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The origins of the Society go back more than 50 years to the Letters pages of the Longridge News. In January 1970 the late Brian Bamber noted the number of letters, articles and photographs on local history topics which appeared from time to time in the local paper and enquired whether there was any interest among readers. He floated the idea of a local history group. The suggestion was quickly taken up by a Mr. Jones at that time the warden of Hothersall Lodge and a member of the Lancashire Historic Society. From these tentative steps and following discussions with others, the first meeting of the fledgling society was held at St. Cecilia’s School on Tuesday 14th April 1970. A fortnight later the second meeting took place at the same venue when the name of the Society and an annual subscription of 10 shillings (50p) were agreed. Mr. Dodd, a teacher at the school, chaired the meeting and Mr. Armistead, the Longridge News editor, was asked to be President. The subscription doubled for the 73/74 season and then again for the 78/79 season, though in those days OAPs paid half. The initial aims of the Society were to record and preserve for future generations documents and photographic records of historic buildings and other places in Longridge and surrounding districts together with maps and artefacts, and also investigate various aspects of Longridge’s history. Additionally an objective was to promote local studies for a better understanding of our local environment in general. The Society quickly settled into a pattern of twice monthly meetings on Tuesdays alternating between talks about historical matters in the local area and discussions and investigations of topics of mutual or individual interest. Some 10 years later the discussion/members meetings were curtailed and the focus of the society became a programme of talks by members or invited speakers. During the summer months outings were organised, the first, in August 1970, being to Cage Mill in Dilworth, a manufacturer of wooden handles for small tools and brushes. These summer outings continued for many years, but were eventually curtailed due to declining interest, though they have recently been revived. In 1973, the old Wesleyan Methodist Chapel became the venue for the twice monthly meetings. By this time the Society was acquiring a growing library of books, and in those days the “library” was a suitcase, heavy with books, brought to each meeting by the librarian for members to borrow. However the few steps to ascend to gain access to the meeting room were a challenge with a heavily leaden case. Later the availability of a nearby cabin for the meetings eased the situation. In 1991 the society moved to its present venue in St. Paul’s Centenary Room. The day of the meetings was changed to Thursday, still twice monthly. Other venues have been used on an occasional basis During the autumn of 2003, the Society, in collaboration with the Lancashire Local History Federation hosted an At Home event. Federation members were invited to enjoy the hospitality of the Society, discover Longridge's heritage and development and have the opportunity to visit places of local interest. There were talks on the reservoirs, the Preston to Longridge railway and the local quarries. Visits included Ribchester's Roman museum and parish church, a guided walk along Longridge's Heritage Trail, a tour of Alston Hall and a photographic tour of Longridge. In the early years of the Society, reviews were issued periodically detailing the findings of investigations undertaken by various members during the preceding period. Annex 1 lists the publications and the titles of the investigations. In all six reviews were published. A photographic record of Longridge was initiated during the first year of the Society’s existence in 1970. These together with the collected and preserved older photographs were eventually mounted in albums, numbering 240 to 300 pictures in each. The five albums of old photographs and one album of photographs from the 1970 project were eventually published in 1999. They were collectively entitled “The Way We Were in Old Photographs”. They are supplemented by an album of aerial photographs of old Longridge, an album depicting the refurbishment of the old Co-Op building in 2006/07, together with a miscellany of newspaper cuttings and an album of photographs taken to record a number of sites scheduled for redevelopment. The entire collection is entitled “The Bamber Collection”. As well as a photographic record of Longridge, members were encouraged to record their memories of past times. The archive with other local history recordings amounts to 50 audio cassette tapes. The collection of tapes now resides in the Lancashire records Office, and are also available to hear on CDs in the Society’s collection. The CDs are also listed in Annex 1. During the early years of the Society it was not unusual for members of the Society to be involved in archaeological excavations. One such was at Easington in Bowland where traces of a medieval village were discovered together with artifacts. Towards the end of 1999, the Society embarked on a project to document the town at the start of the new Millennium. It was decided to create a photographic record of every road and significant building in Longridge at this snap shot in time. Accordingly the town was divided into four areas each of which was assigned to different photographers. The subsequent photographs by each photographer were collected into four albums entitled “Longridge in the New Millennium 2000”. They and the earlier photographs form the core of the photographic archive at the Longridge Heritage Centre where they are available to view. In the early years of the new millennium, the Longridge Heritage Committee (now no longer existing) proposed the installation of a number blue plaques on notable buildings around the town to identify those buildings and structures that were of significant and historic importance to the town. In November 2005 Longridge Town Council pledged an initial sum of £500 to pay for initial artwork with additional funding from Lancashire County Council. The estimated total cost for the cast plaques was £3000. The views of local residents was sought on which buildings merited a plaque. Planning applications were required for blue plaque on listed properties. In September 2006 the first blue plaque was unveiled on a building originally known as The Quarryman’s Arms and at the time was called the Longridge Restaurant. Six other plaques were created for the Old Co-op Building, Club Row, the Youth and Community Centre, the former Methodist Church in Berry Lane, the Towneley Arms and Newtown. These plaques were sponsored by the History Society and Longridge Partnership. In March 2007, Longridge Town Council agrees in principle to fund a plaque for the refurbished Station Buildings which together with seven more on landmarks chosen to receive blue plaques brought the total to 15. These eight plaques were sponsored by the History Society and Ribble Valley Borough Council. The ravages of time resulted in some of the plaques becoming difficult to read or indeed illegible. By early 2023 it was felt that the plaques needed renovating. All 15 plaques were removed and sent for sand blasting, the blue background colour was reapplied by powder coating and the lettering and edge were carefully over-painted in white. The restored plaques were reinstalled at the same locations or close by. The restoration of the blue plaques was funded by the History Society and donations from local businesses. It is hoped to create a trail visiting all the blue plaques and others that records the history of the town. In 2005 the society became the beneficiary of a very large bequest from one of the original members, Mrs. Mavis Byrne. The sum amounted to £24460. Some was used to acquire a laptop, digital projector and screen, and fund a table top lectern made by the late Ken Willan, a member of the Society. Over the next five years various donations were made, chiefly to Longridge Brass Band (£1000), St. Paul’s Church (£1000), and for the redevelopment of the old station and heritage centre amounting to £2000. A painting of Berry Lane was purchased (£501) which now hangs in the Heritage Centre. In 2009 the Society agreed to promote a Book of Pledges to raise funds to contribute to the cost of refurbishing the old station buildings. The Society was to contribute £1 for £1 pledged up to a maximum of £5000. However the funds raised by this method (£828) were disappointing, even so a further £5000 was donated to the Old Station. A portion of the original bequest currently remains unused. In 2012 a new constitution was adopted. The main provisions were to state how the Society’s funds and artefacts were to be distributed should the Society be discontinued and to restrict the tenure of the chairman to five years. Previously the tenure had been unlimited. Annex 2 lists the chairmen since the Society’s inception. Prior to 2016 meetings were held twice monthly. Typically 12 meetings were programmed. It was then decided to reduce the frequency of the meetings to one a month and extend the season, thereby the number of meetings were reduced by just one in a season. This matter had been under discussion for a number of years and brought the Society in line with neighbouring societies. For almost 50 years the Society had been continually meeting since its formation when for the first time the regular cycle of meetings was interrupted by the COVID pandemic. All meetings between March 2020 and the summer of 2021 were cancelled. Meetings resumed in the September of that year at first on a tentative basis until normality was established the following year. author :- Denis Every summer 2023 |
