Rolleston History Day

Rolleston History Day
Saturday 31 January 2009, 9.30am – 4.30pm in The Old Grammar School

In view of the waiting list for the History Day held in October and other expressions of interest there is a provisional arrangement for a repeat day. The event will go ahead if a minimum of 20 people register for the day. As before the fee for the day, including a buffet lunch, is £20. All proceeds in aid of St Mary’s Fabric fund. In view of the waiting list for the History Day held in October and other expressions of interest there is a provisional arrangement for a repeat day. The event will go ahead if a minimum of 20 people register for the day. As before the fee for the day, including a buffet lunch, is £20. All proceeds in aid of St Mary’s Fabric fund.

Programme
9.30 – 10.00	Registration
10.00 – 10.30	Setting the Scene - the Rolleston and Mosley Dynasties	Arnold Burston
10.30 – 11.15	History of the Old Grammar School	Andrew Eley
11.15 – 11.35	Coffee
11.35 – 12.20	Rolleston in the Victorian Censuses	Michael Wardell
12.20 – 1.00	The Rolleston Hall and Estate Sales	Tom Martin
1.00 – 2.00	Buffet Lunch
2.00 – 2.45	The Lych Gate and its Memorials	Arnold Burston
2.45 – 3.30	Tracing Local Family Histories	Delia Wyers
3.30 – 3.50	Tea
3.50 – 4.30	Rolleston Hall Grounds and Gardens	Tom Martin

If you wish to enrol, please send your name, address and telephone number along with payment (Please make cheques payable to Rolleston St Mary’s PCC) to Mrs Sylvia Martin - 43, The Lawns, Rolleston on Dove, DE13 9DA Tel: 01283 813320

When people have put in hard graft for the benefit and interest (even entertainment) of others, a note of appreciation is justified. The Rolleston History Day (publicised on the back page of the last edition of Rollestonian) held on Saturday 11 October must be considered a great success. It was to be a one-off all-day event in the Old Grammar School Room and the pupils, not scholarly types but actually men and women from just up and down your road, filled the room and were then thoroughly educated in the historical facts of the village. It seemed to me that everyone enjoyed it very much.

Historical facts (and some conjectures) were presented on the Rolleston and Mosley families, Rolleston Hall and the Sales leading up to the Estate’s demise, and vivid descriptions given of the Grounds and Gardens. Details had been researched on the life (and performance – not always up to the mark of the Victorian Ofsted) of the Grammar School – the very venue of the Seminar itself. The history of the St Mary’s Lych Gate, together with many poignant details of the named Fallen registered on its Memorials, was related and stories told. A statistical analysis, even, was made of some of the local Censuses of the time. And advice was given on where to find the essential information to those wishing to trace their Family Histories.

All the contributors were local people (even the buffet lunch had been prepared by Madam Chairman of the Parish Council – though not, it should be said, in that capacity. It was agreed that she certainly makes a mean Plum Crumble!). Thanks are given to all concerned: Speakers, Session Chairmen and Organisers (their names are given in the last Rollestonian). It certainly made the point that much valuable information is held by the residents of this village. Perhaps another Schoolday can be arranged using other local material – given a year or two to do the homework. But no end-of-day tests please.