On 12 May 1984 the Saffron Walden Historical Society helped to organize a major Essex History Day at Saffron Walden Town Hall. The Society hosted it on behalf of the Essex Archaeological Society. It required a huge amount of planning and hard work in co-operation with Saffron Walden Museum and the then Curator Len Pole. The Town Hall was filled with displays from many local history societies, particularly of the surrounding villages and from local schools. A display of town archives was arranged and there were talks in the Parish Church, the Museum and the Town Library, with lectures on the town’s history in the United Reformed Church Hall by Steven Bassett and Mary Whiteman. The programme for the day contained a town trail. The whole day seems to have been a great success and there were over 3,000 visitors. This History Day set the pattern for the series of biennial Essex History Fairs, which have continued since then: the next was held at Castle Hedingham in 1986, in which the Society also took part by having a stall. It was to be another 25 years before a similar event was held, the History Fair by the Recorders of Uttlesford History, in the same venue. A selection of photographs (below) by Society member and former treasurer, Richard Jemmett, gives something of the flavour of the day. Photographs ©Richard Jemmett.

Click on any of the images below to see larger copies in a slideshow.