Ringstead Heritage Group’s recent inaugural Coffee Morning brought traffic to a standstill as up to 300 people visited the Village Hall to look at over 60 old photographs, read about past farming memories from the 1940’s, and press clippings of events from the 20th century. A prominent exhibit was the lost painting of Ringstead School, by J L Carr, Interim Headmaster during 1952.
There were also a number of BeBe Dolls and toys on loan including a four-foot tall teddy bear, which once belonged to Albert Fox, General Manager of BeBe Dolls of Ringstead. During the event an anonymous donation was given to the group of a blue and pink bear, made by BeBe Dolls, which will now be a permanent memento of that company’s past association with the village.
David Ball, author of two “Ringstead People” books, was able to encourage and advise other residents to begin tracing their family ancestry. He sold out of all his books at the coffee morning, but is reprinting second editions which will be available to purchase at future events.
BBC Radio Northampton’s Saturday Treasure Quest programme featured the Coffee Morning as the last clue for Helen Blaby to guess, and that morning she well and truly trounced the opposition from BBC Three Counties Radio. A raffle was held, consisting of over 25 donated prizes, with the top prize being a sumptuous food hamper. Together with monies from the refreshments and donations the total raised was a fantastic £345 which will now be used to organise other events and seek community funding to begin the recording of past memories and reminisces.
An apology has to be made to many other present and past residents who were not able to gain entry to the event due to the very large numbers of people who visited Ringstead that Saturday morning. The Group will be hosting a similar event later in the year and this time the venue will be Ringstead Village Social Club’s large function room over an extended period so that everyone visiting will have an opportunity to look at the memorabilia and reminisce at leisure.
The next planned event is a Ringstead Heritage Trail Walk around the village on Sunday 3rd May from 11am to 3pm. The trail will start and finish at Ringstead Village Social Club and is intended to be a family event to encourage the younger residents to look and learn about the past history of the village with their parents. Three prizes will be awarded and there will also be a small exhibition of memorabilia about past commercial and retail businesses which thrived in the village during the early 20th century.
For further information, please contact Roger Kinsey of Ringstead Heritage Group on 01933 460676 or at 15 Carlow Street, Ringstead, NN14 4DN.
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