Our Society was formed in 1968 as the
Mayford History Society but we changed our name to Mayford and Woking
District History Society in 1983 to reflect
our broadened horizons. By 1999, we had members from all
over Woking Borough so we changed our name again to Woking History
Society. Our primary objective is the education of the
Public in the history of the Borough of Woking and nearby parishes
and we are a registered charity.
As well as enjoying a programme of
talks, members in the early days surveyed old buildings, recorded
their history and the stories of inhabitants and undertook limited
excavations. A collection of documents, illustrations
and artefacts was started although much of what had been
excavated went to Guildford Museum.
The minutes of 3rd AGM 0n 6 Dec
1971 records that:
“Several Members expressed support
for the Society in the suggestion made by Mr Boarer that it
should press for the opening of a museum or room for exhibits in
Woking. Mr Boarer again promised that the new
committee would pursue the matter urgently with Woking Urban District
Council.”
In 1972 a “One Day Museum” held at
Mayford Village Hall attracted 500 visitors so was followed
by others in Christ Church Hall and Woking Library. Although
these, showed that there would be interest in a museum in Woking, it
was not until 1990, after pressure from the Woking Arts Council and
Iain Wakeford as well as ourselves, that the Council
became involved.
From 1992, several sites were
considered and in 1994, Woking BC offered the former market house
outside the post office, awarded planning consent and appointed a
Museum Director. Several town centre sites were
subsequently used to store and sort documents and artefacts but
not to display them.
In 2001 everything changed when our
original idea of a couple of rooms in an existing building suddenly
became a major project with a new Director and a prestige building
proposed on the present site in Victoria Way. The fighting
was not over, however, as there was opposition to such an ambitious
scheme but with lottery and other outside funding added to that from
the Council, The Lightbox was finally opened in 2007. Director,
Marilyn Scott and her team had brought to fruition the project which
totally surpassed the expectations of our 1971 members.
Our Society
maintains close links with related bodies through membership of
various committees. Several members serve on the Woking BC
Consultative Panel for Woking Palace, another chairs the
Members’ Committee of the Surrey History Trust and is on the Surrey
Archaeological Society Library Committee. We are
represented on the Surrey Record Society’s Council and, at The
Lightbox, two members are Collection Trustees and others serve on new
Heritage Exhibitions Advisory Committee. We are also
affiliated to Friends of Woking Palace and the Surrey History Centre.
No comments:
Post a Comment