Eastoft war memorial

Yesterday was Heritage Day and we spent it at Eastoft which is on the edge of the Marshland or the Isle of Axholme, which ever way you want to look at it.

It is presently in Lincolnshire but several centuries ago the old River Don ran down the centre of the village and some of the village was in Yorkshire and some in Lincolnshire. Even after the river was diverted and disappeared the village remained divided and even today has a road named 'Yorkshire side'.

In fact the Eastoft village hall where I gave a talk stands between the two roads, in what was originally the river bed. The hall is a small building and was built as a Methodist chapel.

The ladies of Eastoft WI had been awarded a grant to run a 'war day', the main purpose of which was to commemorate the soldiers whose names appeared on the pretty village war memorial just up the street.

We had spent several hours researching the stories of these men and had written a booklet giving a small biography of each man. These were given away to visitors to the event. There was a buffet too and wartime songs from Rose.

I talked about the men, interspersed with local old pictures and some information I had found about the role Ousefleet [or Empson Hall as it is called locally] Hall had played in 1917 and 1918 when it was used to house around 150 young women who came to help with the potato harvest.

Afterwards I was all 'historied out' and after enjoying a meal in a local carvery I made a log fire and watched the Last Night of the Proms on TV.

Below are the names of the Eastoft men from the village war memorial.

Arthur Binns

Joseph Burrows

Walter Cash

Robert Dealtry

Thomas Gibbons

Harry Hudson

Joseph Mellers

George Oades

Edwin Phillipson

Walter Rogers

Frank Sykes

Alfred Waterland

Goole old picture archive

Today has been sunny and fine and for the first time for a fortnight I have been able to sit outside with a cup of tea and appreciate the lovely weather.

The last two weeks at our Junction exhibition at Goole have been very rewarding - but absolutely exhausting. We have been occupying an ideal room at Junction right in the centre of Goole with easy access from the nearby car park,  very helpful staff, an onsite cafe and good disabled access - we have had several visitors in wheelchairs.

Around the walls were displayed framed pictures of Goole and area while in the centre we had our computers showing old pictures and films, artefacts in glass displays and the First World War research group had all their information  available.

But to be honest what people seemed fascinated by were the pictures of Goole people. We had football teams ranging from schoolboy Short cup winners to Lockwoods mens' and Burtons' ladies teams. We had Goole rugby teams, Goole bus trips from pubs, RAOB groups,  Brownies, dockers, midwives and dinner ladies.

And of course we had school pictures. People argued over names, met schoolmates they had not seen for years and brought in their own school pictures for us to copy and display.  And that was without the pictures of docks, railways, the streets and shops.

In fact on Monday I gave a talk on Goole shops. It was very well attended and several kind people brought in pictures of their own family shops for me to copy. Goole, like most towns, had many family run shops which gave personal service to generations of local people. I shall be giving the talk again at the Boothferry history group at the Courtyard in January incorporating these 'new' pictures.

It was sad to take everything down yesterday - we had to take the pictures out of their covers twice as people came in to look at them as we were packing up.

Pippa sold several of her framed prints and we must have printed out around 70 copies of the pictures on display. My printer used all the ink I had bought just before the event - thinking it might last several weeks!

I think we might do it again - but not until next year.

And in the meantime if you want a Goole - or area - picture as a print or framed or as a digital copy you can contact me through my website.

Goole Brownies outside the Market Hall

Above is one of the most popular pictures we had on display. It shows group of Brownies outside the Market Hall and includes Helen and Paula Tawn and Linda Palmer.

Below is the report on the exhibition which appeared in the Goole Times.