The group has a very wide but extremely interesting scope – The History and Culture of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.
We meet in The Orangery at St Elphin’s on the second Wednesday of each month, 10.00 to 11.30. We are a large group – 30 to 40 members attending at each event. Someone introduces a topic – and there’s time for discussion afterwards. Frequently a talk triggers personal memories from others, or leads to discussion. We use a microphone and sound system, to help those of us whose hearing is impaired.
There are occasional guest speakers but nearly all sessions are led by members. We do encourage people to participate – and many have spoken of the interest they have found when they have worked on a topic – but we do not expect or require all group members to lead a session. Sometimes two people have shared a session, or had a conversation between them.
Not surprisingly, most members are from St Elphin’s, but we are keen to attract more people who do not live here. When we asked one visitor why he kept coming, he said, “Because the talks are so interesting”.
Mostly presenters have used slide displays, but that is not required, and in any case there is plenty of support if people want to project pictures.
Since inception in February 2018 we have had 67 meetings. Many have focused on the rich history around Darley Dale – Derelie as it was termed in the Domesday Book; hydrotherapy at St Elphin’s and beyond; the life and work of Joseph Whitworth and his wife, Mary Louisa Whitworth; The Romping
Lion of Toad Hole; Stancliffe Hall; Warney Mill; St Helen’s Church and the Darley Dale horticultural nursery that sent plants all over the world.
Further afield, there have been presentations on local mills, and people who ran them, in particular Richard Arkwright. Sometimes the focus is on individuals and families – Florence Nightingale, D.H. Lawrence, the Robinsons of Chesterfield, the Strutts and Belper Mill, Lord Platt of Grindleford. Other sessions have looked both at innovations and their impact on workers and communities – lead Mining and smelting in the Peak District, the Old Derby Silk Mill, Derbyshire mills and potteries, plastics, the impact of the miners’ strikes on local communities and system of justice.
Probably the talk on Matlock’s for a possible invasion in the Second World War had information that nobody else has discovered.
We’ve heard about transport developments – Cromford Canal, the High Peak railway – and culture – the Brontës, literary and artistic associations with Whitby, Adam Bede and Wirksworth links. And on the Victoria Cross and Derbyshire connections.
We’ve gone back in time to Bronze Age Derbyshire stone circles.
There have been links between events and developments and the presenters’ personal histories on Wentworth and someone’s Irish forebears who had worked in great houses.
There was a talk on Primitive Methodism in Derbyshire – the numbers of local chapels, the spread of the movement in Derbyshire – the speaker’s father had been the last person ordained as a Primitive Methodist minister before the unification of the Methodist Church.
We welcome topics on any aspect of the history and culture of the three counties. For a list of previous topics, please click on this link.
If you are interested in joining, and would like to see what the group is like,why not come along for a taster?
The group convenor is Roger Clough – history5@matlockareau3a.org.uk – contact him for general enquiries