History Society Exhibition a great success!

I’ve just come from the Village Hall, at the close of day two of Aycliffe Village History Society’s exhibition. I’d called in earlier today, and the hall was as full of people at 4 o’clock as it was at 12 noon. Ex-Aycliffe Village Primary School Headmaster and History Society member Harry Moses revisited old times when he had to ring the bell twice to get visitors to leave the hall!

There were more than 200 visitors on the first day of the exhibition, and by lunchtime today well over 100 people had dropped in. The final number of visitors isn’t yet known, but it is expected to be around 500.

Many people spent hours poring over old documents, press clippings, photgraphs and maps. Even more people had brough items of interest, either related to the village in general, or to the Royal Ordnance Factory in particular. The scanner and photocopier were in operation all day, with visitors able to request copies of documents, photographs and maps, for a nominal fee.

Some folks enjoyed the opportunity to have a cup of tea and a scone, and reminisce with other villagers.

The exhibition was visited by Alisdair from the Great Aycliffe Podcast and he interviewed several members of the History Society for his next podcast. Once that show is online, I’ll post a link here.

All in all, an excellent weekend and a great success!

As more photographs and information are forthcoming, I’ll add them here.

 

Excellent article in Northern Echo

There was a great full page article in The Northern Echo yesterday about part of the history of Aycliffe Village. It also publicised our history weekend, and there were thanks for Harry Moses and David Lewis. Well done chaps! If the article appears online, I’ll link to it on this page.

 

Aycliffe Podcast

A podcast is a type of radio show that is produced on a computer and can be listened to on a computer or on an mp3 player. There are thousands of podcasts available, but one that might interest our readers is called the Aycliffe Podcast (Aycliffe in this case means Great Aycliffe) Take a listen   http://www.aycliffepodcast.com/

 

Update on Village Hall improvements

1. Julian Lenahan said,

   September 6, 2006 @ 8:55 am · Edit

   Over the last couple of weeks,the contractors have been finishing off the alterations to the village hall – which have enabled us to provide a disabled access toilet, revamp the old male & female toilets and create a new kitchen (as the old one had seen better days!).
   We are now at the final stages of the alterations, painting, filling and the obligatory “throwing out of tat” stage. I would like to thank all of the committee members (and especially those villagers who aren’t on the committee) who attended to paint, clean, move and make refreshments etc. Additionally I would like to thank the youth of the village for pitching in – showing that when asked, they can make a valuable contribution!!!
   The computer suite is also in the final stages of being set up, so hopefully we’ll have a hall that is able to serve the needs of the village – at every age!

 

Reminder: History Society Exhibition – 9th & 10th September

Aycliffe Village History Society is holding an exhibition in the village hall on Saturday 9 September and Sunday 10 September between 10am and 4pm each day. There will be old church records available, a copy of the 1901 village census, details about the mills that were on the River Skerne and lots more information on the village history. if you have any old photos, records or information that you would like to include in the exhibition please contact either Harry Moses tel.321773 or David Lewis tel. 319196. Looking forward to seeing you all.

 

A post from Neil Glaves/Neil Atkinson

We’ve had an enthusistic comment from an Aycliffe Village ex-pat – I’ve posted most of it here:

My God! Some people have finally gotten together and found some history about my birthplace and childhood home. I have been trying for years to find out more about the history of the village and I spent the first 14 years of my life happily in the best place in the world.I lived in St Andrews Close, and my father was Geoffery Atkinson who sadly passed away in 1980. My Grandparents were called Stan and Phyllis Atkinson who lived in North Terrace which was formally a pub. My Uncle Les still lives in the house. I have many fond memories of the village, the school, the church, the green, and the people.
I remember you Julian, you lived in Millfields and you were a year older than me I think the same age as Paul Atkinson my cousin.
I am 37 yrs old now and have been left Aycliffe Village for 23yrs but I still come back and look a round and reminise…
I am going to come to the historical thing on the 9th sept. Thanks for doing this, I have just spoken to Mr Moses for the first time in 27 years!
If you dont mind I would like to voice an opinion, back then the whole Village seemed to be a family now though a lot of people have moved in from elsewhere and it doesnt have the same feeling!
I grew up in the village and I shout about the people and the place to whoever will listen on my travels ( I work for the Radio and TV now) and would like to end like this If I ever die and I will I want to die in the prettiest Village God ever created Thats AYCLIFFE VILLAGE………..
Thanks Neil Glaves ( formerly Neil Atkinson)

To read the rest, including a list of Neil’s relatives with village conections, read his full comment to our first message, currently at the bottom of this page.

Neil, thanks very much!

 

Aycliffe Village Hall improvements

Great Aycliffe Village Hall (Diamond Jubillee School)
The village hall alterations are well underway… with the toilets & kitchen being swapped around to allow us to create a disabled access suite – and combine all of the toilet facilities at one end of the property.
The works mean that the hall is temporarily out of bounds to villagers who would normally be using it during the summer months, but i hope the inconvenience will be well worth it in the end!

 

A history of Aycliffe

This is an interesting site maintained by John Clare, the Deputy Head at Greenfield School. Lots of useful information to be found – did you know that in Norman times, Aycliffe Village was a concentration camp?

 

Local Scouting info required please

Julian posted this as a comment, but I feel it deserves an entry to itself:
He said:

I’d personally like to hear from anyone who was a BP Scout at Aycliffe Village from the beginning to the present day. We have just started a new group up in the village and it would be nice to have a group of memories & anecdotes that can be shared with all of the younger kids – you know the sort of thing… camping on Roseberry Topping in the middle of a gale, long baot trips in Wales etc.
So if you read this and think “those were the days!”, then pen something and we’ll be off to a fine start.
Additionally, I know that the village had a Boy Scout troup from the thirties onwards, so if anyone has any information, please post it…

 

Old Pictures of Aycliffe Village

Andrew Hutton has kindly sent a link to a few old photos of the village.  He might have some more, (so keep checking back) but in the meantime if you go here you can see what he has so far.