Thorpeness & Aldringham Heritage Group

The group was set up initially under the auspices of the Parish Council, following the parish conference in November 2013. The Thorpeness and Aldringham Heritage Group (or TAHG) is now a firmly established history group in the parish with over 100 members.

We (local residents) adopted a constitution on 11 February 2014 and set up a committee to steer the group. Among the objectives is the establishment of a Heritage & Visitor Centre in Thorpeness illustrating the unique history of the village and surrounding area.

We at TAHG (Thorpeness and Aldringham Heritage Group) have had our most successful year so far; our membership has increased, our fundraising has gone up and our future is looking even more secure as we get to grips with developing our small visitors' centre next year.

The committee are already organising a series of events for 2018, along with the ever popular talks, an existing TAHG member has offered to host a Drinks by the Meare party for us in summer 2018, I'm not going to say who, or exactly when it will happen BUT if you want to have a chance to join in the fun in a beautiful setting you just may have to consider becoming a member! Not too onerous a task, all you have to do is email me on membership@tahg.org.uk and I will email you a membership form to fill in OR, if you prefer contact Elizabeth Tipping, 5, Peace Place, or the village shop for a membership form. The cost for a year is £5 for a single, or £10 for a couple/family, and from now on we can also offer A Life membership at £50 single or £100 for a couple/family. “What do I get for that?” I hear you ask, Well for that small sum I will email you a newsletter twice a year full of articles and give you priority notice of any of our ticketed events, and as these are nearly always a sell-out it's certainly worth becoming a member so you don't miss out.

We are also, like other interest groups, always looking for some more of you good folk to join our committee, we don't agree with 'pressing people', or 'embarrassing you' into coming on board, but why not give us a try and come and join us? We are focused on sharing with everyone in both Aldringham, Thorpeness and the surrounding area facts and memories of this wonderful and unique place. Through the articles and recorded oral histories from locals and visitors we aim to capture this information and make it available for everyone to share and enjoy, hence the need for a visitors' centre. We also make sure we have a good time doing it as well which is just as important. For all of you who already support us we send our heartfelt thanks, we hope we can count on your support in the future. For those who are contemplating joining us we look forward to seeing you.

Another important objective is to capture recordings of “living memories” from some of the longstanding residents in the Parish, and this activity has started, but there is much yet to do on this. We also host events from time to time, and our talks on topics of local interest have proved very popular.

The group meets regularly at the Oglivie Pavilion and Sports Ground - see their calendar for details.

Meanwhile, we are gathering materials - photographic and written, and to interview and record people's memories of Thorpeness past.

• Do you have any photographs which we could borrow to copy?
• Do you have any interesting letters, newspaper reports of events, advertisements or other written documents which we could borrow to copy?
• Do you or members of your family have long-standing connections with Thorpeness or can you share your memories of how things were in the past, which we could perhaps record through an interview?

If your answer to any of the above is YES, do please contact any of the committee.

All tickets for our events are sold by Mrs. Elizabeth Tipping of 5, Peace Place, Thorpeness and are offered to our members first. On rare occasions when any remain unsold, they become available to the general public. So please don't run the risk of not being able to get tickets for an event or talk that you're interested in. It's easy to join us; simply contact me at the address or email below and for a small annual fee of £5 for single membership or £10 for a family membership, you can be a part of it all!

Hope to see you all soon

Sue Atkinson, Membership secretary
Logwood, Aldeburgh Rd., Aldringham, Leiston, Suffolk, IP16 4QH or email info@tahg.org.uk

We are hoping to extend our membership as widely as possible to include all who love this area; your contribution with your ideas would be much appreciated.

If you have any ideas or contacts for our fundraising we would be pleased to hear from you.