Report from the chair (September 2024)
A visit from the mayor of Stockport!
Dear all, and welcome to our September newsletter.
Well, it’s been an extremely busy time since the last time I wrote this piece and a lot has happened at the archive.
Firstly I have to report that George Mumford, one of our trustees, has stepped down from the role after three years. The trustees would like to thank George for all that he has done during his tenure and wish him well in the future.
It has been an exciting time for donations and these have been many and varied. Starting with two extremes (both important in their own way) we were contacted through our website and offered newspapers. The first donation, by Henry Hesketh, consisted of four newspapers which arrived in the post. The first newspaper was a copy of the Daily Express for Friday 31 May 1940 and covers the evacuation from Dunkirk. Interestingly it has a lovely Guinness advertisement on the front cover. I have always loved Guinness advertising for their creativity and originality and so was particularly pleased to see this one. Something to note about Guinness advertising is that (nearly) all Guinness adverts are numbered starting at No.1 when they first started advertising in the press. They still continue to do this today and I would love to have a full run in the archive. The one in the newspaper is No. 992. The other newspapers were editions of The Balkan News dated 22 August 1917, 23 September 1918 and 1 October 1918. Though only double-sided sheets, they are rare survivors from the First World War period and cover war activities in the Balkans.
The second collection of newspapers came from Sheila Blacklock who lives in Plymouth. Sheila had offered her late husband David’s collection. David had built up a very impressive collection of newspapers and Sheila wanted them to go to a good home where they would be appreciated and used. Due to the large quantity involved I roped in the services of my son Robert and his van to collect them. We had an uneventful journey there and were made most welcome by Sheila at her home in Plymouth. After loading up and a welcome mug of tea with Sheila we made our way back to Birmingham, this time experiencing the usual M5 holdups.
At Birmingham my car was filled with boxes of newspapers with the remainder staying at Robert’s to be collected on a further visit. Once unloaded at the archive a sample selection was taken out and photographed. The boxes have now joined the queue of items waiting to be catalogued. Looking at the few examples extracted I could see that the newspapers dated from modern (cover picture of Theresa May), back to 1914.
Further donations can be seen in the acquisitions section and cover The Economist magazine, a collection of model buses (illustrative of corporate livery and poster advertising on the sides of buses), beer glasses from several sources and a lovely early French share certificate for the Salmson car company.
Work on the Ruby engine is progressing well. We have obtained all the necessary replacement parts, had the crankshaft tested and re-ground and started the clean-up of the parts ready for assembly. Craig Horner is leading the rebuild ably assisted by John French, Guy Loveridge and David Mann. I am looking forward to having the car back on the road and being used again to promote the archive.
On Saturday 7 September (following a massive spring clean of the archive carried out by the trustees and volunteers) we opened the archive up for the 2024 Heritage Open Day. This year was our best yet with just under thirty people coming along for the guided tours of the archive and talks given by Peter Moss. The weather was great yet again so we were able to open up the big main door for people to see in, plus we put on tea, coffee and cake.
The comments left by people in our visitor book show that they had a great time and were pleased to have made the visit.
Following on from the Heritage Open Day we hosted the mayor of Stockport on 18 September. The mayor arrived right on time and we were introduced by Dave, the mayor’s assistant, to Mayor Suzanne Wyatt and her Mayoress Melanie (one of her daughters). We started by explaining our history, how we came to be in Stockport and how we moved from a private collection to a registered charity. We then did the grand tour of the archive, looking at the Exhibition Space and then the main room where the collection is housed. We finished the tour with hot drinks in the reading room and convivial conversation of what we had seen.
The mayor was fascinated with our product files, showing particular interest in our Aviation collection. An interesting comment she made was that her preconception of archives before she came was that they were “dull, dusty and boring”. She freely admitted that following her tour her views had completely changed and that she had thoroughly enjoyed her visit.
And on that happy note and until our next open evening and newsletter, have a great time and enjoy life to the full.
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 September 2024
Collection database
Total items 162,164
- of which Magazines 137,855
Product folders
Total folders 170
- circa number of adverts 20,803
Breweriana
Total folders 447
Beermats 26,948
Transport photograph database
Total items 883
Volunteer hours
Total 72,979
- of which this month 500
