Angel Row Historyfest success

From across the conurbation they came

In May 2012, Nottinghamshire Local History Association’s Angel Row Forum began a revival of sorts with a history fair in Nottingham Central Library with the support of Nottingham Local Studies Library. Both NLHA and the Library were pioneering partners back in the 1980s when a series of regional history fairs were organised and led by Sheila Cooke, the then City Local Studies Librarian, and Kate Thompson, the then Leicestershire County Archivist. Dorothy Ritchie, who has just retired from Nottingham Local Studies Library after nearly fifty years, and I were involved in the first fairs and we thought it time for a revival of sorts. You can find a report of the 2012 Fair on this website on another page.

In 2013, the  History Fair was reprised by County Libraries in Mansfield Library and again in 2014 and 2015. There have also been two history fairs at Lakeside on Nottingham University’s main campus, and a year ago, Dorothy and I decided we would like to organise one final history fair in Nottingham Central Library, which we decided to call a ‘Historyfest’, before handing over to others — hence the Angel Row Historyfest in Nottingham Central Library on Saturday 10 October 2015. Dorothy ended up retiring a few months ago and her colleague, Nicola Holmes, took over working with me and my NLHA colleague, Jenny Page, who, when the Historyfest ended, took over from me as NLHA’s Angel Row History Forum Organiser.

Last year, on reaching 70, I decided no more committees and this year I resolved no more organising anything after the Historyfest. Central Library’s Nicola and her colleague Kay have been fantastic to work with and really helped to make the 2015 Angel Row Historyfest a great day. The accompanying pics try to catch some of the day. There will be more pics on the NLHA Facebook page over the coming days and a full report in the next issue ofThe Nottinghamshire Historian.

Robert Howard