Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Didcot & District Archaeological and Historical Society

THE origins of our society go back to the 1960s when Lucy Hale moved from Essex to Didcot.

She had an interest in Archaeology and, while still living in Essex, had done some "digging" and "trowelling" and found an Iron Age vase. Along with her daughter Margaret, she helped the professionals with a "rescue dig" when a new car park was about to be built in Colchester – the team had two weeks to recover a Roman mosaic.

When Lucy moved to Didcot, she met Joyce Hall who shared her interest in archaeology. Lucy Hale met George Huxtable at lectures given by the WEA in Abingdon and, together with Joyce, they decided that an archaeological/ historical society should be formed in Abingdon.

A room in Abingdon Town Hall was hired, the meeting advertised and, to everyone’s surprise, at least 60 people attended.

The Abingdon Area Archaeological & Historical Society was formed in 1968, and Joyce and Lucy took turns to drive each other to the meetings. They were accompanied by Brian Lingham, who was working in Didcot Library at the time. After a number of years, Lucy and Joyce thought it was time for Didcot to have its own society and a meeting was arranged for June 23, 1976.

Thirty-one people attended the first meeting in All Saints Church Hall and eight people were elected onto the inaugural committee, chaired by Lucy with Joyce as the secretary. Another of our founder members, Rosemary Pryor, became one of the first members and still attends today.

The first talk was by Brian Lingham entitled "The Period Houses in Didcot" and took place on October 6, 1976, in the All Saints Parish Hall.

Later Joyce and Brian wanted to put local history on the map and Brian Lingham wrote his first book "The Changing Faces of Didcot" with help from Joyce. The book sold very well with the first publishing run selling out. The book was republished in 1982 with additional information.

This piece, written by Rosemary Pryor, says what the society is trying to promote:

"History is made by people. Today’s happenings are tomorrow’s history. In an ideal world we could assume that the more we learn about the successes and failures of the past, the more we are likely to achieve similar successes and to avoid the same mistakes. However we do not live in an ideal world, so my feeling is 'Just let us enjoy our historical and archaeological past'."

Since the society’s foundations 40 years ago, we continue to promote awareness of local history, heritage and artefacts relative to Didcot and the surrounding area. If you share our interest and would like to attend a meeting, they happen every second Thursday between October and May at the Northbourne Centre, Church Street, Didcot, OX11 8DG. Recent talks on local subjects include Didcot Power Station and the Didcot-Newbury-Southampton railway.

Website ddahs.org.uk