Layout 7 - Biggleswade Rugby Club

TEL: 01234 843905 ADVERTISING: advertising@biggleswadebulletin.co.uk BULLETIN DECEMBER 2011 23Twas Christmas Dayin the WorkhouseThe following three short articles,which appeared in Biggleswadehistory Society’s December 2004Newsletter, show how theWorkhouse inmates, soldiers of theRoyal engineers Signallersstationed in the town and patientsin the Biggleswade Red Crosshospital celebrated Christmas in1914. When Britain had gone towar against Germany in Augustthat year it was commonly believedthat the war would be over byChristmas. how wrong that provedto be; there would be almost fourmore years of war to endure anddeath and destruction on a scalenever before imagined. But for nowit was Christmas – a time of giving,of good cheer and goodwill. Thearticles are reproduced verbatimfrom contemporary BiggleswadeChronicle reports. I have addedfrom the history Society’s archivesa contemporary postcard ofBiggleswade sent home by one ofthe soldiers quartered here. Itshows the Market Square as itlooked then, with the Town hall(now Ask restaurant) and drumclock on the left of picture.Jane Croot, Newsletter Editor.CHRISTMAS AT THEWORKHOUSEthe inmates at the Workhousespent a most enjoyable time at thatinstitution on Christmas day,thanks to no small extent to theexcellent arrangements made fortheir enjoyment by Mr Brind andhis staff and the kindly gifts offriends. a very bright and heartyservice took place in the morning at10.15, when the rev. G. Haroldstrange, Ma gave an excellent andmost appropriate address to theinmates.Dinner was served at 12.30 anda splendid meal it was. the fareconsisted of roast beef, pork andfowl with baked and boiled potatoes,parsnips and cabbage andChristmas pudding. there was alsoginger beer and the muchdiscussed‘beer’. the carvers wereMr F.C. kitchener (guardian) andMr George Wagg (clerk to theBoard) and other guardians presentwere Mr F. Gee, Mr JamesMatthews and Mr F.W. Bray -brooks. these assisted with thework of serving the inmates, as alsodid Miss Braybrooks, Misskitchener and Miss Munsey.after dinner the women wereserved with tea and sugar and themen with tobacco, and all receivedoranges and apples. tea was servedat 5pm, and this meal was also anenjoyable one. the Vicar was alsopresent and also Mr Chew andfamily, and the former had a veryinteresting talk with the people.the ladies of the VisitingCommittee sent a bountiful supplyof toys for the children andtobacco, tea and sugar for theinfirmary patients.in the evening the customaryimpromptu concert took place, MrFrederick Head acting as chairman,and again a happy time was spent,the day as stated earlier, being anenjoyable one throughout. as inprevious years the interior of therooms had been beautifullydecorated for the festive season,and this work, like the arrangementsfor the day, reflected thegreatest possible credit on theMaster, Matron and their staff.SOLDIERS’ CHRISTMASFESTIVITIESalthough some of the soldierswho are quartered in the town weredisappointed at not being able toreturn home for the Christmasseason, all were able to spend ahappy holiday, for they had quite ahost of attractions provided.as announced in our last issue,there was a dance earlier in theweek, and for Christmas Eve andChristmas evening, George’sPicture Palace was speciallychartered and a special list of filmswere shown, while vocal itemswere rendered by a number of thesoldiers, and the orchestra of thenorthern signal Company, underthe direction of Mr Will C. sinclair,supplied the instrumental music.on Boxing Day a dance tookplace at the town Hall, and a bigcompany spent a jolly time.on sunday the soldiers had arest at their billets, but on Mondaythe festivities were continued witha smoking concert taking place inthe town Hall. as previously stated,there is an abundance of musicaltalent among our soldier guests,and the programme was up to theircustomary standard. the weatherwas about as wretched as one couldimagine, but despite this there wasa fair attendance. last evening afancy dress ball was held at thetown Hall, when prizes wereoffered for the three best costumesladies and gents.Continued on page 27Sandy Historical Research GroupPreserving our roots!sanDY Historical researchGroup was founded in late 2001and formally constituted in2002. originally, there was asmall group of like minded individualsthat had come togetherwith a consensus view about thecontinuing erosion of our localheritage. sure, the townCouncil had its roman artefactson display in the CouncilChambers and the population ofschool age were to be encouragedto learn about ancientsandy by the provision of a‘roman sandy’ website.However, it seemed that noonewas looking back into ourmore recent historical past andpreserving material that wouldbe of interest to a wider public.therefore, a gap in our knowledgewas perceived, whichcould be filled by the formationof a local historical researchgroup.since those early days, thegroup has flourished, with itsphotographic archive growinginto today’s archive of over3000 photographs, some datingback to the end of the 19th century.over time, through donationsof material from localcitizens, a large number of physicalartefacts have beenacquired, ranging from wagonwheels to pub signs! in between,the group has also received variousdocuments, includingmaps, deeds receipts fromtraders long gone into the mistsof time and even some paintings.the archive has grown tosuch an extent that the collectionnow resides in a number of separatelocations – space kindlyloaned by supporters of thegroup. However, this is not idealon two fronts, firstly, whilst alarge proportion of the archive isstored safely away, no-one canview the many items we have inthis storage. secondly, althoughthe items are stored in dry andsecure locations, the conditionsunder which they are stored arenot ideal.on this basis, for severalyears now, the group has beenon a mission to provide a museumfor the town, where much ofthe material currently in store,can be put on dislapy in properlycontrolled conditions. notonly will the public be able tocome and see what we have butthe museum will provide anadditional attraction to the townfro visitors in the local area.there is still a long way to gohowever and in the meantime,the group has been busy puttingactions together in order to makea museum a reality. it my yettake a while, particularly inthese straitened times whenfunding is tight but there is avery positive feeling amongstthe group committee, that oneday, it will happen.so, what is the group doingto engage the interest of the localpopulation? Exhibitions of ourphotographic archive are heldthroughout the year; we holdseveral open meetings duringthe year, where a guest speakertalks about subjects local tosandy and district that have ahistorical background. in addition,there have been presentationsby the group to other localorganisations and schools,which are designed to ‘spreadthe word’. there is also a programmeof publications, includingthe group’s twice annualnewsletter, ‘sHrUB’, whichhas been continually producedsince 2003. the newsletter goesout to members free of chargeand recently has been innovatedby the provision of a ‘PDF, version,which can be emailed andread locally on the recipient’shome computer. in 2007 andagain in 2009, Volumes 1 & 2 of‘Pictorial Memories of sandy’were published, each with a collectionof historical photographsselected from the archive. notonly has this provided funds forthe group to continue in its longterm mission to achieve a townmuseum, it also helps to fund theongoing activities of the groupin the provision of local eventsthrough the year.over time, membership ofthe group has continued to grow,as more local people becomeinterested and involved in whatthe group stands for. recentexhibitions have been very successfulin recruiting new membersand it is anticipated that thiswill improve even more in thecoming years as the work beingdone by the group becomes evenContinued on page 27