Chair’s Report to Annual General Meeting, January 2022
Robin Boucher, chair of PVHG, made the following report of 2021 activities to the Annual General Meeting on 25th January 2022:
During the first half of 2021 we were constrained by Government restrictions on meetings, due to the Covid pandemic. Some of us met on Zoom while others felt unable to do so. In the autumn we were able to meet face-to-face once more. Despite the difficulties, the year was not without some achievements.
Following Yvonne Eaton’s retirement from the position of secretary, Sue Brown agreed to take on the role for the next couple of years. Thank you, Sue, for undertaking this work.
While we were unable to meet, Sue Brown and Robert Dilworth worked on production of a list of baptisms and burials which now appears on the Group’s website at pvhg.uk. Some 3,286 entries are now available for visitors to examine.
In mid-June, I led a walk up Mill Street. The weather for the evening was beautiful and around thirty people turned out, which was close to the permitted attendance for an outdoor event at the time. The walk was well-received – the appearance of a peacock near the starting-point was clearly a good omen!
Meanwhile I had also started preparing a publication, based on oral interviews which our predecessors had undertaken from the late 1980’s onwards. Group members helped with proof-reading and supportive feedback and the Parish Council made a grant from its Solar Fund towards production costs. “A Way of Life That Has Gone” was published in December 2021; the PVHG publicity machine rolled into action (thankyou Robert and Sue) and the book was launched at a signing session in the Memorial Hall. At the time of writing over half of the print run of 100 copies has been sold.
Our autumn meetings included a session looking at the 1735 estate map of Packington, and a very interesting presentation by Sue Brown on the Leeson family, prominent in Packington from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. We concluded by starting to plan our contribution to the village’s Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration to be held in June 2022.
Robin Boucher
2nd January 2022
Annual General Meeting — Presentation to Yvonne Eaton
At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of PVHG on Tuesday 25th January 2022, a presentation was made on behalf of the members to our retiring Secretary, founder-member Yvonne Eaton.
Yvonne has been a member of our village History Group since its start back in the ’80s, over 30 years ago, and has acted as both Secretary and Treasurer for decades. Many early meetings were held in her home, Beech House on Ashby Road, before the 2009 refurbished Memorial Hall Meeting Room became available, and were renowned for her kind hospitality and provision of welcoming hot drinks and snacks.
She has retired from her rôle as Secretary, but retains her post as Treasurer, which involves a little less work. Yvonne believes the process, of changing our PVHG bank account signatories from her to someone else, might prove far too daunting for her to consider relinquishing this position!
In a letter to thank the group for the gift she received to acknowledge her many years of secretarial work, Yvonne wrote:
I wish to express my sincere thanks for the generous gift of crystal glasses given by the history group on my retirement as secretary of the group. What a surprise. I have enjoyed being part of the group from its humble beginnings in the school room, then to Dorothy Ireland's home in the Grange, then to Beech House when Dorothy moved to Ashby, and now the Memorial Hall, long may the group continue. Please pass my thanks on to all members of the history group."
Book Launch success – Saturday 4th December 2021
The PVHG Book-Launch and Signing took place on Saturday 4th December 2021 at the Hall meeting room. An early purchaser, village resident Colin Goacher, is seen above outside Memorial Hall holding his signed first-day cover of the PVHG book “A Way of Life That has Gone“.
PVHG Chair Robin Boucher, seen below, who had himself painstakingly edited the original source interviews – from villagers of two decades ago, discussing their memories of eight to ten decades ago – was signing launch copies of the book in the Meeting Room.
Copies of the book are available for purchase at £5 – contact Robin Boucher by email to randbboucher at googlemail dot com, or by telephone on 411638. They will also be available:
- at the PVHG meeting on 25th January 2022
- at subsequent 4th Tuesday PVHG meetings
- at the June Platinum Jubilee display by PVHG during the anticipated Sunday 5th June Strawberry cream tea at the Hall.
Book Launch and Signing – Saturday 4th December 2021 – 10 am to 1 pm at Memorial Hall
Our Packington Village History Group PVHG is to publish a new book about life in the inter-war years in our village. The new book is to be launched on Saturday 4th December 2021, at the Memorial Hall meeting room, from 10 am to 1 pm.
Verbal testimony, some of it a whole century old, was recorded in the last century by PVHG, from reminiscences of still-living members of the village. Their vivid recollections form our new PVHG book, “A Way of Life that is Gone“.
The book will be launched on Saturday, and editor Robn Boucher, chair of PVHG, will be at the launch to sign YOUR first-day cover of the book.
Only 100 copies have been printed – this is YOUR opportunity to own this heart-warming treasure for an investment of just £5.
Breaking News – PVHG to launch new village booklet “A Way of Life that has Gone”
PVHG members are shortly to publish a new booklet, “A Way of Life that Has Gone” – more details shortly – here are the front and back covers:
Meeting – Tuesday 23rd November 2021 at Memorial Hall meeting room 7:30 pm
Our final meeting for 2021 will be on Tuesday 23rd November at 7.30 p.m. in the Memorial Hall meeting room, when we will be planning our contribution to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June next year.
We have a list of 1950s words, courtesy of one of our members, Adrian Mongredien, and we will hear from him how he thinks this list could be used.
We are hoping to have available copies of “A Way of Life That Has Gone”, our new publication, but this is not confirmed yet. We will also discuss arrangements for selling it once it is fully available.
There is no December meeting; our next meeting will be on Tuesday 25th January 2022, which is also our Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Contact Robin Boucher: e-mail randbboucher@googlemail.com, tel. 01530 411638
Meeting Tuesday 26th October 2021 at 7:30 pm – The Leeson Family in Sixteenth Century Packington
So who was Raphe Leeson, pictured below? Why do we have his expensive 1587 memorial in our village ? Who was in his family? What did they do?
Village Historian Sue Brown is our PVHG Secretary and Treasurer, and on Tuesday 26th October 2021 at 7:30pm in the Memorial Hall Venue 35 will be giving a presentation on “The Leeson Family in Sixteenth Century Packington“.
Non-members will be particularly welcome – our famed PVHG hospitality means that although the passing-round of a plate of free biscuits is banned under virus protocols, we can still provide hot tea or coffee to attendees.
Mill Street PVHG-Guided Walk Success – Tuesday 15th June 2021
The early June high pressure weather was still in force on the Tuesday for our guided walk of Mill Street, Packington, with 32 people led by our chairman Robin Boucher, pictured below:
Guided Walk – Mill Street History – 7:30 pm Tuesday 15th June 2021, led by PVHG
Packington Village History Group PVHG offers a FREE guided history walk of our village’s Mill Street, starting at 7:30 pm on Tuesday 15th June 2021 (weather permitting! – else Tuesday 22nd June 2021)
The guided walk will be led by PVHG chair Robin Boucher, whose reputation as a fount of knowledge of both Packington and History is well-deserved.
Mill Street has been described as “The Jewel in The Crown” of Packington, containing some of the most beautiful and historic aspects of our village.
However – it hasn’t always been known as “Mill Street”..
It’s 68 years since the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II – do you know where to find this reminder?
This wall, above, is almost 200 years old – 198 already. Do you know where on Mill Street it is to be found?
The ancient Mill Street steps above are 180 years old. Do you know where they are, and where do – or did – they lead?
Answers to many more of our – and your – questions should be available from our Walk Leader, Robin Boucher, on Tuesday 15th June 2021, starting from the top end of Babelake Street at 7:30 pm. PVHG hope to see you there.