In the early spring of 2022 Ross Vicars and Audrey Forgham had the idea of a Helmdon History Exhibition.  November was chosen as the future date. That sounded far off in the future, but my goodness, was the time needed! 

The hard work began. Ross concentrated on the earlier history and Audrey gleaned information from the old www.helmdon.com archives. Chris Gartside, John Coatsworth and Catherine Lewis were roped in to do the Helmdon Sports & Social Club and Carnivals, Astwell Manor and the School respectively, and Charles Binns was on hand to magnificently restore and print the old photographs. In addition there were scrapbooks of various organisations and even a Cinderella dress from the last pantomime of the Bridge Players before the second world war.

Thanks to the committee of Catherine, Chris, John, and Charles (together with helpers Vanessa Vicars and Danny Moody), and a team led by Lynn Gartside providing tea and coffee, everything came together very smoothly.  The exhibition can be counted as a great success with around 280 people coming through the door, some staying hours, and there were plenty of compliments that made the project very worth while. 

Ross Vicars & Audrey Forgham

Herewith a selection of photgraphs from Vanessa Vicars and Danny Moody. It can only give a flavour of the exhibition, which had upwards of 40 display boards.

                     Lords of the Manor of Helmdon.

                        Two of the church kneelers from

                         the Church Kneelers' project.               

                 The 1938 Bridge Players' Cinderella dress.

       The rolling sideshow of photographs and  postcards.

                       This sheet was signed by Helmdon

                 inhabitants at the time of the Millennium. 

                      The renowned Helmdon Carnivals -

                              they ceased because of

                            insurance complications.                  

             Part of the WEA War Memorial Project.

                          The original war memorial.

                    No need to nip off to Tesco or Waitrose -

                       you had most of all you wanted in

                                        the village.

                   Reminiscences - a very valuable

                           source of local history.                                 

If you are interested in researching Helmdon history please get in touch with either -

Ross Vicars at rossvicars@gmail.com, 

Danny Moody at webmaster@helmdonhistory.com,

or Audrey Forgham at editor@helmdonhistory.com

We would be delighted to hear from you.