14th October 2010 - Documentary Sources of House Histories - Linda Turnbull, Archivist North Yorkshire County Records Office, Northallerton. 
Linda explained some of the difficulties and complexities in tracing building histories. Land Registry records have only been set up in recent decades and only record information that they deem relevant is recorded, i.e. little of historical  interest. The change of county boundaries in 1974 also creates problems as some former West Riding areas were transferred to North Yorkshire. Thus archive records are likely to be held at Wakefield rather than Northallerton. A further complication is that some records are held in the National Archives at Kew. She went on to explain that old maps, tithe maps, enclosure award maps are often a useful source of background. Also census returns. The 1910 rating survey, completed by 1919, often called the "New Domesday Book". provides a comprehensive record at that time.
She went on to explain how the catalogue of material in the County Archives can be accessed at www.northyorks.gov.uk/archives/holdings. This can help in identifying documents of interest which can then be ordered in advance of a visit to the archives. Further help from staff can be obtained on line or by telephone.

28th October - Art and Revolution - the career of Jacques Loius David - Dr Ian Adams
This was a fascinating talk about the French classical painter at the time of the French Revolution. There are full accounts of his life and paintings on the internet for those with an interest so the details are not repeated here. David was born in 1748 and received a classical training, spending 5 years in Rome from 1775 after winning the Priz de Rome. He painted both portraits and massive heroic canvasses. His style was often to draw figures first as nude, paint the heads and finally add clothing. An unfinished portrait of Napoleon in 1787 captures the strong personality. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the revolution being elected to the National Convention and voting for the King's execution. He sketched Marie Antoinette on her way to the guillotine. He subsequently narrowly escaped execution himself. He became court painter while Napoleon was in power but fled to Brussels when the Bourbons were restored. He was invited to return but did not do so and died in Brussels in 1825. The Belgium Government have on several occasions refused requests for his remains to be returned to France. He was described as a not very pleasant man. He had a disfigured mouth because of a duelling scar in his youth which became ulcerated. Speech and eating and drinking were thus difficlt for him. 

11th November - Tot Lord - One of the Yorkshire Dales Greatest Characters - Richard Whinray.
Tot (Thomas) was born in 1899 into a Settle greengrocers family. He enlisted at the start of WW1, but was discharged when his age was realised. But he immediately re-enlisted in the Duke of Wellington's regiment. By April 1915 he was in France and a month later was in an action which incurred 12,000 casualties. A few weeks later he turned 16. He was married in 1922. From boyhood he had been interested in archaelogy and caving and his father had allowed him to use a small building as a meeting room and store. This was the Pig Yard. He carried out excavations in Victoria, Jubilee and Attamire Caves storing his finds in the Pig Yard Museum. As a result he established firm friendships with Sir Arthur Keefe, the leading archaeologist of the time, and Arthur Raistrick. After taking part in a cave rescue at Gingling Hole in 1934 he played a leading role in forming the Cave Rescue Organisation. In WW2 he was an ARP warden and member of the home guard. In 1948 he purchased Town Head House in Settle and moved his museum there. He engaged in purchasing antiques from house sales and at the Hellifield Peel sale bought the lead from the roof and doors and panelling. Without his intervention the latter would have been lost. He made similar purchases at Lowther Castle including a statue of Richard the 1st. He died in 1965. Subsequently little public interest was shown in the museum which was eventually dispersed, with some records going to Northallerton, and some artifacts to the Craven and the British Museum and some to his grandson Tom. Town Head was demolished in 1973. Richard is also one of Tot's grandsons.  

25th November -  Medicine and Magic - Peter Watson.

Peter concentrated on folklore and superstitions from Yorkshire and Lancashire. Many olden day remedies were based on observation and were partially effective, others probably had no more than a placebo effect while yet others were based on religious practices and "magic". An example of the former was the dropping of tom cat urine into the ear to cure earache. The effective constiuent here being uric acid. He mentioned how "grafters" were prevalent in town markets around 1900. Here cures and improvement in well being were offered through smelling the contents of bottles. He lent the audience copies of early remedies printed in mediaeval English with a modern day translation. He then read out the early versions which were virtually unintelligible in both written and spoken form. Rather interestingly the only word that seemed to have come through unchanged was "hereafter". 

