Memory Box Reading Group

Do you love reading and history?

Then the Memory Box Reading group might just suit you down to the ground!

The next session will be Wednesday (15th July) at 2pm when we will be looking at lock ups/blind houses (it also includes pounds), including the fact that pounds pre-date lockups and were used to ‘impound’ livestock if money was owed to a third party!

All are welcome! If you would prefer to attend online please email julie.davis@wiltshire.gov.uk

In-person sessions run on the first and third Wednesday of every month, 2-3.30pm. Entry is free, and we have a free car park right outside the building; we are also situated close to the railway station. If you are unable to join us in person, there is also the option of joining online via Teams, please enquire for further details.

The Memory Box sessions are a unique opportunity for anyone who is at a loose end to come along and listen to book extracts from our Local Studies Library on a wide range of topics, take a look at a range of documents from our Archive collection and photographs from our Local Studies Collection, not to mention tea/coffee, biscuits and chatting as we go!

Feel free to join in with any thoughts or memories you may have, or just listen and enjoy the friendly atmosphere with others and the chance to take a look at many fascinating and little seen items from our vast range of collections.

Topics we have covered so far have been as wide-ranging as Royal Forests, the workhouse, the fair, law and order, education, the cinema and various aspects of social history. The extracts mostly cover Wiltshire, but we also find out about the origin of the subjects to add context, covered by our general reference (Heritage Collection) held at the library. Group members are welcome to suggest topics of interest for future sessions and this is proving to be both successful and interesting to date.

The will of Elizabeth Peacock who was accused and tried for witchraft in the seventeenth century

The will of Elizabeth Peacock who was accused and tried for witchraft in the 17th century, from the WSHC archive collection

You will be amazed by what there is to discover and uncover; we’ve found out about sea eagle bones which were purported to have been used in medieval bird hawking; the common labourer who was writing to tell others of the plight of his follow workers in the 18th century, the champion of the poor who led the working class radical movement in the early 19^th century, and much, much more!

If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to contact Julie, the Local Studies Librarian at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, who is the Memory Box session lead.

Email: julie.davis@wiltshire.go.uk or Tel: 01249 705534

Comments from attendees include “Brings back memories I’d forgotten I had”; “It’s lovely to hear other people’s ideas and learn new things”; “Brings up questions and new things to think about”…

“It has always been very important for me to learn about culture, folklore, tradition… I have never stopped reading about each one of the counties where I’ve lived with my family. Places and peoples are always there just waiting to be rediscovered especially those wonderful things that others left in previous decades and centuries.  Wiltshire is no exception and is a county that needs to continue to be rediscovered through the excellent dedicated and elaborate research that you and your colleagues do to bring to life the sessions that you kindly provide month by month.  I do so look forward to continue attending your sessions.”

“The sessions are important to me because I try to get out to meet and talk with different people every day, which I think in retirement is important for physical and mental health. If we can learn something new together that is a big bonus. The atmosphere at the History Centre is very uplifting. We generally get a welcome and thank you after, and we get very positive responses to any queries or comments which contrasts with the cynicism and negativity and hostility I find in most places.

I think I would have problems coping with the banality of life in retirement if it was not for uplifting experiences like your sessions.”

“This year I was shocked to discover that I had lived alone, and visited with no one, for six years and resolved to do something about it.  I visited several ‘groups’ of peoples with the hope that they would befriend me and help me deal with my isolation. Unfortunately, not knowing anything about TV soap opera or sport I was unable to take advantage the friendship and I found myself just a positively on the outside. The only thing I took away from one of those meetings was the Memory Box printed leaflet.  I nearly filed it away under ‘don’t bother’ but something about the presentation enticed me to phone.

At first I was unsure. Would I be welcome.  Why are they allowing me in. What am I expected to do?

I need not have worried.

You all allowed me to sit with you unquestioned and without having to explain myself and you shared with me my favourite pass time listening to historical accounts of local events and handling priceless historical artifacts. I saw you all experiencing the same joy and delight as me. It was like returning to the camaraderie of early school.

It was the proverbial act of ’a kindness of strangers’. Even though you did not know it you were all enabling me to return to a way of life I thought I had permanently lost, because it was not about talking with people I needed, it was about sharing with people.”

We look forward to meeting you!