News, Meetings & Events Diary

Group MeetingsUpdates 05/01/08

The Thorpe Thewles History Group normally meets on the first Friday of each month at 7:00 PM in Grindon Parish Hall, Thorpe Thewles. All are welcome!

A complete list of the group meetings dates for 2008 is listed below.

Month	Meeting Date

January	Friday 4^th
February	Friday 1^st
March	Friday 7^th
April	April 4^th
May	May 2^nd
June	June 6^th
July	July 4^th
August	No meeting planned
September	Friday 5^th
October	Friday 3^rd
November	No meeting planned
December	Friday 5^th- Annual AGM

A complete list of meeting plus other TTHG events and exhibitions dates for 2008 can be found on the group's down loadable year planner.

Events & Exhibitions Updates 05/01/08

Throughout 2008 the Thorpe Thewles History Group will be mounting a series of informative and entertaining public talks plus their annual local history exhibition. The group will also be attending other local plus regional exhibitions at which they will be mounting small displays. A list of these events can be found below.

To acquire or reserve tickets for any of the talks listed below contact any committee member of the Thorpe Thewles History Group or alternatively contact use by e-mail or by telephone on 01740 630014.

February - Friday 15^th

"Secrets of the Attic" - An illustrated talk by Dr. Tony Nicholson, Head of History at Teesside University. To commence at 7:30 PM prompt in Grindon Parish Hall, Thorpe Thewles. Entrance by ticket at a cost of £2 per person (discounts for TTHG members) with light refreshments included.

This talk is based on the story behind a collection of photographs and letters found by the presenter and his family in their attic whilst renovating their home in 1999. Over the years, Tony has gradually pieced together the dramatic love story of Annie and Gus which these letters tell.

June - Saturday 7^th

Sunderland Heritage Forum History Fair - Thorpe Thewles History Group have been invited to have a display stall at SHF's second history fair, celebrating the rich and varied heritage and history of Sunderland and the wider North East region. The Forum was founded to encourage and bring together national, regional and local organisations interested in promoting and studying local heritage and genealogy. The fair will be held in the Seaburn Centre in Sunderland and will be open to the public from 10 AM to 4 PM. Everyone is welcome.

June - Friday 20^th Updates 18/01/08

		"Angles on the Saxons" - An illustrated talk by Peter Rowe, Sites and Monuments Officer for Tees Archaeology. To commence at 7:30 PM prompt in Grindon Parish Hall, Thorpe Thewles. Entrance by ticket at a cost of £2 per person (discounts for TTHG members) with light refreshments included. This talk will summarise the wealth of archaeological material of the Anglo-Saxon period from the Stockton area and further afield. It will take a look at the violent end to the Roman period when Anglian pirates began to raid the north-east coast before considering the impact of their rich culture and the comings of Christianity to the area. Peter will examine the Pagan and Christian burial grounds at Norton before looking to the newly discovered site at Low Lane, near Yarm and rounding off with the new national treasures unearthed at Street House, near Loftus.
Not part of the Sutton Hoo treasure but the recently discovered Loftus treasure!

August - Date to be confirmed

Thorpe Thewles History Group have been invited to have a display stall at an event to be hosted by Roseworth Residences' Action Group at Kiora Hall, Roseworth, Stockton-on-Tees. The group intend to use this ocassion to exhibit some of their findings related to the near by Kiora Gun and WWII POW camp site. More details will be posted once available.

September - Friday 19^th

Romano-British Archaeological Sites & Remains of South-eastern County Durham - An illustrated talk by Dr. David Mason County Archaeologist (County Durham). To commence at 7:30 PM prompt in Grindon Parish Hall, Thorpe Thewles. Entrance by ticket at a cost of £2 per person (discounts for TTHG members) with light refreshments included.

This talk will present the archaeological evidence and remains from south-eastern County Durham from the Romano-British Period. The talk will also present an update of the findings from the recent series of excavations on the Romano-British industrial site west of Sedgefield and will examine the evidence for Roman Roads and other routes of communications within this part of County Durham and Cleveland.

November- Saturday 8^th

Local History Exhibition & DVD Launch - A day long exhibition focusing on various aspects of life within the Thorpe Thewles area within the C20^th. The exhibition will cover many aspects of life in the village including the roles played by key institutions such as the Post Offices, Public Houses, School, Church and Parish Hall. In addition the exhibition will feature aspects of lost village traditions plus the effects on the village and its surroundings with the outbreak of the Second World War. The exhibition will be timed to coincide and will act as a venue for the launch of the group's Lottery Funded local history DVD. A copy of this DVD will be made freely available (by collection) to each household within the Parish of Grindon. The exhibition will be held in Grindon Parish Hall, Thorpe Thewles between 10 AM and 4:30 PM. Light refreshments will be available all day and entrance will be free to all.

News & Research Projects

1) Audio-Visual History Project & DVD Updates 17/12/07

TTHG's are pleased to announce that their bid for a second externally funded research project has been successful and that they have been awarded £10,000, from the lottery funded "Awards For All" scheme.

The subject of the group's winning bid is the production of a professionally produced DVD which will principally covering selected C20^th topics of local history within the Thorpe Thewles area. This project will involve a project sub-committee of group. The DVD will include old and new film clips of the Parish together with filmed interviews with local people (from all age groups) featuring their recollections of the area in bye-gone and more recent times.

Anyone interested in participating in this exciting project or who may be able to provide us with any old pictures, film clips or stories relating to areas in and around Grindon Parish should contact the group via one of the means listed below;

By e-mail: tt.hg@virgin.net

By telephone: (01740) 630150

By letter: TTHG Audio-Visual DVD History Project; c/o 2 School Close, Thorpe Thewles. TS21 3JE.

