Holme on Spalding Moor Heritage Project

On Saturday Holme on Spalding Moor Village Hall hosted a Consultation Workshop to kick start a new and innovative Heritage project, the brainchild of local residents Gordon Howcroft and Alec Wild, and the support of HOSM Parish Council.

The aims of the project is to draw the attention of the villagers to the beautiful countryside that makes up the parish and to show how well placed HOSM is to connect the extensive cycling/walking/heritage schemes that exist not only within the Parish but also the neighbouring parishes and towns. These include the big skies bike rides at Market Weighton, Pocklington and Newbald, the Wallingfen Way connecting Gilberdyke, Newport and North Cave, the Howden 20, and the Bubwith Rail Trail.

The project also aims to establish a Heritage/History Group to look to best preserve the wide variety of heritage held within Holme on Spalding Moor, by asking villagers to offer documents and photographs of interest for scanning into a digital archive, and by encouraging volunteers to converse with older villagers who have personal experiences of living and working in the community - to record these stories for posterity.

It is acknowledged that HOSM does not exist in isolation, therefore it is also hoped to forge links with the neighbouring parishes to create a broader project for the benefit of the wider community.

The organisations that took part in the workshop event were:

Blackburn archive
76 Squadron
Cityscape maps
Pocklington Canal Amenity Society
Pocklington Gateway Partnership
Market Weighton Bradley Way
VHEY
Howden Civic Society
Wallingfen Way Project
Sam Marriage, Conservation Farming
Meadow Foods
HOSM School
Hull University, Valley of the First Iron Masters
Yorkshire Museum of Farming

The workshop was only the beginning and further plans include:

To bring together volunteers and source training as required
To prepare a funding bid for Heritage Lottery Funding
To progress the scanning of pledged documents
To continue recording personal histories, some of which has already begun
To purchase the required computer equipment and software to carry out the recording of data, documents and interviews.
To design and print high quality maps, interpretation boards and way markers that will form the basis of the self-guided walks and cycle trails.

Holme on Spalding Moor School children were asked to enter a competition to design a logo for the project which was judged by those people attending, local MEP Godfrey Bloom presented the winning logo at the end of the workshop.

“Projects such as this are essential in many ways – Pictures and photographs are long lasting but memories are lost with the passing of time, preserving the local history for our descendants to view and listen to in the future gives us all an opportunity to be the custodians of the past.

As someone who spends a great deal of time mountain biking I can confirm the benefits, to see more people walking and cycling has obvious implications for better health, and this is made easier if they are able to follow established paths and trails. The more people that use the paths and trails the more they are looked after. There are untold opportunities for local communities to benefit from increased tourism, be they local pubs, cafes and shops, or the local farmer’s wife living alongside the paths or waterways selling cups of tea and scones from her kitchen. The beautiful Howdenshire area is rich in history and tradition and the people are warm and friendly, let’s take the opportunity this project offers to consolidate our past and ensure a sustainable future for our children”.

(pictured with Godfrey Bloom MEP and Gordon Howcroft)