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Tunstall Town is due to reopen on 5 September after a major and very expensive refurbishment and paintings by HL Pratt will be on permanent public display.

These include Trent Vale, Basford Bank, Longton, Hartshill, Cliffe Vale and Penkhull.

Harry Lark Pratt [ 1803 – 1873] was born in Derby but moved to Stoke in 1803.  He worked at Minton.

He was commissioned by London publishers Chapman and Hall to make drawings of the baronial halls of Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire.

More information at https://www.stoke.gov.uk/news/article/1113/historic_tunstall_town_hall_given_a_new_lease_of_life_and_set_to_reopen

We begin a new season on September 6th with a meeting in Sandbach Library at 8pm. Dave Thomas will talk to us about the history of farming at Tatton Farm. We look forward to seeing old and new members there.

You may be interested in look at the bulletin at the Staffordshire Archives site.

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKSTAFFORDSHIRECC/bulletins/317fad4

Elworth War Memorial was unveiled and dedicated on 16th May 1920 and on Sunday (15th May 2022 ) it was re-dedicated 52 years later. A contingent from Foden’s Band were present.

100 years ago, on Easter Sunday,16th April 1922, the Sandbach War Memorial was unveiled and dedicated.

On Saturday 16th April at 3pm there was a re-dedication organised by the Royal British Legion using the same service as that used in 1922.

According to the Crewe Chronicle of April 22^nd 1922, the dedication took place on the afternoon of Easter Sunday, April 16^th.  Originally there were plans for Scotch Common to be turned into a memorial garden but this turned out to be too expensive.  Instead, £900 was raised through voluntary contributions for a 25 foot octagonal Eleanor Cross made of Portland stone with the names of the fallen on the eight panels.  Hundreds of people attended the unveiling by Lieutenant-Colonel John Kennedy of the Black Watch whose family were from Brookside Hall in Arclid.  The memorial was dedicated by the vicar of St Mary’s Church, the Rev. J. H. Armitstead and boys of the Holmes Chapel Training School (formerly Bradwall Reformatory School) sounded the ‘Last Post’ from the tower of St Mary’s Church.

This may be of interest: the conference is on Saturday 17th September at the Palace Hotel in Buxton

On Friday April 1^st I visited Manchester Central Library to spend some time accessing the 1921 census from Find My Past free of charge and here are some notes which I hope are helpful if you wish to do the same (and avoid paying £2.50 a time to access a transcript or £3.50 to access the original record).

• It is now not possible to take your own computer and access the records from the Library network. You need to use one of the many computers available in the Library.

• In order to access a computer, you need a Manchester Libraries card. There is an online form to complete which you can complete at home or when you get to the Library. You then need to provide ID showing your address (e.g., driving licence).

• Your card will have a 14 character code and you will need to choose a 4 digit PIN. You need to enter both of these when you start to use the computer. You will be given 2 hours access time though if the Library is not busy you can ask for more. So, it is a good idea to do some preparation beforehand so you know who you will be searching for.

• If you use one of the computers in the MLFHS (Manchester Local and Family History Society) section of the Library there is a helpdesk staffed by volunteers to help you if you need it. There is also an instruction sheet for accessing the 1921 census available from the Library helpdesk.

• Once logged on you then see the Welcome Page and you need to click on Family History and Local Studies

• This brings up the access to Find My Past which you need to click on (see attached sheet)

• On the Find My Past page scroll down and access the 1921 Census.

• In order to save your records, you will need a data pen (memory stick) or you can print out the record for 20p per A4 black and white sheet. Alternatively, you can e-mail it to yourself but ensure you have your password to access your email service.

• To save a transcript as a pdf document go to Print and choose Save as pdf. To save a record you can download it and then save it but I found it easier to choose Print and Save as pdf as before.

Richard Vickery April 3rd 2022

Congleton Museum will be the new home of 8000 Roman coins discovered in Peover in 2016. Over the next 12 months volunteers will sort, classify and photograph the coins so that they can be displayed online. See the article from the Chronicle below.

 In 2022 Englesea Brook Museum will be leading the celebrations of the 250^th anniversary of the birth of Hugh Bourne, one of the founders of Primitive Methodism, a movement of particular relevance to Cheshire as it grew out of a series of meetings held on Mow Cop, and Cheshire from then on continued to serve as its spiritual base.  

Also a launch event for the 2022 celebrations which is to be held at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library in Manchester, with Barbara Easton VP, Professor David Bebbington and Dr Jill Barber.  More information on this event will be available nearer the time on our website at www.engleseabrook.org.uk.

Cheshire Archives and Local Studies has a new blog, called Explore Your Archive: Archive Extremes!  

Inspired by Explore Your Archives week, it contains not only the smallest and biggest items held in our collections, but also the oldest, heaviest, brightest and even the oddest!  The blog is available at http://cheshirero.blogspot.com/2021/11/explore-your-archive-archive-extremes.html –