Village Overview
The Beckingham & Saundby local History Group currently has 22 members and was formed in 2005. Sadly, due to it’s sudden unexpected closure the Group can no longer use the Willow Works as a base or for meetings and events. They now mostly meet on the last Thursday of the month at 7pm in the Recreation Room, The Green, Beckingham. Annual membership is £15.00. Entry to events is £4.00 per non member. Please see diary of events below.
Since 2005 the History Group have worked on a number of projects including the production of a book, calendar, notelets and have also held a Village Open Day each year on various themes. Please scroll down to History Group History below for more details of what the Group have achieved to date.
The History Group are always interested to hear from anyone who has memorabilia relating to both Beckingham and Saundby and would welcome contact. They also welcome new members and anyone interested can contact the group via the website or come to any of the meetings planned or selective days/evenings. Due to the Coronavirus situation meetings and events were cancelled during 2020, restarting at the end of 2021. The programme for 2023 has yet to be finalised.
| Date | Details | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| 26/01/23 | Social | Recreation Room 7pm |
| 23/02/23 | Annual General Meeting | Recreation Room 7pm |
| 30/03/23 | “Candlewax, Chicken & Cheese!” | Recreation Room 7pm Everyone welcome |
| 27/04/23 | Bletchley Parks with Keith Appleyard | Recreation Room 7pm Everyone welcome |
| 15/05/23 | Exhibition | Saint Thomas Church Gainsborough 2pm |
| 25/05/23 | Members Night | Recreation Room 7pm |
| 22/6/23 | Visit to Doddington Hall (uniform collection) | 10.30am |
| 27/7/23 | No Meeting | |
| 31/08/23 | Village Treasure Hunt by Dick Dickenson | Recreation Room 7pm |
| 28/09/23 | Tales of the Crown Jewels with Keith Hanson |
Recreation Room 7pm |
| 26/10/23 | Top 10 Scandals of Sherwood Forest with Adrian Gray |
Recreation Room 7pm |
| 30/11/23 | Bomber Command | Recreation Room 7pm |
History of Beckingham & Saundby History Group
The Beckingham & Saundby local History Group was formed in March 2005 as a sub-group of the Willow Works Steering Group in order to research the history of The Old Willow Works.
The late Peter Mason bequeathed a wealth of material and the History Group felt it should be preserved for future generations. Peter Mason had accumulated twelve lever arch files on Beckingham and Saundby village history (a lifetime’s research) which included notes, letters, photographs, slides, deeds etc. The History Group’s first task was to transfer all this material to computer which entailed an enormous amount of work; typing, cataloguing, indexing and scanning.
The group meet regularly in the The Old Willow Works every last Thursday in the month where the planning of work is carried out. The first project the group worked on was a 2007 calendar that was produced in 2006 and which a copy was given to every household in Beckingham and Saundby. Further copies were available to purchase for a small fee. In 2007 a booklet of photographs of Beckingham and Saundby entitled “Photogaphic Memories of Beckingham and Saundby” was produced. This book, again, was given free of charge to all households in the villages and additional copies are still available to purchase – please contact the website if you wish to place an order. The group produced a calendar for 2017 of which a copy was given to every household in Beckingham and Saundby.
To support the items the History Group have produced they have held Open Days in the village to promote their work and collections which have been very successful and have provided an opportunity to involve and invite members of the community and also people outside the community.
Please follow the links below to pages on the various Open Days held to date with details of the themes covered and special guests/promotions:-
Events held by History Group:-
In addition to the Open Days held in Beckingham the group have also taken to the road to display their material at Gainsborough Old Hall (18th November 2006) and Newark Town Hall (22nd November 2006). Other local groups from around the area attended these events and were promoting their individual village schemes. On 27th June 2007 The History Group visited The Museum of Lincolnshire Life where it was believed to hold some miniature baskets produced by workers at The Old Willow Works (and later donated by Mr Gale). Finally, on 17th October the group went on a trip to The Nottingham Archives Office and saw a selection of historical artefacts held there relating to the villages and received a brief descriptive talk on how the artefacts are stored and recorded.
The History Group continue their work, collating more information – in 2007 a copy of a Beckingham Map dated 1736 was acquired and due to Margaret Mason’s forthcoming move away from the village more material has been donated from her late husband’s collection. Margaret Mason had very kindly allowed the group to store material/equipment at The Hall and in appreciation of this they presented her with a framed print of a painting of All Saints’ Church dating back to 1881 (see image above).