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WEA Helmdon Branch – Secretary’s Report – 11 April 2006
BRANCH COMMITTEE
First a word of thanks to all WEA Helmdon Branch Committee Members for keeping our branch activities going this past year.
Jan Harrold Acting Chair plus Events & Visits Coordinator
Jan stepped in when the elected Chair, Peter Mackness, resigned immediately after last year’s AGM.
Kate Moody Treasurer
Judy Cairns Committee Member – Class Refreshments
Cec Harrold Committee Member – Events & Visits Coordinator
Margaret Reardon Co-opted Committee Member
Margaret joined us soon after the elected Committee Member, Ann
Mackness, resigned.
Dave Bridger Auditor
Thanks also to the many of you that helped out with setting up the classroom and library each week, and clearing it all way again afterwards. This is most appreciated.
I would like to briefly explain how Helmdon Branch is supported by other staff within the
WEA.
WEA AREA (NORTHAMPTONSHIRE)
Our contact here is the Area Learning Manager who, amongst other duties, is responsible for organising tutors to be available for branch courses within Northamptonshire. At the time of our last AGM, Denise Cowley was the Area Learning Manager but she decided not to renew her contract at the end of the first six-month period.
Bridget Chapman has taken over the role of Area Learning Manager for Northamptonshire and has been working behind the scenes to ensure that we can have our previously requested courses in the forthcoming academic year.
It is worth noting that the WEA in Northamptonshire does more than Branch courses like ours. A wide range of courses is provided for people that are affected by economic, educational or social disadvantage. The 2004/05 listing of these courses, together with the branch courses, is available for review.
WEA REGION

The WEA Northamptonshire Area is now part of the East Midlands Region with their main office in Nottingham. We liaise with the regional office for matters relating to general course administration. The region also advises on financial matters such as course fees, banking requirements and how much we money we transfer to them each term. Kate will explain more about this in her report.

The East Midlands regional office is also responsible for tasks such as monitoring the quality of services provided within the region. This means that learners are required to complete a course assessment form for each course. However, I’m sure that you understand that the WEA need to know how courses are performing so that corrective action can be taken where needed.
WEA CORPORATE SERVICES
This corporate services staff, based in London, liaise with other government bodies and create appropriate operational policies. They are responsible for responding media enquiries and producing publicity bulletins. They also maintain a website (wea.org.uk)
that contains details of WEA operations and provides access to a range of publications.
The WEA has just changed its status to become a company limited by guarantee. This change means that we have a new charity number. For your information the details are included as footer to this report.
RE-INSPECTION
The Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) has recently completed a re-inspection of the WEA.
The report confirms the significant progress made since failing the 2004 inspection after a financial and management crisis. You can read more about this in the ‘WEA NEWS’ here or on the WEA website. We have just received a copy of the report and it is also available in full on the Adult Learning Inspectorate website (ali.gov.uk).
Helmdon did not receive a visit from the inspectors, maybe something to do with distance between the regional main office, in Nottingham, and Helmdon.
Now on to the activities of our Branch:
HELMDON COURSES
This time last year we were worried by the lack of available tutors within our area that could teach on Tuesday evenings. Denise Cowley had the unenviable task of finding tutors from a limited pool. Fortunately, she was able to step forward as the tutor for our autumn 2005 course. A short time later Denise was able to arrange for Cathy Allcott to be our tutor for spring 2006.
The worries continued later in the year when Cathy Allcott announced that she was taking other employment and therefore could not give the ‘Practical Gardening’ course as planned. Fortunately Judy Cairns knew someone that might be able to give an alternative course. Details were passed to Bridget Chapman to complete the formalities so that
Deborah Hayter could be a new WEA tutor.

I am pleased to report that this year, that despite the program change and an increase in course fees, we have had two well-attended courses:
 In the autumn 2005 course, Denise Cowley brought us the latest information on
Anglo-Saxon and Viking England (c. AD 400 – 1066). We looked at evidence from archaeology, language, written sources and place-names. We considered the social changes brought about by invasion and migration. We learnt about settlements and burial sites, and about the dramatic changes that occurred within the church during these times.
This was a fascinating course and it soon became clear how recent evidence has changed our views on the Anglo-Saxon and Viking era.
 The spring 2006 course ‘Families, Fields and Farms: Sources for Village History’
was given by local historian Deborah Hayter. This was an extremely successful and inspiring course on how to trace ancestors and village history using contemporary documents such as: Church Wardens’ accounts; militia Lists; wills and inventories.
Deborah was able to adapt the course content to match the areas of interest of the learners and I’m sure that this is one of the reasons that it was one of our best-
attended courses of recent years.
ACTIVITIES ORGANISED BY WEA MEMBERS
ASPECTS OF HELMDON
After the successful ‘..Sources for Village History’ course it is hoped that some new articles will be offered to enable a sixth edition of ‘Aspects of Helmdon’ to be produced.
Please contact Audrey Forgham if you have, or are thinking about producing, suitable articles.
If you don’t have the full set, we still have some copies of editions 3 and 5 left for sale at
£3 each. There are only three copies of edition 4 left for sale, while editions 1 & 2 are now sold out.
HELMDON’S WEBSITE
Helmdon won the ICT (Information Communication Technology) category in the Calor
‘Village of the Year’ competition, for Central England, in 2005. The judges commented that “Helmdon’s website is funded and managed by a committee and really demonstrates the way in which a community can use a website to support local life".
www.helmdon.com was created by members of this WEA branch. Today it is a very important village resource, providing up-to-the-minute communication between local groups, residents and visitors. It is also a vital source of village information and village history. Thanks go to Danny Moody (Webmaster) and Audrey Forgham (Web Editor).

EVENTS AND VISITS ORGANISED BY COMMITTEE MEMBERS
On 16th April 2005 we had a very enjoyable trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum in
London to support the spring 2005 course ‘The Suburbans’. Joanna Rogers provided a very interesting guided tour of furniture and decorative exhibits from the suburban era.
Many of us also took the opportunity to look at other exhibits from other eras. Something that impressed me was the vast range of artifacts at the V & A, and how well everything was displayed.
On June 24th, Will Watson kindly allowed us to use the Old Glebe for a Summer Supper.
When the planned speaker failed to turn up Will provided an instant alternative of a most enjoyable recital of piano music. In addition to entertaining us, we learnt about the different musical styles of composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. Thank you
Will.
On December 2nd, Will Watson kindly allowed us to use the Old Glebe again. This time for a Fish & Chip supper. The evening started with a talk entitled ‘Conservation of Otters’
given by Reg Tipping. This was a fascinating talk with excellent slides showing how conservation efforts by enthusiasts have helped the Otter to flourish. We learned about conservation work such as building artificial badger holts alongside local rivers, needed because of the gradual loss of the otter’s natural habitat. The Fish and Chips were also a resounding success, having them freshly cooked just outside, in a mobile kitchen.
Richard Farquharson, WEA Helmdon Branch Secretary
11th April 2006

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