Centenary Year, 1997

Exhibition: Official Opening at Rufford Mill by Cllr Brian Grocock, Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council. Prepared largely by Jean Nicholson, Margaret Trueman and Penny Messenger, but with generous help from many other people, the exhibition was designed by Paul Norton, the County Council’s exhibitions officer at Rufford.

Cllr Grocock noted how the exhibition ‘takes the visitor on a tour of the County from the time of Dr Robert Thoroton, who published the first substantial history of Nottinghamshire in 1677 and whose name the society bears, right up to the present time’. Responding, the Society’s President, Myles Thoroton Hildyard, thanked the County Council for their generous help, and then formally opened the exhibition by presenting Cllr Grocock with a copy of the Society’s commemorative booklet.

Civic Reception, Nottingham Council House, hosted by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Cllr Barrie Parker.

More than 150 members and their guests gathered at the Council House for a civic reception on a beautiful spring evening. The Lord Mayor welcomed members and recalled the close links with the mayoralty of Nottingham: one of his predecessors, then a mayor of the town of Nottingham, was among the preliminary list of 109 members who attended the inaugural meeting of the Society at the Shire Hall in 1897. Another of his predecessors, by this time Lord Mayor of the City of Nottingham, welcomed the Society to the Council House at the time of its Golden Jubilee. He congratulated the Society on reaching its centenary, and invited members and their guests to enjoy the reception and to take a tour of the Council House conducted by one of the Honorary Aldermen.

Replying on behalf of the Society, Professor John Beckett (Chairman of Council), thanked the Lord Mayor for his warm welcome. For 100 years members of the Thoroton Society had been active in discussing and promoting the history, antiquities and archaeology of Nottinghamshire, and much of their work had been in and around the City of Nottingham. Although summer excursions generally take members to places of interest around the county and even beyond its borders, the first weekend outing in 1897 saw members tackling – in a single day – St Mary’s and St Peter’s churches, the Castle and Wollaton Hall, before returning to the Albert Hotel for dinner!

In thanking the Lord Mayor for his greeting, Professor Beckett also recalled the ‘birthday’ affinity between the Society, founded on 1 June 1897, and the City Charter, which was granted just three weeks later. He looked forward to the relationship continuing and prospering as Nottingham enters its second century as a city and the Thoroton Society enters its second century as Nottingham’s principal historical society.

Professor Beckett concluded by presenting to the Lord Mayor a copy of the Society’s commemorative centenary booklet. Members and guests then enjoyed the convivial atmosphere of the Council House ballroom.

Picnic and walkabout in Bingham, re-enacting part of the original excursion in 1897. Led by Valerie and Adrian Henstock, members met at the 19^th-century Butter Cross in Bingham and enjoyed a short guided walking tour around the village. First stop was the site of the medieval chapel of St Helen’s. During work on the present Victorian house on the site the occupier uncovered a line of skeletons from the chapel cemetery! The ‘Laughing Cavalier’ public house in Long Acre was previously a ‘Ranter’s’ chapel.

The tour continued along Fisher Lane to the site of the shrunken medieval village where roadways and house platforms are clearly visible, and on to the 13^th and 14^th century church, before finishing in the Robert Miles School grounds, previously part of the old Rectory.

Centenary Dinner, Assembly Hall, County Hall: speaker Sir Neil Cossons. After a cocktail party hosted by the Chairman of the County Council, Cllr Alan Davidson, members enjoyed an excellent dinner with a Nottinghamshire theme: Salmon, Saddle of Sherwood venison, Bramley apple pie and Midlands cheeses. Cllr Davidson proposed the toast to HM The Queen; Sir Andrew Buchanan, Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, proposed a toast to the Thoroton Society, to which Mr Myles Thoroton Hildyard replied; and Vice President Neville Hoskins then introduced Sir Neil Cossons, Director of the Science Museum, London, and a native of Nottingham, who has had long associations with the Society.

Sir Neil fascinated members and guests with his recollections of the Society and local history. His father Arthur Cossons had been a member of the Society from 1929-63 and had attended the 50^th anniversary celebrations in 1947. Sir Neil thought Nottinghamshire was well served by its historians, and mentioned, including others, the work of the late Maurice Barley, and The Centenary History of Nottingham edited by Professor John Beckett; and said that Nottinghamshire historians had established a benchmark for others.

Professor Beckett gave a vote of thanks, and offered Honorary Membership of the Society to Sir Neil, who was pleased to accept.