Margaret Wood (nee Plant) has recently put a message on our website.

Margaret and her family had a fish and chip shop at the top of High Street for many years.

I am sure many of you remember the fish and chip shop and have memories you could share with us on the Memory Bank.

We are currently researching the history of the Co-operative in Killamarsh.

Does anyone have any photographs relating to the Co-op, that is buildings or people who worked there etc, which we could borrow to copy?

Did you or any members of your family work at the Co-op and do you have any stories to tell?

If you can help you can contact us by emailing secretary@killamarsh.org or telephone 0114 2484812.

We look forward to hearing from you.

________________________________________________________________

I never stop looking at the photos as I get a great thrill finding my rellies, Thank you for a wonderful job you all have done in getting this precious time in all our lives recorded in our love for our Killamarsh.

Jenny Hazzard (nee Dopson), Perth, Western Australia

______________________________________________________________________

Killamarsh Heritage Society have recently adopted the planter at the bottom of Bridge Street, next to the B & C Funeral Parlour.

We do hope that everyone enjoys the planting as it matures, and also the spring bulbs which will appear next year.

Below are some photographs taken on the day of planting (Copyright Ian Beck).

Above:  Killamarsh School Children helping us to put in the plants.

Pictured left to right:  Alex Mason, Megan Beck, Caitlin Jones, Billy Robinson, Levi Collins.

Above:  Members of Killamarsh Heritage Society with the Killamarsh School children.

Left to right.  Janet Jackson, Margaret Slack, Tony Ward, Billy Robinson, Levi Collins, Pat Bone, Caitlin Jones, Megan Beck, Joan Talbot (with Willow), Barry Talbot.

The planter taking shape.

Thank you to the members of Killamarsh Heritage Society for donating the plants, for their hard work in digging the planter over and putting in the plants, and for keeping up with the watering.

_______________________________________________________________

The message below has been posted on our website.

I am sure that many of you remember Stephen and definitely remember buying fish and chips from the shop on Sheffield Road.  Let us have your memories.

Above:  Photograph of shop which was a butcher’s shop before it became Crofts Fish and Chips shop.

Message from Stephen Crofts – 22nd August, 2014

I was born in 1952. At that time the butcher’s shop was a fish shop owned by my Grandfather George Crofts (born 1893 and married at St Giles, Killamarsh in 1915). My Father, Edward (Ted) Crofts had taken over running the shop; and in 1956, we exchanged properties with my grandfather and moved into the shop. We lived behind and above the shop. My bedroom was the leftmost of the three upstairs windows.
I lived there until 1974, my parents still running the fish and chips business. I moved with work to Cheshire, later married a Derbyshire lass and in 1981 emigrated to South Africa, where we still live in Durban.
In the last couple of years I have been researching my ancestry using the Ancestry.com web site and have traced the Crofts back to the 1700′s. But I have an important gap in my records, that continues to frustrate me. I can’t find how and when my grandfather became a shop keeper. How he was able to buy the shop coming from modest background. Or was the property perhaps obtained through his wife’s family (named Hill)?
If anyone has some information about this small part of Killamarsh’s local history, (the Crofts of 195 Sheffield Road) I would be very grateful to learn as much as possible.

Thanks & regards,
Stephen Crofts.

_________________________________________________________________

August the 4th 2014 was the Centenary of the start of World War I.

Killamarsh Heritage Society have been working with the three schools and also with Killamarsh cubs on work relating to this event.
As part of our work with them the children produced artwork and written work which was exhibited in the Methodist Church in Killamarsh during July and up to the 4th of August.
The work was wonderful and the children should be really proud of themselves
In addition to the artwork, the children of Class 4/5 W at Killamarsh Junior School gave us poems relating to the soldiers in World War I and also wrote notebooks about the War.  Class 5 at Killamarsh Junior School produced a diary written from the perspective of a soldier who fought in the war.  Everyone who read the children’s work was really moved by it.

The children in the schools came in to see the exhibition as did many members of the public.  Those who came to see the exhibition were really impressed with the standard of work produced by the children of the village.

Below are some photographs showing the exhibition:

Above:  The display from 1st Killamarsh Brownies

Above:  The work of 1st Killamarsh Guides

Above:  Danielle and Megan Beck with work from Killamarsh Junior School

Above:  Megan Beck with the work she produced at Killamarsh Junior School

Above:  Top – the work of Killamarsh Cubs             Below – the work of St Giles School

Above:  Janet Jackson (member of Killamarsh Heritage Society) with Lee Rowley, the Conservative Candidate for North East Derbyshire who visited the exhibition.

Above:  A selection of poppies from St Giles School, Killamarsh

Above:  Natascha Engel, MP for North East Derbyshire visits the exhibition on 4th August 2014

Above:   Poppies from Killamarsh Infant School

We would like to thank all those who have so far recorded their memories as part of our All Our Stories project.

This project is still ongoing and we would be pleased if anyone who would like to take part would contact us either by emailing secretary@killamarsh.org or telephone 0114 2484812.

We look forward to hearing from you.

As many of you know Killamarsh Heritage Society have appointed a small group of interested people who are working very hard on a project to put a monument on Green Lane to mark the spot where Westthorpe Colliery was for many years, and we are progressing with this.

We are very disappointed to be told that negative messages have been put on the Voice Facebook site by two Killamarsh people to the effect of ‘Why bother ….no one recognises Killamarsh as a mining village’.  We would have thought that both of these people would have supported our project.

Also, the question was asked in the same Facebook conversation – ‘”Why not High Moor?”

We would, therefore, like to put the record straight:

A large part of the history and heritage of Killamarsh is as a mining village, and to many people it will always be thought of as a mining village.

The pits in Killamarsh were the life blood of the village for many, many years and hundreds of men earned their living from working in them.  Men also lost their lives working in the Killamarsh pits.  The pits were important to the community and to the social lives of those in the village.  Many of us had grandfathers, fathers, husbands, brothers and sons working in the Killamarsh pits.

To brush this aside with ‘Why bother….no one recognises Killamarsh as a mining village’ is absolutely disgraceful, especially from those who made the comments.

The fact that the pits are no longer there is exactly why we need the monument, to record our heritage and history.

The two people who have made the comments obviously totally miss the point we are trying to make.

In answer to the question “Why not High Moor”?

We have chosen Westthorpe Colliery in 2014 because the pit closed in 1984 – which is 30 years ago this year.

We therefore feel that this year is an appropriate year to erect a monument to Westthorpe Colliery.

Our intention is to look to putting a monument to High Moor Colliery in the future.

We know that many people who follow our website, both in Killamarsh, in other parts of the country and overseas will relate to us being a mining village and had members of their family working in the pits.  We always receive an enormous amount of interest in the photographs and information about the pits we had in Killamarsh.  We would, therefore, be pleased to receive your comments and views on the issue (either supportive or otherwise) on our Memory Bank please.

_____________________________________________________________________

You will see that we have congratulated Angie Dornan on passing the first year of her nursing degree (see under the Congratulations tab).  This is despite having kidney dialysis for eight years followed by a kidney transplant.

Angie has passed the following message to us which I thought we would include as it is very encouraging and as you will see she is willing to speak to anyone who is going through the same thing and would like her support.

If you would like speak to Angie let us know via the website or our email address.