2013 LHG exhibition "The Way We Were"

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From Hallmark November 2013. The Way We Were. Report by Norman Tyler (click Norman & Bette Tyler or more about Norman)

It was a historic and most memorably enjoyable day in our village hall when our village history group had their second Open Meeting. Some people travelled quite a distance to see the displays and meet people. There was much chatting and joking in the hall from beginning to end of the afternoon.

The day started for the public around 1pm in the smaller room near the entrance, where Joan West had put together a Family Tree display on view. Visitors, unfamiliar as well as familiar to current residents, studied the family tree displays with keen interest all afternoon.

Around 2pm in the main room, Rosemary Mortham introduced the day.

Members of the History group - Rita Probert, Joyce Walker, Doug Tilbury, Dennis Claydon and Gordon May - had put together a brief history of their memories of when they were children around the 1940s. They had walked round the villages recording their memories of what was there back then. There were fewer houses and roads. Houses had been extended, road and house names changed. Roads had sometimes been just tracks.

Leigh Axe had edited the recordings and added photographs, some modern and some substitutes to keep it visual. He admits he probably got some houses in the wrong place.

It was presented on a big screen, first covering the east side of Lacey Green's Main Road from The Whip pub to Slad Lane, with commentary by ex-resident John Brandon from his memories, then the west side of the road.

There were plenty of photos of previous residents and classes of up to 30 schoolchildren, with and without their teachers. The audience of at least 60 sat with their eyes pinned to the screen. There were plenty of smiles.

Around 3.00pm visitors chose tea, coffee and home-made cakes, taking them to nearby tables and sat devouring them, with plenty of chat. The raffle was then run.

At 3.50pm another presentation on Loosley Row by Rita Probert and Joyce Walker was observed with interest.

Then 6 minutes of Pink Road shots, with information provided by Edwin & Daphne Williams.

Thanks must go to everyone mentioned and to Rosemary Mortham, the project leader, for all the work & time they've put into collecting and displaying the information, photos and facts. Pictures of the event are on www.laceygreen.com. There is talk of the presentation (with corrections) being available online, fingers crossed.