Little Downham Local History Community Archive Group

The group meets regularly on the first Monday of every month except Bank Holidays at the Book Café in the Village Hall 10:00am - Noon.

Who we are. In 2005, East Cambs council set up a pilot scheme for an online archive, compiled, not by a central. committee, but by an initial group of seven independent sites, supported and funded by the council. Among these groups were Little Downham, Pymoor and Coveney. The project was structured so that anyone with access to a computer could contribute. The pilot was so successful that there are now nearly 50 sites. Here in Downham, the committee extended the scheme to include a small physical archive and to promote and assist an interest in local and family history.

What we do.We still maintain, update and persuade others to contribute to the online archive:

www.ccan.co.uk

History happens all the time and our most recent posts are of the 2010 Village Fete. Limited by space, we still try to grow, store and index our small store of records, pictures and artefacts with a significant place in our history. We organise events to promote our work and to try to involve more and more people, some, perhaps, already with their own ideas for projects. Mostly, we try to overcome the ‘We’re only ordinary, no-one would be interested’ modesty of most people whose family lives and history is at the very heart of the story.

What can I do? We need people to help with our projects and to devise and pursue their own. We need you to raid your cupboards and shoeboxes for pictures, bills, pamphlets, anything which fill out and humanise the dry facts of history. We need you to view CCAN to fill the gaps and correct the errors. Luckily, we are very cheap to run, so funding is a minor problem, but, even if you are unable to help in other ways, any small donation to help defray our running costs is nevertheless welcome.

June 16th saw our second event of 2010, an escorted walk round part of the village. Roger Martin gave the walkers a ‘peep behind the curtains’ and we found much to talk about over refreshments.


Chairman Chris Seekings welcomes the walkers.	Wine, nibbles and conversation after the event.

Contact us at
downham-archive@hotmail.co.uk
and on 698884 or 69948
Visit us as part of the Cambridgeshire online archive at
www.ccan.co.uk

'The Archive Group is linked to almost 50 similar sites across Cambridgeshire through the Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network, www.ccan.co.uk which enables anyone with Internet access to contribute to, as well as view, any site with which they have a connection. .

For more details e-mail downham-archive@hotmail.co.uk