9th December - Old Inns of the Yorkshire Dales - David Johnson

David gave an illustrated lecture on the development of inns and alehouses in the Yorkshire Dales. In the early years, alehouses were usuually ordinary dwelling houses where the householder, often a widow, served home brewed ale and beer. Any accommodation offered was basic and alehouses became associated with drunkenness and squalor. Inns, by contrast, were generally built for the purpose of accommodating travellers. Richer patrons frequented taverns which also sold wine.  Alehouses advertised their business with a pole above the door garlanded with foliage whereas inns and taverns hung out a pictorial sign, a tradition which still continues. By the mid 18th century larger alehouses were becoming more common and the term "alehouse" was gradually replaced by "public house".

13th January - Social Evening

Four members entertained the Society -
Peter Bewes with a quiz on matching pairs, finding the second name when one was given, such as Marks and Spencer
David Langham recited an amusing poem about the Battle of Trafalgar
Susan Broadhead gave a brief history of Tupperware
Keith Fothergill provided a general quiz including recordings from radio shows and enlivened proceedings with a number of jokes.
During the evening members enjoyed a Jacob's Join with ample food and liquid refreshment.

27th January - Model Villages and Glusburn Institute - Bernard Peel
 John Nixon writes - Bernard gave an illustrated lecture on model villages and the Grade II listed Glusburn Institute. Many industrialists had created model mill villages in the 19th century, usually with the aim of improving the living conditions of their employees. Sir John Horsfall, the owner of Hayfield Mill, went even further and although his original intention had been to build a Baptist Sunday School in Glusburn, he decided that the community needs went wider than this and decided to build the Institute to cater for education and recreation as well as religion. The Institute, substantially as it is today, came into being in four construction phases over the years 1890 to 1911 and it has been described as possibly "the finest Institute in Craven which can rival any in the north of England". Today the Institute is run by a Management Committee who are determined to keep the building going and preserve the ongoing service to the community.

10th February - The History of Rolls Royce - Dr Gerald Fitzpatrick.

Dr Fitzpatrick gave a history of the company from its start by Henry Royce manufacturing dynamoes in Manchester in 1884. Charles Rolls opened a car saleroom in London in 1904. They combined to build cars in 1906 but moved the factory to Derby. Rolls was the first airman to be killed in a powered flight machine in 1910. About that time Royce became seriously ill and took little further active part though he did design the Eagle aircraft engine. Between the wars engine development continued culminating in the Merlin which powered the Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito and the Lancaster Bomber among others. In 1937 Frank Whittle patented the jet engine. The wartime government asked Rover to develop it. At a historic lunch at the Royal Swan Hotel in Clitheroe in 1943 Rolls Royce agreed to take on the engine production while Rover took over tank production. Engine development commenced at Barnoldswick and has continued there to this day, although production is concentrated at Derby and elsewhere. The first successful engine was the Nene developing 5000lb thrust, the latest engine today, the Trent can exceed 100,000 lb thrust. Early engine were labelled "B", e.g. B41, for Barnoldswick. Later because the USA used "B" references they changed to "RB", e.g. the RB211. In 1971 the company had only 8% of the world wide commercial market and went into receivership. The Government nationalised the firm, split the motor and aero engine divisions and later was able to sell the latter. Today the company is most successful with 35% of the commercial market. Just under 1000 are employed at the Bankfield and Ghyll Works in Barnoldswick. At the peak before computers there had been some 3000.  Film of the rigorous testing carried out pre production was shown

24th February - Old Keighley Characters - Dr Ian Dewhirst

A packed room heard Dr Dewhirst give an often humorous talk about Keighley's characters from the nineteenth century. They included street characters like Johnny Touchwood, Freddie Gramaphone and Emily Matchbox. He also told the tragic tale of William Sharpe who gilted on his wedding day took to his bed and never spoke during the last 40 years of his life. three main characters that he concentrated on were Sir John Brigg sometime mayor and MP who collected exotica and erotica from around the world, Bill o't Hoyle the local dialect poet who gave detailed accounts of the characters building and running the Worth Valley Railway and Pie Marsh who kept a diary of his time as a town night watchman around 1850. He said that the town's 3 biggest problems, in ascending order, were violence, prostitution and drunkeness. (So how times change.) Later he led a town delegation to Parliament seeking creation of a borough council. But by then he was so unpopular that when he stood in 6 wards for the newly created borough he was unsuccessful in all with the lowest numbers of votes. 

