Held on the 20th April, this drew in an good audience of 20. Bill Tamblyn introduced the work of local historian, the late Kay Gilmour. Illustrating from her manuscript, it became clear that she had addressed a natural curiosity as to why little Peldon, apparently ignored in some accounts, was actually so important in earlier times.
Peldon had been a much-valued place which the Kings and Barons used as a bargaining chip:
- a Christian Parish so well-endowed that the clergy vied with each other to obtain the ‘living’;
- a place with feisty characters who might have given Peldon some notoriety in the past;
- and a place where the villagers themselves exercised compassion and generosity towards those less fortunate who were forced to live ‘on the parish’.
Bill hoped that this would be a ‘taster’ to the publishing of Kay Gilmour’s manuscript, before this summer, perhaps online or even as a book.
He also gave notice that he was beginning work on The New History of Peldon – 1956 to the present day and that he was looking for contributors.
He hoped that this document would be completed in a few months rather than the years it has taken to unravel the Gilmour manuscript.
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