The Stow Parish Archive has hit the ground running in 2012. In January, we had a behind-the-scenes tour of the Heritage Hub in Hawick. The archive staff had laid out various items pertaining to Stow, including a nice collection of postcards. We have collected some of the Hub’s advice sheets on how to research local and family history and put these in the Reading Room.
A priority for this year is to make it easier to find out what is in the collection. It is now possible to take your laptop or mobile into the Reading Room to search the catalogue. We would be very pleased if you could try this out and let us know how you got on (you can leave a note in the Visitors Book). Why this is a priority is borne out by the following story. A gentleman had asked if we had any photographs of ARP wardens in Stow. His father worked at Fairgrieves during the war and had been an ARP warden. Sadly his father was killed in an accident just after the war and the family moved away. Later, family photographs were lost in a fire and this gentleman was looking for any records that he could find of his father. After a lot of discussion and time spent going through boxes, we found the photo above. In future, the electronic catalogue will give immediate results for any visitor to the Reading Room.
We have made good progress but there is a lot more to do! Some members of the group are going to meet in the Reading Room on the second Tuesday of the month 10.00am to 12.30pm to catalogue. The dates of our meetings will be put on the notice board in the Reading Room. So if you want to learn more about the flying machine invented in Stow, and why the church is a carbon copy of one in Ayton, come along – we need all the help we can get – no previous experience required.
