports will be needed from the Chair and the Treasurer. Will the present officers please indicate whether or not they are prepared to stand for a second year?
Collaboration with other groups
Sue Gaukroger from Hollinsclough has suggested that we link with History Live in the future. It was agreed that we should support their meetings and Swythamley’s when we can and specifically where there is overlap with our own research.
AOB - Future plans
A discussion took place regarding possible speakers and the usefulness of a collection of books of local history. Heather offered to contact Geoff Browne and we all agreed to make a list of our own books which could then be circulated around the group.

Date of next meeting - Monday 22nd June 2009 at 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the 7th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 30th March 09

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Norman Goodwin, Gill Heath , Irene Kirkpatrick, Joyce Matthews, Margaret Moss, Anne Nadin, Graham Robinson, Gwen and Wayne Stephens, Brian Wainwright, Alan and Judy Weeks.

Apologies:
John Ashworth, Bob Foster and Noreen Wainwright.

Minutes of the 4th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting having been circulated were accepted as read.

Matters Arising

Quiz Night – Fred and Christine were thanked for organizing everything once again. It was agreed that it was most enjoyable and we raised £38 for the group finances.
Exhibition – Fred has organized the stands. Now we have to prepare the items for show.

Finance
Anne reported that we have £120 in the building society.
Subscriptions were collected.

Visiting speaker – Joan Bennett

Joan told us a little of her background and her connections with Meerbrook, through her own family history. She also talked of “Eureka moments” when everything seems to move forward with a piece of research. She then gave us examples of useful places to look when researching. E.g.

By studying several maps of an area the progression over time can be noted. On Speed’s map of 1610 mills were represented by small circles.

Yates map of 1775 shows several farms, including Alder Lee, Marsh house and New Grange.
Tithe maps are available for about 1840 for Meerbrook and we need to ask at Lichfield for these.

Clippings can be kept from local papers. Joan showed us some from the Post and Times and Spark as well as reminding us to look at old copies of the Leek Post.
Trade directories are available at the library. Joan gave examples of the information available by quoting from Whites directory of 1851. Firstly there is a description of the parish. It referred to a dye house at White Bridge, William Brocklehurst as an owner of land, and the fact that Caldwell the physician lived here in 1515. This was followed by a list of some of the occupants of the parish.
There is free access to the census returns of 1901
The County Poll Book for 1747 is held at the Record Office. People who were entitled to vote had their names recorded. (From 1694 – 1716 general elections were held each year but if MPs were elected unopposed there was no record.

Joan then continued by demonstrating how information can be recorded in a simple “table format” to produce a story of a particular dwelling, which she illustrated with information about New Grange. Using the headings of

Date	Information	Source

She showed how she had obtained information from

“Tomb inscriptions” by Elizabeth Bass (1981-82)
“Gateway to the Past” website for the Record office www.archives.staffordshire.gov.uk
“Leek Easter Book 1799 to 1806” A W Bednall
Wills, which are held at the Lichfield office.
Probate inventories. From 1383 wills were approved at Canterbury but from 1858 the principal probate house was at Somerset House. Neighbours of the deceased would be entrusted to make the list e.g. William Edge and Richard Wood appraised the goods of William Allen, a tenant of New Grange, Meerbrook.

Joan gave members copies of several documents which need to be copied and shared with other members.

AOB - Future plans
Fred has made an excellent start on researching the history of St Matthew’s church. Members need to be prepared to say which group they would like to join by the next meeting.

Date of next meeting - Monday 27th April 2009 at 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the 6th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 12th January 09

Present:
Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Irene Kirkpatrick, Anne Nadin,

Apologies:
Gwen and Wayne Stephens.

Minutes of the 4th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were accepted and signed as correct.

Matters Arising

Eye witness accounts – Glenys Barlow’s memories are now stored on the website. It was agreed that we should go ahead with more recordings between now and March

January	Bernard Machin	By Irene
February	Hilda Allen & Joan Wooliscroft	By Gwen and Anne
February	Edna Goldstraw	By Bob
March	Gill Heath	By Christine

Quiz Night – Fred and Christine have organized everything for the evening of Thursday January 15th. Members have been asked to supply raffle prizes. Irene will phone Brian about the raffle tickets.
Visit by Joan Bennett. Joan has agreed to come to a future meeting to discuss our methods of research with us. She is available on 23rd February but, as several members will be away, Irene will try to re-arrange this for 30th March.
Exhibition – June 6th and a weekend in July to be arranged with the Flower festival. We shall need to organize a rota of members prepared to man the exhibition and, if possible, make recordings of people’s memories. We wondered if this may be a way of finding out more about Bob’s mystery object or the standing stone on Gun.

