Group Delighted with Show and Tell Open Day

Thank you Hambledonians — we had a great response to our invitation to join the Local History Group on 25*‘ September in an event to mark the Hambledon Arts Society's 50" Anniversary.
We were thrilled with the material you brought along for scanning and your evident enjoyment
of the displays of postcards, albums and maps we had put together for you and the conversations, memories and anecdotes that came out.
Here are a few images of the day. One is of Walter Quiney showing Bill Carcary the prizewinning photo he took of Bill when they last met 30 years ago at the Hambledon Photographic
Society. The others show the general activity of the day. 

Three scanners were kept busy the whole of the afternoon session adding a wealth of images to
our developing digital archive. Alongside those capturing the images (thanks Murray, Jon and
MaryAnne) we had fantastic help from Jane Paraska and Philippa recording the stories behind
the photos. Their arms truly ached. We simply could not capture all your material in one afternoon so We will be arranging follow up sessions. Here are a couple of images We have not seen before. The Men of Hambledon Cricketers is from 1934 taken at the same time as others we have seen and the Ice Cream cart in Green Lane looks 1930s.
 
Those waiting for their scanning turn were able to feast on the wonderful photographs and postcard collections of Jean & Ernie Sanders and Fran & JJ that gave an extraordinarily wide-ranging account of Hambledon life from the days of horse transport and self-sufficiency at the start of the 20th century through two World Wars to the 1950's and 60's when people began to look beyond Hambledon for their everyday needs. The Albums, Frances Rhodes picture of the Village in 1982, and those of the WI, cricket and the Millennium exhibition conjured up so many memories to be enjoyed with tea and cake! And, for map enthusiasts, Stephen had a fascinating display showing how the 1842 Tithe map will be superimposed on modern maps using digital technology that is being implemented by Alisdair MacKenzie from his workplace in the UAE which will allow detailed comparison of now and then.

The evening session was just as busy and, again, there was a lively buzz as people looked at the
displays and reminisced over a glass of wine. Mark Pitchforth of the Hampshire Record Office
joined us for the evening and brought a display with him — the County Archive already has over
5,000 Hambledon entries. Murray and Jon were able to project some of the newly scanned images on the big screen and Pat spoke about our oral history project — there are over 60 people who have lived in Hambledon for more than 50 years and she and her team of interviewers aim to meet with all of them to record their memories for posterity.

A big thank you to everyone who supported this bustling Show-and-Tell that unearthed so many memories. The interest and enthusiasm of everyone attending was inspiring and although
there is a huge amount to do we are confident We will achieve our goal to create a living history of photographs and memories, and to keep it updated as years go by. We hope to preserve a continuous record of the village before photographs disperse and memories fade. Digital photography provides both a challenge and an opportunity: today's photographers tend to keep their photographs electronically rather than print them as previous generations have. But their big advantage is the ease with which they can be posted to a Website or social media for a wider audience to enjoy.

Everyone who took part in this event enjoyed it and looks forward to the next Show-and-Tell
which the Local History Group will announce in 2016. In the meantime there's an exciting mountain of material which we are organising in a way that all can share. Get ready for more excitement ahead!
Caroline, Pat and Murray