What's happening at Hampton Cottage, 64 Church Street, Leatherhead KT22 8DP

Saturday, 3 October 2020

NEW VOLUNTEERS NEEDED URGENTLY TO KEEP THE SOCIETY GOING AFTER NEARLY 75 YEARS

The historic photo above recalls a Leatherhead Parish Church outing more than a century ago. It shows an entirely different world from that we know today. This is what local history is all about.

But now, nearly 75 years after it was established in the aftermath of World War 2, Leatherhead & District Local History Society faces an existential crisis. The last of its founders, Stephen Fortescue, died this summer aged 99 and other major figures from more recent years have also passed on. The inevitable movement of time also coincides with a virus pandemic that has forced temporary closure of its Museum and the replacement of monthly meetings at the Letherhead Institute with lectures accessible only online. Guided tours have already gone and outlets for the book publishing arm are reduced to one shop each in Bookham and Ashtead. 

Although a registered charity, the Society has so many vacancies among its essential officers that it faces being wound up unless new volunteers can be found among the wider public. This would be a major blow for continuing historical awareness of this part of Surrey. Leatherhead Museum, located in the 17th century Hampton Cottage in Church Street, would have to operate on its own whenever it did re-open and a Society that once attracted many hundreds of members would itself become a historical footnote. 

The L&DLHS was born on 16 October 1946 after local members of the Surrey Archaeological Society decided to encourage preservation of ancient buildings and countryside in this area. Since then, the L&DLHS has provided a research service for the benefit of all  residents and visitors keen to learn about local life, both in the recent and more distant past. 

Leatherhead Museum was purchased and has been run by the Society since 1979. Tours and lectures were accompanied by the annual Proceedings, an academic journal containing detailed research studies of the district, and a quarterly Newsletter which developed into a 40-page A5 magazine. The Society website offers an enormous range of historical archive material including many oral history recorded interviews with voices spanning more than a century. Photographs, maps and text documents date back much further.

Yet all may not be lost if a few volunteers can be found to handle the Society's records and archives, book sales. A new Chairman and Secretary will be needed in the next twelve months. 

To help, please contact John Rowley at chairman@leatherheadhistory.org