Finance
Anne reported that we have collected £86, including tonight’s subscriptions. Bob will supply the headed paper which is needed to set up the building society account and the 3 officers will call in to Leek United with proof of identity.

Updates on the website
Fred’s very comprehensive work about Dain’s mill is available to read now. The new information on the flooded properties needs to be added next.

Reports of the research groups
Each group is finding it difficult to move forward at the moment. Heather’s photographs have been laminated and are ready for the exhibition.

Future plans
It was decided that we should move ahead with research on “Places of worship”. The groups may wish to re-organise to study the importance of the Abbey, St Matthew’s, the chapel, Lud church and homes used for worship. This does not mean that last year’s research will stop however.

AOB
Since last meeting there had been a possibility of buying a secondhand overhead projector. Unfortunately we have been outbid but we shall look into it again in the future when we have built up our reserves or obtained funding through a grant.

Date of next meeting - Monday 30th March 2009 at 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the 5th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 27th October 08

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Norman Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick , Anne Nadin, Gwen and Wayne Stephens and Brian Wainwright.

Apologies:
John Ashworth, Linda Ferneyhough, Noreen Wainwright and Christine Woodward.

Minutes of the 4th meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were accepted and signed as correct.

Matters Arising

Eye witness accounts – Glenys Barlow’s memories were recorded and this will now be edited and stored on the website.
Quiz Night – Fred and Christine were thanked for organising the questions and raffle. £47 was raised but £10 was given out as prize money. Everyone agreed that it had been a very pleasant evening and Fred has agreed to organise more questions for another evening on Thursday January 15th.
Dain’s Mill – The tour of Dain’s Mill was very well attended. Brian Ball was very generous with his time and gave us an interesting talk about the different parts of the mill. Some of this has been recorded and Bob has put photographs and the first piece of audio onto the website. The rest will now be edited and added.
Exhibition – It was suggested that we should try to mount a display for the day of the Church fete as well as the week of the flower festival. Fred has kindly offered to loan the group his display panels for use in the village hall.
Speakers – Irene has not been able to speak to Ray Poole or Joan Bennett yet but will endeavour to do so in November.

Finance
Anne reported that we have collected £81, including tonight’s subscriptions.

Reports of the research groups

Lost properties. Gwen has found additional photographs on the internet for the extension of the reservoir.
Water Mills. Fred has found additional information (in British History online) relating to Dain’s Mill, Waterhouse Mill and Mills at Turner’s Pool and Dieulacres.
Wells. A study of old maps has revealed that there were wells in Leekfrith opposite Church Cottages, at The Marsh and at Middle Hulme, as well as several outlying farms. Pumps were also recorded at 7 additional farms.

Future plans
It was agreed that the research groups need to meet to organise the information found and to start to prepare it in a manner which will be good enough to use in the exhibition.

Local Maps
A selection of old maps of the parish were brought to the meeting, as well as documents from Dain’s Mill, papers from Mary Breeze and local history books. It was interesting to see what we could learn from them and we felt they were worthy of much more time being spent on them where possible.

AOB
None

Date of next meeting - Monday 12th January 2009 at 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the 4th meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 18th August 08

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Christine and Fred Bradshaw, Bob Foster, Norman Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick , Anne Nadin, Noreen and Brian Wainwright, Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Gwen and Wayne Stephens, John Ashworth

Minutes of the 3rd meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were accepted as correct.

Matters Arising

Interviews – Irene will start by talking to Glenys Barlow.
Quiz Night – We shall hold a fund raising quiz night on Thursday October 16th at the Lazy Trout, beginning at 8.00 p.m. Entry will cost £1 per person with a maximum number of 4 people in each team. There will be a prize of £10 for the best team. Fred agreed to supply the questions, Noreen will inform locals through the newsletter and Irene will make and distribute the posters. Raffle prizes will be supplied by members and Brian will bring the raffle tickets.
Dain’s Mill – We agreed that it would be beneficial if the whole group could be invited to the tour of Dain’s Mill. Christine has contacted Brian Ball and Bob will phone him again to see if 26th August is convenient for him. Members should meet there at 7.30 p.m. Car sharing will probably help, where possible.
Exhibition – It was agreed that we should ask the organizers of the flower festival for permission to hold an exhibition of our work in the village hall next year. This would include photographs and some findings from our research.
A discussion took place about the relevance of Alan Williamson’s material and it was suggested that Ray Poole be approached about his photographs of the area. Irene will ask him.

Finance
Anne reported that we now have £23 in our funds. She will set up an account with Leek United Building Society on behalf of the group, with two signatures out of four being required for withdrawals. A £1 subscription was paid by all present. Irene will contact CVS about other funding.

