Saturday 20 April 2013

East Yorkshire Family History society

This week I went to the Carnegie Centre in West Park in Hull to give a talk to the East Yorkshire Family History Society. There was a good audience and my talk about Howden and the Howdenshire villages seemed to go down well.

I still think that 'our' area of Yorkshire is not very well known and so I am keen to spread the word, showing that evening pictures of  Knedlington, Booth, Asselby, Barmby, Skelton, Sandhall, Saltmarshe, Laxton, Eastrington, Portington, Gilberdyke, Staddlethorpe, Broomfleet and Newport.

I still have not got my potatoes in and we have been struggling to get our old Merry Tiller rotovator to run. It starts but then soon splutters into silence. I think there is a problem with the fuel but we are a bit daunted at the thought of taking it to pieces. Might have to resort to a spade.

This week too I have written a piece about the history of Howden Show to go in the programme. I remember watching the cycle racing in the dusk, sitting on the wooden grandstand and seeing Howden's own cycling champion Bill Barrow fly by. He won races all over Yorkshire, sometimes cycling to the event, racing and then cycling home. When not cycling he painted the names on many of the local signposts. I should be pleased to add any more memories of the show or Bill Barrow.

8 comments:

  1. When I was searching through papers I found a collection of programmes of East Riding Sporting events for the late 1940s-1950s. My Father Fred Moate was a notable local athlete competing at the same time as Bill Barrow. They are both listed in races in the programmes.
    Included are Howden Show, Nafferton, Holme-on-Spalding Moor, Old Goole, Blackburn's Brough & a number of Hull venues.
    Things were very different as my Father was running professionally in handicaps. I wonder when these ceased? There must have been huge scope for race fixing.
    My Father would have trained on Player's Navy Cut & Bass beer & the only drugs he would have taken were aspirins for a hang over. Some of the races runners are giving 20 or more yards (that in 220 yards> How times have changed.
    If you are interested I will see if I can scan some for you.

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    1. How interesting to read about another local athlete. I would love to see some of the programmes.

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  2. Have you an email address I can send some images to. I think I might have one of my Dad too.
    I remember Bill Barrow cycling around the field as an old man....might have been part of an anniversary of the show. It never felt right once it left the Ashes. It was always such a big family event for us, the whole extended family went, with a picnic & we often entered flowers & produce. I have vivid memories of the Fireworks at dusk.

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  3. You can send a message if you click on the link to my website Howdenshire History at the side of this blog and then from the site there is a contact button.

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  4. Did you get the images?

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  5. Yes thanks Fiona. I thought I had sent you a private message but must have used the wrong address. Thanks again for such interesting images of old sports programmes.

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  6. I have just discovered this website, have been searching under "East Yorkshire" and finding very little. I'm looking for more information on some ancestors in Eastrington, North Cave, Laxton, Portington, Howden, Yokefleet, specifically the Hewsons, Pickerings, Mitchells, Mauds, Woodhalls. Most of these families settled in one area of Ontario, near Toronto in the 1830s.
    Mary Jane Novak, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

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    1. Hello Mary, I am always interested in the stories of the many families, including my own Nurse family of Eastrington, who emigrated to Canada in the 1830s from East Yorkshire. There is some information about them on my Howdenshire History website, including your Hewson and Maud families.

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