Arlingham WI: Howard Beard: ‘Life in the Stroud Valleys a century ago through old photographs.’

OUR speaker this month was Howard Beard, who kicked our July meeting off with a fascinating talk entitled: ‘Life in the Stroud Valleys a century ago through old photographs.’

Howard has been collecting old photos for over thirty years and his talk took in many of the Stroud villages as we went on a historical tour arranged alphabetically.

He has over 15,000 images dating from Victorian times up to the Second World War.

We started in Amberley and ended in Woodchester, with Howard’s research and insider knowledge gained from family and friends really bringing the photos to life.

It was the social customs depicted that really struck us such as the ‘dressing of the wells’ in Bisley, donkeys delivering bread up the narrow streets of Chalford, or people going about their daily work.

The photos also depicted some of the great events of the time such as the General Election of 1910 and the Mid-Gloucester historical pageant of 1911.

The latter had 1,100 participants and lasted two and a half hours, told in rhyming couplets.

Many of our group recognised places or even some of the fabulous characters and it was interesting to see how life has changed over the last century and reassuring to see that some things have in fact remained almost the same.

We were given two golden tips by the speaker that are worth sharing;

1. Ask family to write the names of people and places on the back of old photos while you still have the chance.

2. Copy your photos to computer and leave the originals in a different location.

All in all this was a wonderful trip down memory lane as well as an important lesson in social history.

The business of the meeting followed with details of upcoming events including;

- willow for Christmas craft day in October at Bredon

- a day visit to Denman

- walks at Woolaston, Kingswood and Bourton-on-Water

- coach trip to Bristol visiting Hindu and Sikh temples

Congratulations went to Julie on having her competition entry: ‘A letter to my younger self’ forwarded on to national judging in the Lady Denman Cup.

Refreshments by Pauline and Carol were much appreciated.

Flowers were donated by Chrissie and given to Chris and Jeanette.

The competition for: ‘an item beginning with U’ was won by Val with a picture of Ullswater, second place went to Carol with a unicorn and third place was won by Linda with a photo of ‘Uncle Tom’.

In August we will be welcoming Newnham WI to Arlingham.

Normal meetings resume in September on the second Thursday of the month at 7.30pm.

Newcomers are always welcome.