Speakers: February to June
February 13th
Neil Watson: Boston Now and Then
Neil introduced himself and gave a brief outline of his interests.
His
presentation
started
with
a
restoration
project
of
a
family
photo
album
dating
from
1891.
Some
of
the
photos
were
faded
but,
with
the
help
of
modern
digital
technology,
they
were
able
to
be
restored.
The
villages
of
Kirton
and
Skegness
were
part
of
this
album
and
Boston
in
particular
was
shown
in
the
1890s
as
a
busy
market
town
with
photographs
of
Boston
cattle
market
and
also
showing
that
Boston
harbour
was
navigable to very large cargo ships.
He
then
moved
to
a
slide
show
of
some
‘magic
lantern’
slides
taken
in
the
1890s
(these
were
much
more
difficult
to
restore)
showing
the
industry
of
Boston
at
the
time.
One
of
the
slides
was
of
Boston
Grammar
School
which
he
compared
to
a
recent
photograph
taken
120
years
later
showing
how
little
the main building has changed.
This
year
is
the
50th
year
of
the
closing
of
the
railway
line
in
Boston
and
he
has
been
commissioned
to
put
together
an
exhibition
about
Boston
railway.
This
part
of
the
talk
centred
on
the
Hall
Hill
Sleeper
Works
and
how
they
processed
sleeper
timbers that came from as far away as Canada.
The
Rundle
family
has
supplied
him
with
photographs
of
their
family
connections
in
Boston.
They
owned
fairground
rides,
farm
machinery, steam rollers etc.
The
talk
was
rounded
off
by
showing
a
short
film
taking
in
the
1963
big
freeze
and
how
the
railways
had
to
deal
with
the
amount
of
snowfall
blocking
the
tracks.
He
also
had
aerial
photographic
contributions
from
a
member
of
Skegness
Mens
probus
that
he
was in the process of restoring.
John Boreham gave a vote of thanks
February 27th
Neil Watson: The History of Boston Theatres and Cinemas
The President welcomed 31 members.
Having
stepped
in
at
the
last
minute
for
the
previous
meeting
and
presented
his
scheduled
talk,
Neil
chose
this
time
to
give
an
illustrated
talk
about
Boston
Theatres
and
Cinemas,
an
interesting
historical
talk
that
showed
the
many
places
of
entertainment
that
have
existed
in
Boston
over
the
past
200
years.
most
of
which
are
now used for other purposes or have been pulled down and replaced.
The President, John Boreham, gave a vote of thanks
March 13th
John Hayes: Another lot of balls and a Panama hat
Twenty
six
members
attended
the
meeting.
John
gave
a
very
entertaining
talk
regarding
his
cricket
experiences,
both
as a player but mainly as an umpire.
A
very
accomplished
speaker
wirth
a
relaxed
style
and
a
host
of
amusing
anecdotes much enjoyed by all present.
John Boreham gave a vote of thanks
March 27th
Doctor Eric Grigg: Anglo-Saxon and Viking Lincolnshire
When
the
Romans
retreated
back
to
Rome
what
happened
in
Lincoln
was
that
all
the
infrastructure
remained
but
were
left
to
fall
into
disrepair
and
the
Anglo-Saxons
mainly
used
the
stones
and
timber
for
their
own
buildings
as
no
quarrying
took
place.
The
kingdom
of
Lindsey
was
set
up
by
the
Angles
but
not
a
lot
of
information
is
available
for
this
period.
All
we
know
is
there
is
a
list
of
Kings
but
none
of
these
were
able
to
be
verified.
The
boundary
of
Lindsey
ran
from
the
North
Sea
to
the
River
Trent
via
the
Humber
estuary
and
then
to
the
River
Witham
.
A
number
of
slides
were
shown
of
Anglo-Saxon
armour.
Pieces
of
armour
were
recovered
from
the
site
at
Caenby
indicating
that
a
king
may
have been buried there.
In
679
the
Battle
of
the
Trent
was
fought
between
Mercia
and
Northumberland
with
Lindsey
becoming
part
of
Mercia.
Slides
were
shown
of
monasteries
and
churches
on
the
surrounding area during this time.
The
Vikings
arrived
who
pushed
the
Anglo-Saxons
out
of
Mercia.
The
Vikings
divided
up
Lincolnshire
and
settled
in
Lincoln
a
vital
spot
for
trading
as
the
river
enabled
them
to
use
their
ships.
They
even
minted
their
own
coins
and
we
know
they
traded
as
far
afield
as
Afghanistan
as
amber
was
also
recovered
at
the
site
from
the
Baltic.
Lincoln
was
not
ruled
as
a
kingdom
but
as
an
autonomous
self-governing
body.
A
Viking
ice
skate
was
also
shown
to
the
members
made
out
of
cow
bone.
40%
of
the place names from Lincolnshire in the Doomsday Book are of Viking origin.
