July’s Twitter Digest

Welcome to the Twitter Digest for July!

And in Matlock, we also had a few sunny / sweltering days last month.

So, in the hope of an Indian Summer, if you should find yourself needing to cool down, just imagine yourself on an 1820s arctic expedition, cutting a path through the ice for your ships.

Alternatively, should you be looking for something refreshing to make. How about this 1980s recipe for ‘Lemon Ice Cream Surprise’ from Hayfield Primary School? Sounds delicious!

The heatwave was foreshadowed by a remarkable lack of rain delays at this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championships. With the strawberries and cream done for another year, let our Archive of the Week console you with this supplement from the Buxton Advertiser and its ink sketches of personalities at Buxton Tennis Tournament in 1886.

Elsewhere, there was the Risley Lower Grammar CE Primary School Prayer from the mid-20^th century. The pupils thank the Heavenly Father for “refreshing sleep”, their parents’ loving care and the “happy comradeship” of their siblings.

There was also the Bemrose family of Derby collection (D5239), which contains this lovely 1890s painting of Charlotte Annie, daughter of Sir Henry Howe Bemrose, writing a letter.

Sir Henry was mayor of Derby and the Victorian interior is likely his house in Lonsdale Place.

We rounded things off with a most untypical Archive of the Week:

This banner for the Chesterfield Branch of the Amalgamated Society of Painters and Decorators (arguably an object rather than a record) has been donated with various minutes, accounts, and other records for the organisation.

As well as the documents, there were several notable dates in July too:

The 18^th of July was World Listening Day, from oral histories to radio programmes and music to local events, discover the sound collections in our care.

And on the NHS’s Birthday, we re-discovered this leaflet, sent to all households in 1948, announcing the new National Health Service.

We love the way it emphasises that it is a service for everyone and not a charity, and that it will “relieve your money worries in time of illness”.

Here are children from around 1890 who clearly appreciated their cows.

We also realised that Twitter couldn’t decide what International Rock Day is about.

From our Local Studies Library: ‘Roy’s Rock Page’ an annual round-up of the local rock scene by Roy Goodall …

And from our Archives, this illustration from Burdett’s map of Derbyshire from 1767

Whilst on the subject of Rock, here’s the sedimentary kind.

This photo, taken around 1920, shows miners emerging from the cage at the surface after the end of their shift at a Clay Cross Company colliery.

But it wasn’t all hard graft underground. Chesterfield Library have asked: Do you have treasured memories of the Derbyshire Miners’ Holiday Camp, Skegness? Why not join them on Thursday 25th August (10.00-11:30am) for tea and biscuits, then view some beautifully restored images and share your stories!

We think that this looks like a fantastic event to reminisce! Get inspired by one of our assistants’ memories of the Rhyl Miner’s Holiday Camp

We would also like to offer many congratulations for our friends at Buxton Museum. The Derbyshire Open Art Exhibition won the Best Visual Arts Event at The Buxton Fringe and Sarah Keast’s exhibition ‘Tipping Points – Explorations in Liminal Landscapes’ won her the Best Artist award. 👏👏👏

We also want to offer congratulations to the other successfully newly accredited and re-accredited archives. We are certainly proud and delighted to have been accredited again by The National Archives Sector!

The Archive Service Accreditation rewards good practice, providing assurance that standards are being maintained by the archive service, thereby encouraging and supporting the development of the archive service.

Did you know that all accredited archive services must apply again for accreditation after six years?

As you might expect, The National Archives (TNA) does a whole lot more besides. Such as, after 30 years, the programme to update the entire Manorial Documents Register (MDR) for England and Wales is complete and make it available to everyone online! TNA offer a big Thank You to all the record offices, funders, private owners and other partners who helped with this momentous project.

A map of rolling hills with small buildings and churches drawn onto the landscape

Manorial Documents provide a rich insight into the daily lives of ordinary people (and sometimes their disagreements!) from the 14th to the 20th century, making these records an important source for local, social, family and economic history. If you’re interested in Manorial Documents, why not check out TNA’s online guides. Here’s also more information on how to search the Manorial Documents Register.

In addition, there were over 300 known manors in Derbyshire and a potted history of each can be found in our new catalogue. We at DRO are working to link all these histories to all the relevant Derbyshire MDR entries before the end of the year.

You could also check out the new catalogues from Chatsworth House on the ArchivesHub, including papers of Thomas Hobbes and various correspondence 1490-1908, partially funded by Archives Revealed.

Rachel, Lady Russell. Engraving by John Cochran, after Samuel Cooper, 17th century

We did find ourselves on something of a sporting kick last month, perhaps it was Wimbledon, or just the balmy weather. Then of course, History Begins at Home’s Health and Fitness initiative brought Smedley’s Hydro (now County Hall) to our minds.

The highly decorated billiard room, a place where men could play billiards or snooker for recreation.

Did you dread or love your school Sports Day? Here we see pupils from the Cavendish High School for Girls in Buxton in 1923 running towards the finishing line.

Or perhaps we were inspired by The Lionesses.

As this front page from the Derby Evening Telegraph’s Bygones weekly supplement from 10 Sep 2007 reminds us, “women’s football was very popular in the 20s and 30s”.

And this is the Poolsbrook Ladies’ Football Team in the 1950s; several of the ladies have been identified on Picture the Past – do you recognise any of the others?

Hopefully we’ll be able to say this popularity for the women’s game remains throughout the 2020s and beyond!

Even our Local Studies display in July was all about sport: