Wednesday 10th November, 2021

The speaker at the November Meeting was Flora Smithies who gave us a interesting and informative talk on The Barkisland School Story. Flora’s book is still available for purchase. As Flora is a member of our society, any requests for the book which are received via our contact page will be passed on to her.

13th October, 2021

Our Annual General Meeting of the GEHS was held on 13.10.2021. Approximately 50 members attended.

A minute’s silence was held for all the members who had passed away over the last 12 months, including the Society’s secretary, Mr David Akroyd.

The Chair, Andrew Gilmour, presented the reports before the Committee stood down.  This was followed by the election of GEHS officers for the 2021-22 Committee.

Two Honorary Life Memberships were awarded this year. The presentations were made by Maureen Odams, who is herself a Life Member of the GEHS.

The first Honorary Life Membership was given to Janice Nichols who retired as President of the Society at the AGM. Janice has undertaken various roles with the Society over the last 40 years.

The second Honorary Life Membership was given to Lorraine Lodge in recognition of all the work she has done, and continues to do, in relation to the Society’s archives and the re-establishment of the New History Room at the Elland Library.

The speaker at the AGM was Janice Nichols. Janice entertained us with an excellent talk on her experiences with the Society over the last 40 years. This presentation was thoroughly enjoyed by the members.

After the meeting the members were able to look at artefacts, old photographs and documents which had been brought  from the New History Room at Elland Library. There was also a selection of books which were available to purchase.

8th September 2021

After our enforced postponement of our meetings due to the Covid restrictions it was with great pleasure that we could invite members to join us again to our September meeting.

The committee was pleased by the number of members that were able to attend the first meeting of the winter session.

Our first talk was about Henry Francis Lyte, who wrote the very famous hymn  “Abide with Me”.  The talk was, given by John Lyte, a descendent of this very talented and inspirational man.  He was assisted in the presentation of the talk by his wife Joan.

Henry Francis Lyte wrote over 300 hymns and a number of poems.  A great number of the hymns are still sung in our churches today and at other gatherings.

John gave us an insight into the life of Henry Francis Lyte, from his childhood, to his calling to the work of the Church and his life in Brixham. 

This was a very interesting and informative talk and was enjoyed by those that attended.