John Boreham gave a vote of thanks
10th April
Graeme Thompson: Borehole in Ghana
Graeme
gave
an
account
of
his
work
in
2018
when
he
was
involved
in
drilling
a
bore
hole
for
fresh
water
to
a
village
called
Karufa
in
the
shanty
region
of
Ghana.
The
village
is
near
to
Akra.
Funds
for
this
project
were
raised
by
the
congregation
of
Addlethorpe
Methodist
church
that
had
to
close
due
to
structural
problems
and
the
funds
in
the
account
were
passed
over
to
be
used
for
this
purpose.
Karufa
was
chosen
as
the
place
for
the
bore
hole
to
be
drilled
for
fresh
water
and
this
went
down
for
50m
before
any
fresh
water
was
found.
This
has
transformed
the
lives
of
the
village
and
particularly
benefitted
the 430 pupils at the local school.
Much
of
the
village
relies
on
charitable
donations
and
much
of
the
school,
toilets
etc
are
in
urgent
need
of
repair
and
it
was
stressed
there
is
a
need
to
raise
£5000
so
that
by
September
this
year
a
return
visit
can
be
made
to
replace
the toilets.
.
John Boreham gave a vote of thanks
During the Business Meeting The President conferred
Honorary Life Membership on two members,
Ivor Davis (left) and Bill Reid
24th April
Nigel Lowey: The transformation of St Pancras Station
St
Pancras
was
born
in
AD289
and
made
a
martyr
because
he
was
executed
during
the
Diocletian
purges
on
Christianity.
He
refused
to
renounce
Christianity
and was executed for his beliefs.
The
Midland
Railway
was
based
in
Derby
and
amalgamated
with
the
Great
Northern
Railway
but
after
disagreements
they
split
and
became
bitter
rivals.
To
compete
they
built
a
station
which
is
now
St
Pancras.
They
had
many
obstacles
to
overcome
including
the
River
Fleet
that
now
runs
under
St
Pancras
station,
and
a
town
that
was
bought
by
compulsory
purchase
at
Agar.
This
was
demolished, making 32,000 residents of the area homeless.
The
Church
of
St
Pancras
still
stands
there
but
the
churchyard
was
moved
and
all
the
graves
had
to
be
relocated.
William
Henry
Barlow,
the
chief
railway
engineer,
designed
the
roof
structure
that
was
located
directly
onto
the
floor
instead
of
high
pillars.
This
remained
the
tallest
single
span
building
until
Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport was built in 2006.
The
Midland
Grand
Hotel
was
commissioned
in
1866
and
based
on
a
Gothic
design
by
George
Gilbert
Scott
and
took
nine
years
to
complete,
it
had
three
hundred
bedrooms
with
only
eight
shared
bathrooms
for
the
whole
hotel!
The
hotel,
closed
since
1935,
was
used
as
offices
by
British
Rail.
It
was
a
building
frozen
in
time
and
some
of
the
internal
architecture
has
been
painted
over
(in
some
cases
10
or
12
layers
thick)
and
paint
also
covered
Victorian wallpaper.
The
hotel
is
now
a
Grade
I
listed
building
,
a
status
achieved
with
the
help
of
Sir
John
Betjamin.
In
1988
British
Rail
Property
Office
decided
to
sell
the
contents
of
the
building
and
St
Pancras
station
and
hotel
was
acquired
by
the
Eurostar
Company.
The
hotel
was
sold
later
to
a
Canadian
Pension
Fund
who
subsequently
sold
it
on
to
the
South
Korean
Pension
Fund
who
currently
own
the
site
and
are
responsible for its upkeep.
.
John Boreham gave a vote of thanks
22nd May
David Coleman: Tales of a Pitman
David
came
in
dressed
in
the
clothes
that
he
used
to
wear
for
work
and
commenced
by
telling
stories
of
the
early
days
of
coal-mining
and
what
conditions
were
like
for
the
very
young
whose
started
work
around
12
years
of
age.
The
only
opportunities
available
were
farm
work, joining the army or down the mines.
He
gave
anecdotes
about
the
dangers
of
working
at
the
time
describing
how
he
was
involved
with
the
mines
rescue
and
going
on
to
describe
some
of
the
horrific
injuries
the
miners
suffered
when
accidents
occurred,
including
what
happened
to
him
personally.
He
then
went
on
to
show
the
kit
he
wore
down
the
pit,
starting
with
the
helmet
and
what
it
was
made
of
(compressed
card)
and
also
how
long
his
lamp
lasted
on
a
full
battery
power.
Also
part
of
the
kit
that
each
miner
had
to
carry
was
a
respirator,
which
he
demonstrated.
They
used
Davy
lamps
to
detect
methane
gas
and
before
entering
a
shaft
they
used
live
canaries
right
up
to
recent
times.
Part
of
the
kit
was
his
‘snap
can’
that
they
used
to
keep
their
food
in.
The
reason
they
were
of
the
specific
shape
was
because
it
was
the
same
shape
and size as a 2lb loaf that was available at the time.
John Boreham gave a vote of thanks