2) Thorpe Thewles District War Time Memories & Monuments ProjectUpdates 07/10/07

This project was first proposed in 2006 when research carried out by the Thorpe Thewles History Group highlighted the existence of several local World War II Invasion Defence monuments. Subsequent investigations indicated that less than half of these structures were officially recorded on either the Tees Valley SMR or in the Defence of Britain Survey database. It also became evident at this time that there was a great wealth of local memories and community information related to north-west Teesside during the last war that was in danger of being left unrecorded and potentially lost within the next decade.


TTHG member Gordon Parkin pictured during a recent interview with the Evening Gazette appealing for information about the Kiora Gun Battery in Roseworth.		A Type 23 Variant Pillbox built in 1940/41 to guard the approaches to Thorpe Thewles Railway Viaduct as a defence against German invasion.

The aims of this 2 year duration project will be to investigate, record and raise public awareness and understanding of the World War II Military and Civil Defences Works (i.e. pillboxes, Auxiliary Unit operations bunkers, roadblocks, anti-glider trenches and poles, anti-aircraft battery locations plus search light battery and barrage balloon positions etc.) that either still survive or once existed in and around the village of Thorpe Thewles Co. Durham. The extent of the geographical area to be studied will essentially cover that of the Parish of Grindon and its immediate borders.

One of the 4.5" Anti-aircraft Guns that made up the Kiora Gun Battery at Roseworth

The study will comprise a survey of relevant entries in existing SMR databases related to the area of study (i.e. Tees Valley and County Durham) plus that set-up by the Defence of Britain Project. In addition investigatory fieldwork will be undertaken to assess the condition of the existing monuments and related landscape features and to record those that are currently unlisted plus others that are either suspected or no longer survive. These investigations will be coupled with further research that will look at how aspects of the war affected the lives of people living in this largely rural part of south-east County Durham. It is planned to use oral history techniques to gather first hand accounts of life in and around the village during the war with particular emphasis being put on recording accounts and information related to the following topics;

1) The activities and operating centres of the local Home Guard and special operations Auxiliary Units.

2) Recollections of former children evacuated to the village from other areas of the country (notably Sunderland) during this period.

3) The anti aircraft gun battery at Kiora Hall, Roseworth (plus any other local mobile AA gun locations).

4) Information about any local public or school's air raid shelters.

5) Recollections of notable local air raids, particularly the night in October 1941 when German bombs fell around Thorpe Viaduct, Thorpe Wood and Fulthorpe Farm.

6) The use of Land Army girls on farms in the area.

7) The use of POW labour on local farms during the war and information relate to the POW camps at both Kiora and Wolviston Halls.

8) Information relating to the locations of local search light batteries, barrage balloons, bombing decoy stations plus anti-glider landing poles and trenches.

At the end of this two year study a report will be compiled copies of which will be lodged with the central reference libraries and records offices in the Tees Valley area. A copy of all relevant new findings will also be presented to Tees Archaeology in Hartlepool for inclusion onto their Sites & Monuments database.

Thorpe Thewles History Group is pleased to announce that this project is being largely funded by the award of a Challenge Funding grant from the Council For British Archaeology (CBA).

By e-mail: tt.hg@virgin.net

By telephone: (01740) 630014

By letter: TTHG War Time Memories & Monuments Project; c/o 2 Mill Terrace, Thorpe Thewles. Stockton-on-Tees. TS21 3JS.

Past Events

1) Local History Exhibition & Book Launch - After the huge success of the group's first Local History Exhibition in 2005 a second such event was organised on 26^th May 2007 in Grindon Parish Hall, Thorpe Thewles. This event was timed to coincide with launch of the group's first book "Thorpe Thewles of Grindon Parish - A History". A copy of this LHI/LHF funded publication was made freely available by the TTHG to every single household in Grindon Parish.

Both the book launch and exhibition were extremely well attended. The exhibition featured much new and previously unseen material. Displays and features of the event included the following;

	New display material covering all aspects of Grindon parish history and archaeology.
	Recreation of a Victorian School Room (courtesy of Preston Hall Museum).
	St. James Church (Thorpe Thewles) open day plus Grindon church history display.
	A 18 ft long by 5 feet wide working scale model of Thorpe Thewles Railway Station and environs as it was in the 1920s and 30s. This display was made available courtesy of David Thurwell of "Durham Modellers".
	Chance to see and handle some of the recent archaeological field walking finds made by David Parkin from his work in the neighbouring village of Carlton.
	Children's colouring-in and craft table.
	A sales stall of local history books plus postcards of Grindon Parish in "by-gone days".

To view thumb-nail images taken at this event use the directional arrows below. Double click any selected picture from the scroll bar below to see an enlarged version with caption details.

Sir John Hall & Lady May receive their complementary copy of TTHG's new publication from group founder Phillipa Cooper.

2) Yesterday Belongs to You 8 - Saturday 12^th May 2007.

The Thorpe Thewles History Group was pleased to be able to attendance the 8^th presentation of "Yesterday Belongs to You" in County Hall, Durham. This event is held every two years and is the North East's premier gathering of local history groups, genealogical societies, museum groups, history re-enactment associations plus archaeological societies etc. Over 100 different groups had stands at the event which was attended by well over 2,000 members of the public.

TTHG's display stand in the main hall at History Belongs To You 8

We thoroughly enjoyed the day and were pleased to meet with new friends and fellow local history enthusiasts. We look for ward to seeing everyone again at Yesterday Belongs to You 9 in 2009.

3) Living History Coffee Morning - 30^th September 2006

Below are a selection of the images taken during the Thorpe Thewles History Group's "Living History Coffee Morning" which was greatly enjoyed by all who attended.


Above - Local history display boards at the coffee morning.		Above - Olive Lindley finds a picture displayed of herself as a young girl playing in Thorpe Beck.