The First 20 Years

In 1986, an open meeting was called by Alf Hicks, known locally as Mr Wickhambrook for his love of the village, with a view to setting up a Local History Society. This was duly done, and the Society has grown and flourished over the years since then.

We have meetings or outings every month and these are always very well supported by the members. One of the highlights of the last 20 years was our work on a village survey in 2000 to celebrate the Millennium. We issued forms to each household and asked everyone for a brief history of their house and a photograph. Not everyone replied, but we had enough returns to make interesting reading and even in the few years since we undertook the project, it has been very useful in all sorts of ways. We held an exhibition in 2000 with all the clubs and societies in Wickhambrook, to show off our work , and celebrate the diverse history of our village. Last year we opened a Library in the Primary School to house our collection of books which have been purchased, bequeathed or donated.

To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we decided to have an evening all about Wickhambrook.This would be free for all members and would include wine and a buffet, as a thank you for all the support we have for all our events.

Rev. Ian Finn of All Saints Parish Church spoke first. He pointed out that young people think about the future, middle agers think about the present and old people hark back to the past - which put us firmly in our place! He went on to emphasize the importance of the Parish Church, not just as a building, but as a symbol of the love of God for Wickhambrook. Our second speaker was Ivan Peacock of the Methodist Chapel. He gave a brief history of Methodism in the village and of the consruction of the Chapel in 1850. He also shared some personal memories of outings and picnics in his youth.

Derek Pope of the United reformed Church was unable to join us, so his comprehensive account of the dissenters was read by Percy Nunn.

John Fuller, whose family has had a long connection with the village, gave an amusing and entertaining talk on some of the more colourful members of his family, some of whom had been known to the members. They were farmers, millers, policeman and bank managers, and Fuller’s Hill is named after them.

Sir David Rowland of Gifford’s Hall spoke of the wonderful house which he is proud to live in. This splendid mediaeval moated hall is much loved by the people of the village. Many of them could recall family members who had worked in the hall or on the farm and were happy to reminisce with Sir David and Lady Diana afterwards.

The evening finished with wine and a buffet, and if the noise level is a good indication of all the socialising that went on, a good time was had by all!

Jonathan Abson , of the Suffolk Local History Council was among several specially invited guests, and he gave a vote of thanks and hearty congratulations to the members.(63 at the last count!)

We sometimes feel that we are out on a limb here in the ‘top’ corner of Suffolk, so we were especially pleased that the SLHC were present at our celebration!

What to do for our 25th? We will start thinking about it soon!

Dorothy Anderson May 2006