Two busy weeks in Easingwold
June 20, 2008
Summer came early in June 2008 and a pair of wrought iron gates were re-hung on the warmest day we had had so far. They look great! We celebrated that completed project at the Yorkshire and Humber Association of Civic Societies exhibition held at the Easingwold Library. We also told local people about our Society, the Forest of Galtres Society (it is the name of the ancient Royal Hunting Forest once hereabouts) and its history – founded in 1953 before many civic societies came into existence.
Our very special exhibition event was a stone tool surgery. Helped by a stalwart team of archaeologists of academic repute, we invited people to bring in their tool finds for recording. This process was most rewarding, for the Vale of York does not have a huge recorded corpus of tools finds, and the tools we saw were of great interest. Those archaeologists were beaming! 14th century pottery found locally was also brought in, and metal axe heads. The whole week was well-attended with 150 people specifically viewing the exhibition and the library service seeing many people new to their service too.
Forest of Galtres members have contributed information of lasting value to the academic record and have improved the visual appearance of the town too – all in a busy time of visits to country houses. We visited Dumfries House and were bowled off our feet. It is a superb collection in a superb setting. More than half the membership came, and we made a three day trip of it, visiting other magnificent Borders houses and castles too.
Let’s now enjoy the rest of a hot summer!
