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A Message from the President of the Society ..
Dear Members and Friends,
Following the recent AGM I wanted to put in writing my thoughts about why the Heritage Society is so important and ask you to help in finding ways to enable it to continue its past successes.
I arrived in Princes Risborough as a newly-fledged GP in the 1960s, living above my little surgery at the bottom of the High Street. It didn't take long to appreciate the town's historic interest, or sad to say, what it was in danger of losing at time when it was undergoing a major expansion. One morning I was woken by the sound of demolition and was just in time to see the wanton destruction of the large terracotta lion that had kept watch on the Market Square for more than 100 years. Its loss acted as an alarm call to residents and councillors alike. People became more aware of historic features that familiarity had led them to take for granted and out of this the Heritage Society was born.
The Society's aims were to record and promote as much knowledge of the past as possible, using that to help the newly emerging town to blend well with the old. I believe one can honestly claim that it has been fulfilling those aims by collecting memorabilia, arranging talks and walks, through publications and exhibitions, and by responding to questions from around the globe.
Sadly, though, changes in patterns of social life, and perhaps most particularly the impact of the recent Covid pandemic, have had a negative impact on the Society, with increasing administrative costs and a reducing membership, despite a very loyal nucleus. That reduction in membership has inevitably led to difficulty in keeping an effective committee and for too many years it has been impossible to elect a sufficent number of committee members to fill the various aspects of the Society that gave it its vitality.
The approaching Annual Town Festival provides an opportunity for the Society to show its face in the High Street, when at the kind invitation of the Committee of the Literary Institute the Society will put on its usual Local History Exhibition. This has always attracted a large number of residents of all ages, and hopefully some will be persuaded to follow up on their visit by actively supporting the Society and giving it the fresh blood that is so essential to keeping any organisation viable. The Society's Chairman, Chris Kingham, will also be repeating the walks through the Conservation Area that he and I started many years ago and he has continued to lead..
The exhibition will be in the upstairs hall of the Instute between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday 13th July, and will be freely open to all. Please come, enjoy the show , and use your enthusiasm for the history of this lovely area to encourage others to join the Society. ..
Thank you for reading this,
Sandy Macfarlane