Chair's Report, 2021

Chair's Report – 2021

Noel Mitchell, Chairman

The Covid pandemic, which virtually destroyed our 2020 Programme and led to the cancellation of the 2020 AGM, has continued to influence our meetings and other activities right up to and including this 2021 AGM.

The only programmed events that actually took place in 2020 before the onset of Covid in March, were Peter Dawson’s well-received “Gravestone Stories” in January and a successful Annual Dinner in February at the Imperial Hotel.

When the pandemic struck, our normal meetings were not able to take place.

A brief e-mailed consultation suggested that members would prefer that meetings be transferred as necessary to 2021, rather than replaced immediately by Zoom meetings. This became our practice, on a month by month basis, as we passed through 2020.

None of us had expected that Covid would last as long as it has. As 2020 neared its end the Committee realised that this transferring procedure was offering no real service to our members. It was thus decided, where possible, to offer our 2021 talks on Zoom. This procedure was heavily reliant on one particular member to set up such talks, to liaise with each speaker in advance and to offer an induction into Zoom to any MLHG members who felt uncertain about using Zoom. Well done and many thanks to Peter Lavender.

After a winter break, extended by the January speaker withdrawing and the February Dinner being cancelled, 2021 got underway in March with our first clutch of Zoom talks:

Andrew Tullett in February, spoke on “Norfolk Village Signs”, during which we discovered that Martham has more such signs than any other village in the county.

In March, Neil Storey stepped into the breach at short notice with “Norfolk Coast at War”. As interesting and well-received as ever with some revelations that were new to many of us.

And in April David Berwick presented his “Treasures and Curiosities in Norfolk Churches”. His talk prompted a letter of thanks from one member, who was delighted to receive a complimentary copy of David’s latest book.

Attendance at Zoom meetings did not come fully up to our normal level, possibly running at about 75% of normal, but were healthy enough in the circumstances. Of course, refreshments could not be served, but more than a few of us brought our own drinks to the computer! Even the social atmosphere of our normal meetings was not totally absent, especially when we became relaxed enough to join in. with comments and questions.

Serious attempts were made in the summer of this year to run our outdoor events after Covid had destroyed our 2020 plans.

In June a much scaled-down coach trip to Walberswick was attempted, to replace Eye and Wingfield. The coach was ordered, the deposit paid, and some residents of the town were happy to lead us - but for various reasons they had a last minute change of heart. The coach company kindly waived the deposit and we all stayed at home. I wonder how many of us would have undertaken the journey.

Ann is made of sterner stuff than most, so the July event, Exploring Historic Winterton, went ahead, aided by some long-standing local residents whose contribution was hailed as a great example of oral local history. However, the number attending was lower than we would have hoped. Were people still feeling nervous?

In August our Rows and Marketplace visit could not be done, but it was replaced by a Waterways Walk, boldly led by Janet Edwards. A safer environment than the town centre, partly because the weather kept holiday-makers at bay. But again, numbers were lower than expected, only 14 of us in two groups, one in a damp early afternoon and the other in the wet late afternoon. It was interesting and would have been lovely on a better day – although we did manage to see Alan the Heron!

All through this difficult period we have tried to keep everyone in touch. We hope that the periodic Newsletters, including longer than usual reports of our events, helped. The event reports continue to appear on our now upgraded website.

Throughout this difficult period 7 or 8 members have formed themselves into the MLHG Archive Group. They have been supported by a community project, funded by the Lottery and managed by the Norfolk Record Office. Our members have received training, various items of equipment have been acquired or loaned to us, a small grant has been received and Record Office staff have attended online MLHG archive meetings.

Here are some examples of the work they are doing:

Members have made four visits to the Archive Centre at County Hall to photograph important Martham records.

They have already photographed documents loaned by Martham residents. We hope that deeds and other documents related to families, businesses and houses in the past will soon come to light following the Chair’s Newsletter request.

A catalogue of all our photographs, documents and artefacts has been created, which will be publicly accessible when we have completed uploading the data.

The Martham Collection of books related to Martham will be brought together in the Martham Library just as soon as the library staff can do this and the building is accessible for browsing. After this, our archive files and their catalogue will also be lodged there for use by members and local people.

Group Leader Peter Lavender has a message: “We would welcome new members. No experience necessary: we are particularly interested in forming an oral history group in the village. We meet online at present. There will be much work to be done in the near future as we develop our collection and the catalogue and seek new archive material. We are not short of ideas.”

I CONCLUDE BY THANKING YOU ALL FOR STICKING TOGETHER DURING THIS DIFFICULT TIME. PARTICULARLY I AM GRATEFUL TO THE COMMITTEE AND ITS OFFICERS. I AM OVER-AWED BY THE ENERGY OF THE ARCHIVE GROUP, AND AS EVER GRATEFUL TO THE METHODIST CHURCH FOR THEIR HOSPITALITY.

Noel Mitchell
Chairman, Martham Local History Group
September 2021