South Woodham Ferrers Local History Society

A Christmas Special with 2 short talks presented by Society member, Robin Hall and Chairman, John Frankland followed by a local history quiz and mince pies

Those familiar with the Christmas story will be aware that it was a decree issued by Caesar Augustus, that a census should be taken of the whole Roman world, which triggered Joseph and Mary’s journey to Joseph’s ancestral town Bethlehem. Adopting this Christmas theme, the next meeting of the South Woodham Ferrers Local History Society will turn its attention to census material and in particular will learn something of what the 1901 and 1911 censuses can tell us about the people who were moving into South Woodham in the early years of the last century. A short presentation by society member Robin Hall will examine the origins and the occupations of the village’s early immigrants as revealed in those censuses. The kind of detailed analysis made possible by those censuses almost invariably reveals some interesting and surprising patterns of movement.

This will be followed by a short illustrated talk ‘Tin Tabernacles in South Woodham’ by the Society’s chairman John Frankland who will give an account of the part that corrugated iron mission halls – commonly known as ‘tin tabernacles’ - played in the lives of those early South Woodham residents and in the establishment and growth of a Christian witness in the village. Four of the first five churches built in the village between 1903 and 1931 were of this distinctive and quite endearing type of structure. The corrugated iron Baptist church erected in Clements Green Lane in 1926 is the sole survivor from this period: much modified and re-clad it is used by the New Life Church today.

Following these two talks there will be a break for refreshments, including mince pies, and then members and visitors will be able to enjoy a (fairly informal) local history quiz, including picture questions and with a valuable prize for the winner(s). It should be a fun evening.

Visitors will be very welcome (admission £3) and no booking is necessary. Alternatively you may join the Society on the evening for £12 per annum which gives admission to all the Society’s meetings.