Reports of the research groups

Lost properties. The photos of the area before the latest extension to the reservoir have been added to the website.
Water Mills. Two appointments were made to visit Dain’s Mill but the weather conditions made it inappropriate. Bernard Allen will be invited to the visit on 26th August as he was the last person to take corn for milling. No further information about Waterhouse Mill has been obtained as yet.
Wells. Heather has ascertained that every property on the lane to Hillswood has a spring. Further reading of the directories in Leek library has provided much interesting information, but nothing of relevance to Meerbrook well. A study of old local maps will now be undertaken.

Future plans

It was agreed that members should bring to the next meeting any copies of old maps which they hold.
It was agreed that Irene should confirm a date with Joan Bennett for advising us on our methods of research.

AOB
None

Date of next meeting

Monday 27th October 2008 at 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the 3rd meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 30.July.08

Present:
Heather Ashworth, Bob Foster, Gwen Stephens, Wayne Stephen, Noreen Wainwright, Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Irene Kirkpatrick , Nell Boulton, Fred and Christine Bradshaw, Brian Wainwright, June Sherratt, John Ashworth

Minutes of the 2nd meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting were accepted as correct.

Matters Arising

The website has been set up – www.leekfrithhistory.org.uk. The cost is approx £40 and has been paid by Bob Foster. This will be reclaimed when the society has sufficient funds.
A £1 subscription was paid by all present . This will be given to Anne Nadin by Gwen.
A digital recording machine has been purchased by Irene at a cost of about £35. This will be reclaimed when the society has sufficient funds. Noreen commented that she had a tape recording of Charlie Fernyough which she will hopefully bring to the next meeting.
No interviews have been conducted as yet.
Funding issues will be addressed on Irene’s return.

Adopting a formal constitution
The draft constitution was accepted without any changes.

Reports of the research groups

Lost properties. Gwen has obtained, from Severn Trent, photographs of the valley prior to the flooding and documents on the compulsory purchase of land. Also a photocopy of the Inauguration Booklet for the formal opening of the reservoir by Princess Margaret. Unfortunately 2 pages are missing. It is hoped someone in the area may have an original copy. The photos will be added to the website.
Water Mills. No further progress since the last meeting. Christine had some notes about Waterhouse Mill from Ron Allen and may interview Hilda Allen to expand on them.
Wells. No progress since last meeting.

Future plans

It was suggested by Noreen that we have a quiz night at the Trout to raise funds. This will be discussed at the next meeting to set something up in Oct/Nov.
A tour of Dains Mill sometime before the end of September was proposed. Bob to discuss with Irene.
The idea of an exhibition of our findings in the Village Hall for the Fete or Flower festival was put forward.
As a fund raiser could we run a slide show like Alan Williamson did for the Centenary celebrations for the village hall?.
Does Alan Williamson have any material which would be useful to us?

AOB
None

Date of next meeting

Monday 18th August 2008 at 8.00 pm as the last Monday of that month is the Bank holiday.

Minutes of the 2nd meeting of Leekfrith Bygone Days. Monday 28.04.08

Present:
Heather and John Ashworth, Bob Foster, Ivy Goodwin, Irene Kirkpatrick, Margaret Moss, June Sherratt, Gwen Stephens, Brian Wainwright, Christine Woodward.

Apologies:
Glenys Barlow, Nell Boulton, Fred and Christine Bradshaw, Linda Ferneyhough, Norman Goodwin, Gill Heath, Anne Nadin, Wayne Stephens, Noreen Wainwright.

Minutes of the inaugural meeting:
Minutes of the last meeting, having been circulated were accepted as correct but held for signing until the Chair was appointed.

Election of Chair
Bob Foster was proposed as Chair by Irene Kirkpatrick and seconded by Gwen Stephens.

Election of Secretary
Irene Kirkpatrick was proposed as secretary by Bob Foster and seconded by Heather Ashworth.

Election of Treasurer
Anne Nadin was proposed as Treasurer (in her absence) by Irene Kirkpatrick and seconded by Bob Foster. (Anne had agreed to this when giving her apologies.)

Adopting a formal constitution
Prior to the meeting, Colleen Savage from CVS (Leek) had collected information from Irene Kirkpatrick and Gwen Stephens regarding the inaugural meeting, membership and contact details of the group and had agreed to help to draft the constitution, by liaising with the secretary. This draft is to be proposed at the meeting in June and if satisfactory to be adopted by the membership.

Reports of the research groups

Lost properties. Local history books and old maps have been used to gain more information about the properties lost to the extended reservoir. June has verified names of two residents of Fountain Cottages and will talk to Mrs. Findlow from the Fountain Inn.
Water Mills. Brian Ball of Daines Mill has a lot of information regarding the mill but the group has not been able to visit it just yet. Bernard Allen was the last person to take corn to be milled there. Eye witnesses recalled seeing Waterhouse Mill, but never in use.
Wells. The group met at the village well to record it as it is at present, taking measurements and photographs. They have also met at the local history section of Leek library to look at maps and trade directories. Eye witness accounts are needed next.