10th March - Ilkley from Village to Town - Mrs Alex Cockshott.

Ilkley has a long history with the greatest collection anywhere of neolithic onwards cup and ring markings on the Moor, followed by the Roman Fort near a crossing of the Wharfe. It was still of some importance in Anglo Saxon times, but thereafter became something of a backwater. The Middleton Family Lords of the Manor seemed content for it to remain this way. The change came with the setting up of the hydropathic establishments. Ilkley water contained no minerals but was very pure. Treatments consisting of cold baths and fresh air became popular from the establishment of the Ben Rhydding Hydro in 1846. A number of others followed. The village grew to cater for the Hydros and provide lodgings. But growth was held back by the Middletons until the coming of the railway in 1864 about the time they fell on hard times and had to sell off town land. At the time of the sales they entered caveats that the higher land to the south of the railway be reserved for middle class villas, while the lower land to the north was available for businesses and the working class. From then onwards Ilkley became important as a commuter town for Leeds and Bradford.  At about the same time the water cures began to decline in popularity. Because of the restrictions imposed by the Middletons, Ilkley never became an industrial town.

24th March - Introduction to Heraldry - Peter Marshall.

Peter described how symbols - crests, painted shields etc had been used to identify friend from foe in battle. This led to coats of arms. A legal dispute between the Scropes and the Grosvenors over who had the right to a certain shield (the Scropes were successful) led to the creation of the College of Arms in 1484 as a controlling and regulatory body. This is presided over by the Earl Marshall, the Duke of Norfolk. Peter described the meaning of the parts, their technical terms and how they are put together. Also how colours can be recognised by hatchings in stone sculptures or wood carvings. Coats of Arms become more complicated when marriages take place and the husband and wife's arms are combined. Symbols indicate whether or not the wife is an heiress. Further complications arise if the husband or wife had multiple spouses. Thus coats of arms evolve over time and can become most complex combining facets from 50 or more differnet coats of arms, indeed one has almost 800! The symbols used can be most surprising and enlightening, e.g. a facet containing 4 dice to indicate the Fourdice family, and 3 upended dishes identifying the Standishs'. Altogether a most complex but facinating subject.

14th April - The Golden Age of the Radio Comedy - Geoff Twentyman

Geoff briefly reviewed the early days of radio, before suggesting that it was people developing their skills during war service and subsequently through comedy acts at the Windmill Theatre that led to the blossoming of redio comedy primarily in the 1950s. He took 5 programmes to illustrate his theme, playing extracts from the programmes.
Take it from Here - scripted by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden with Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley, June Whitfield and Alma Cogan which featured "the Glums".
Educating Archie with Peter Brough and Beryl Reid. A number of developing comedians acted as Archie' tutors including Tony Hancock, Sid James, Frankie Howard and Norman Vaughan.
The Goon Show with Harry Seacome, Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan and initially Michael Bentine. Spike Milligan was the main script writer and was under severe pressure to produce the weekly scripts. Thus his periods of depression and mental illness were understandable.
Hancock's Half Hour - scripted by Simpson and Galton - was the first sit com. to proceed without intervals.
Al Read - was spotted in the Lancashire clubs and offered a series in Manchester. He made most acute observations on peoples' behaviour.

All the humour was of a verbal nature and none of the programmes really successfully transferred to TV. Many of the programmes are transmiited on BBC7 and are also available on CDs. 

28th April - AGM followed by Ted Heath - Britain's Popular Big Band Leader - Peter Bewes.
Ted Heath was born in London in 1900. As a child he learned several musical instruments, but settled on the trombone. He developed his skills and experience with a number of the '30s bands - Jack Hiton, Bert Ambrose and Geraldo. By 1944 he was able to form his own band based on big band swing jazz. Many famous names started out with him such as Ken Baker, Johnny Dankworth, Jack Parnell, Stanley Black, Lita Roza, Dickie Valentine and Dennis Lotis. Peter considered his the best of the British bands gaining popularity in the USA as well as here. The band was at its peak in the 1950s but maintained its popularity in the 1960s when tastes were changing, and managed to continue even after Ted's death in 1969. Ample illustrations of the band's music were provided