Meetings 2003               

 

In the summer of 2003 the group organised two walks, one by John Goodchild around historic sites in the village and one by Brian Thomas around the Walton end of the Barnsley-Wakefield canal 

On 29th April 2003 Peter Wood's talk was entitled 'January 1st in the year 1460. His talked centred around the battle at Sandal Castle 
On 17th March, John Goodchild talked about 'Roads, Canals and Railways around Crofton. As would be expected John illustrated his talk with original documents

On Monday 17th February we had an interesting and informative talk on “Researching a Family Tree” by Margaret Green.  It was after the death of her mother in 1999, when she found herself looking through old family letters, documents and photographs, that Margaret became hooked on family history.

Since then she has made several trips to London, visited places in Lancashire, Gloucestershire and the Lake District, been in contact with family historians in Scotland and Australia, attended courses and talks, been to Archives and Libraries and joined a variety of Family History groups. Not only has she discovered information about her own and her husband’s families but she has learnt a lot about the life and times in which her ancestors lived, worked and died.

The local history book published by the group – “The History of Crofton”  - there are still a few available for sale at the meetings.  At just £5.50 it is excellent value for money

Some talks are directly related to the history of the village, others are of a broader historical nature.  In the summer we have two walks planned, one of which will be led by John Goodchild around Crofton.

 

Members of the Leeds Waits, the official ‘Town Band’ of Leeds City Council, visited the Community Centre, New Crofton, on the evening of Monday January 20th 2003 to inform and entertain us.

Glenys, Pam, Alan and Chris wore 17th century costumes, in Leeds colours of blue and yellow, and brought along a wonderful selection of instruments from the period – recorders, drum, fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, racket and bag-pipes to name but a few.

Besides playing tunes of the times they also encouraged us to join in the songs and dances – a very enjoyable evening.

We are grateful to the Wakefield Express for giving us permission to include the photograph of the performers in their period dress.