Future plans

Bob will start to set up the website so that records can be stored in a manner which is accessible to a wider audience.
It was agreed that each member should give £1 per meeting to help to fund this.
Irene agreed to find out the costs of digital dictation machines so that interviews can be taped, either ready for transcription or to record straight on to the website.
It was agreed that interviews will need to be informal with questions leading to reminiscences and written records will be in a conversational style.
It was agreed that the history walk would probably need to be delayed a little while we establish the group and the research.
It was suggested that the work of the WI (under the guidance of E W Bass) on recording the details of the parish gravestones be added to the website as a future project with the permission of the WI.

AOB
John suggested that we ask CVS for ideas for organizations to approach for funding as we shall need help for our future plans.

Date of next meeting

Monday 30th June at the later time of 8.00 pm.

Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the group to be called - "LEEKFRITH - BYGONE DAYS"

A notice appeared on the notice board of The Lazy Trout pub in Meerbrook, posted by Irene Kirkpatrick and inviting those interested in the history of Meerbrook and surrounds, to attend a meeting at the pub on Monday, 25th Feb 2008 at 7.30pm. A number of people turned up and those present were:-

          Irene Kirkpatrick
          Heather Ashworth
          June Sherratt
          Fred and Christine Bradshaw
          Wayne and Gwen Stephens
          Bob Foster
          Glenys Barlow
          Margaret Moss
          Norman Goodwin
          Ann Naden

A number of people sent their apologies saying they wanted to be involved but were unavoidably absent on the evening and these were:-

          Gill Heath
          Nell Boulton
          Ivy Goodwin
          Christine Woodward
          Noreen Wainwright.

It was clear from the attendance and interest that there was more than enough to start a group, but at that stage, there were no elected officers and as a temporary arrangement, Irene Kirkpatrick would take the chair and Fred Bradshaw would be acting secretary for the evening. For the group to be properly constituted as " LEEKFRITH - BYGONE DAYS", as it will be seen in the minutes below that was the name decided upon, there would have to be a proper election of officers with proposer and seconder for each position, and in the event of more than one person being proposed for the same office, a vote to appoint, Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.

1. The meeting got underway with the apologies listed above.

2. In discussion prior to the meeting, it was clear that the history of this area was of great interest to all present and the name which was suggested by Bob Foster was "LEEKFRITH -BYGONE DAYS" which seemed to please everybody. It was agreed we should split up into 3 groups in the 1st year to study the general heading of WATER. The sub-heading of the 3 is:-

(1) Wells

(2) Mills

(3) Properties Lost To The Reservoir.

3. A 2nd theme for the future, Religion and the buildings relevant to that subject.

4. Bob Foster suggested that we start a web site where we could collect and display all the information of interest that we uncovered, and this was well received.

5. It was agreed that we would have the meetings every 2 months on a Monday evening and the venue would be The Lazy Trout.

6. It was agreed that, although Leekfrith was the area involved, we would blur the boundaries to include the whole of Upper Hulme and other places adjacent to Leekfrith Parish boundary.

7. Bob Foster gave an up-date on work being done on the well next to the Methodist Chapel in Meerbrook, including work hoped to be carried out and funded by grants that would be available if we can unearth a knowledge of the history of the Well.

8. Irene Kirkpatrick listed a number of people whom she felt would have information and could be of assistance in our research and details were taken down by the individuals who thought this may be relevant to them.

9. Those present were split into the 3 groups listed above and are as follows:-

Wells - group leader Irene assisted by Heather, Ann and Bob.

Lost Properties - group leaders Wayne & Gwen assisted by June and Norman

Mills - group leader Margaret assisted by Fred & Christine, although Bob said he would also like to be involved in this project.

Glenys said she would like to be able to float over each of the groups and assist as necessary.

10. It was agreed that during summer months, meetings could start and finish at the pub with outside visits to places of interest in between.

11. It was suggested by Bob Foster that we should apply for grants to finance the expenses we were bound to incur from time to time, and this was to be a subject for discussion at the next meeting.

12. The meeting was asked that, if they knew of anybody who had experience of running a similar group to ours, could we ask them if they can assist us in our early days with suggestions on the best way forward and of doing things in the most effective way.

13. All were asked to give details of e-mail addresses, postal addresses and tel. nos. to Irene who would prepare a list for distributing to all members.

14. Christine proposed and all accepted, that Fred would write up the minutes of this meeting!!

15. The date of the next meeting was set for Monday 28th April at 7.30pm at The Lazy Trout.

After the meeting, the 3 groups split for informal discussion on their chosen subject and to discuss their first moves.