Report from the chair (March 2025)
A large donated collection of Motor Sport and Autosport magazines from Guy Loveridge.
Dear all, and welcome to our March newsletter.
Following on from the visit of the Mayor of Stockport to the archive, and her introduction to us of the Stockport Volunteer Hub, we have seen a steady stream of potential volunteers coming to the archive for a look round prior to making their volunteering decision. Of course what we have to offer is not for everyone but with the range of volunteering roles we do have we have seen an increase in those choosing to volunteer with us. One of our key attractions is that we can give an opportunity for as little as a couple of hours a week to full days.
Over the coming months we are going to do features on a number of our volunteers so that people can see what the archive has to offer from the perspective of the volunteer. A quick look at our volunteer log shows we have 22 active volunteers (including the 5 trustees) with a couple of prospective volunteers coming for a look round each week. There is definitely a great buzz about the reading room these days and it is a real pleasure being here working alongside such varied and interesting people.
Of course, all these extra people around is bringing new challenges for the archive. Firstly we have seen a big jump in the amount of stationery we are using as part of the cataloguing of the collection. And secondly we are rapidly running out of desk space in the reading room for people to work. To address the space problem we have come up with a short term and long term solution. In the short term we are moving a sofa and two armchairs out of the exhibition space and replacing them with desks. This will give us 3 or 4 more workspaces. This will work fine in the summer months as we do not at present heat the exhibition space. To allow us to use this space in the winter we are going to build a false wall in front of the concertina door at the front of the exhibition space. This wall will be insulated and stop the draughts that currently get in, thus allowing us to efficiently heat the space next winter.
Our long term solution it to fit out a designated space in the upstairs part of the archive specifically for use by the volunteers. Due to the cost of this we are going down the grant aid route to raise the funds. Craig Horner and one of our volunteers El Wilson are leading this work.
Richard modelling the “Trico” rain hood.
Donations are still arriving at the archive and they are keeping the collections team very busy. One of our supporters, Julie Dawson, has very generously donated several metal signs and a number of film, circus and funfair posters. Another donation came from the estate of someone’s father who worked for “Trico” the windscreen wiper manufacturer (see below for yours truly modelling the waterproof “Trico” rain hood - more on our blog piece ).
Guy Loveridge, another great supporter of the archive, turned up recently with a large collection of Motor Sport and Autosport magazines. These should help fill gaps in our already good collection and give some excellent material for our product files.
Another regular donor, Darren from the National Trust archive, sent us another small package in the post. This time it contained some National Trust promotional material and a lovely brochure from a firm making decorative lead work.
Please look at the latest acquisitions reports in the rest of the newsletter for more details on all of the items recently arriving.
Take care and all the best.
Richard Roberts and the team at the Richard Roberts Archive
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Collection Statistics
The Richard Roberts Archive collection statistics
Tuesday 1st March 2025
Collection database
Total items 166,789
- of which Magazines 142,155
Product folders
Total folders 186
- circa number of adverts 23,329
Breweriana
Total folders 546
Beermats 33,604
Transport photograph database
Total items 883
Volunteer hours
Total to date 78,002
