ADDERBURY HISTORY ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES 25TH BIRTHDAY

Hard on the heels of Adderbury Theatre Workshop's 30th anniversary, The Institute has hosted a celebration of another of the good things of our village life - the 25th birthday of the Adderbury History Association
The 8th Institute AHA Exhibition told the story of how four of today's members were in a group of residents who met at The Bell in 1982, and agreed that Adderbury's rich history should be recorded for the benefit of future generations - and so AHA was born
A year later they were joined by Iris Collier, and today's President Barry Davis (Adderburylad!)
The exhibition was a splendid testament to the dedication of Barry and his colleagues over the years. An excellent turnout of visitors were engrossed by displays new and old of 25 years' AHA work: - Adderbury trades, the indepth analysis of the fascinating 1735 village map, a huge array of farm implements collected by the late John Fox (who himself contributed so much to the group), a record of how AHA was invited to walk the route of the new M40 to search for artefacts, the story of Adderbury Morris, and the latest addition to the archives: the awesome bellows recently rescued from the blacksmith's on the Oxford Road
We were also reminded that one of AHA’s first campaigns was to preserve the Ice House, followed by research projects into all manner of subjects key to our past: families, houses, schools, pubs, roads, railways, agriculture, ironstone, graves, bells, wills, poor law, hedges, sports, Adderbury at war, and the massive undertaking to transcribe the Elton papers
AHA has published several excellent works: the Walkabout (1983), the Adderbury Picture Book, Adderbury Inns & Public houses, 1000 Years of Adderbury History (to celebrate our own Millennium in 1995) and latterly a superb CD of Adderbury Then and Now from Barry Davis's definitive collection of 1000's of village photos and postcards. Many of these publications are still available
Visitors to the exhibition talked animatedly about what AHA meant to them: Vera Wood's tireless research into family histories recalled people from all over the world being reunited; others described the strengthening of their attachment to the village by understanding more of its past, and many emphasised the importance of recording tales from older residents before it is too late - we heard the one about the elephant escaping from the circus and spending the night in a barn in Green Farm!

So what of the future?
AHA are always looking for more Adderbury memorabilia, and would be very grateful to have access to those treasures you might have hidden away - with today's scanning technology it's probably only a 24 hour loan period to copy items - for example does anyone have a photo of Hall's shop, or any village cricket items?
And it's not just the old stuff - events of more recent years need to be recorded for future generations. Do please contact Barry Davis (01295 258412 or email info@adderburyhistoryassociation.org.uk) with details of your memorabilia
AHA always offers a very warm welcome to new members. They meet on the third Monday of every month - why not come along?
Details are posted in Contact, on www.adderbury.org, or email info@adderburyhistoryassociation.org.uk

Well done Adderbury History Association - and thankyou for the amazing success of your 25 years' contribution to our heritage

Trish Fennell
November 5 2007