SkegnessVideo.com

Filmed in December 2005

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Allied Forces Movement Control

The AFMC is a resource for trained and equipped personnel for events commemorating the second world war.
Members of the organization re-enacted Christmas as it would have been in 1944, at Church Farm Museum in Skegness Lincolnshire, recently.

Lee Enfield Rifle

Colonel Ivon Baker gives an in-depth demonstration of the Lee Enfield 303 Short Magazine Rifle.

He explains that in World War 1, the Germans thought that this rifle was a machine gun as it could be cocked and fired so rapidly, and was capable of hitting a target a mile away.

The Enfield was used extensively in the First World War and for most of the Second World War until it was replaced by the Mk4 and other ‘exotic breeds’.
This particular gun was made under licence in India in 1942.

The ‘Colonel’ then goes on to demonstrate a hand held revolver typically used in World War 2

The article and video on the Christmas in World War 2 re-enactment has sparked a little controversy.
w ww.sluttstykket.com is an interesting Norwegian discussion forum about guns and rifles. (The page contains a couple of words that may offend some people). The postings on the forum are in Norwegian so I attempted to translate using an online translator.

As I understand, the members of the forum have raised the possibility that the rifle that the ‘Colonel’ demonstrates in the video is in fact a replica and not, as I have stated, the original firearm made in India in 1942.

I clarified the situation by contacting the Allied Forces Movement Control.
I received a prompt reply from Colonel Baker at Allied Forces Movement Control :-

Dear Angela Gooch
I was pleased to receive your e-mail and to learn of the interest in our visit to Skegness. Please reassure your viewers that my comments on video are absolutely accurate. The Lee-Enfield rifle was made in India (under license) in 1942. English law regarding firearms is indeed strict and the rifle is, in fact, de-activated - that is to say it is a genuine weapon rendered unfirable by various means (in this instance, blocking the barrel and cutting away part of the bolt face). This enables us to use the weapon for demonstrations, arms-drill &c.

All members of my Unit - ALLIED FORCES MOVEMENT CONTROL - are trained in 1940s foot-drill and our male members are trained in 1940s rifle-drill. All our weapons are either de-activated or replica. The Unit does not stage mock battles and therefore does not require any explosive materials or blank ammunition. We demonstrate what went on “behind the scenes” in various branches of Allied forces.

Feel free to pass on my e-mail address to anyone who would like more information. We do not advertise for recruits but I’m always pleased to hear from anyone who is interested in our work. We have been called “Living Memorials” and this is reflected in the motto we adopted some time ago: VIVAMVS AD MEMORIAM - “We live as a memorial”.

We spend much of our time in 1943, from whence I have the honour to remain,
Your Obedient Servant

Ivon R Baker, Colonel AFMC.
Still struggling with the Norwegian language, I gather that my description of the video on Google raise the question of ‘how could a weapon made in 1942 have been used in World War 1?’
My unfortunate wording in the description - ‘Enfield 303 Rifle, made in India in 1942, would have been used in World Wars 1 and 2′ were unclear and therefore misleading, so the description has now been amended to ‘……demonstrating how the Lee Enfield 303 Rifle, like this one made in India in 1942, would have been used in World Wars 1 and 2.’
I trust this will clarify this point.

Help with Translation

A kind Norwegien webmaster has stepped in to translate the forum comments. Translation by wwiionline.com

Translation from Norwegien to English

1st post by Studenten:
Not sure if you find this is funny. Least I thought it was interesting to listen to.

(My opinion on his comment, he probably should have used interesting instead of funny)

2nd post by norwegianwiking:
Very interesting.

people are talking about a new law in England, about tightening the gunlaws EVEN MORE, meaning that “disabled” weapons and replicas, wich are not even weapons, can be forbidden, even for living history\reenactment groups.

So it’s very much a possibility that these kind of gatherings will become extinct. Atleast we will never see a demonstration like this of the soldiers “tool” again if that law is passed.

3rd post by 308 IDIOT:
Nittpickey, but something made in 1942 would hardly be used in WW 1
4th post by norwegianwiking:

The model
(He’s telling 308 idiot that it was the model, not that exact rifle that was used in ww1 and ww2 :))

Thanks to Kim

Lincolnshire Heritage Open Day Event

Skegness Town Hall Open Day September, 2007

news story date 9th September 2006

Skegness Town Hall, including the Mayor’s Parlour, was opened to the public for the first time in history as part of the Lincolnshire Heritage open day events.

The public were allowed in on Saturday 9th September and were able to examine the town’s historical treasures such as the original 1908 painting of the Jolly Fisherman by John Hassall.

We caught up with Councillor John Byford, who had proposed the idea of the public open day.
Coun Byford (pictured below) showed us into the Mayor’s Parlour, describing some of the town’s treasures which are on display there.
Coun Byford showed us the original 1908 painting of the Jolly Fisherman by John Hassall.
He said “The painting was commissioned by the Great Northern Railways to advertise excursions to Skegness from Kings Cross in London. Since then it has been used the world over and is a very famous image now”.
Coun Byford told us that the Skegness Town Council, who own the copyright on the ‘Jolly Fisherman’, gets many requests from businesses to use the image, which has appeared on anything from fridge magnets to the Number 6 Bus to Lincoln.

The painting in the next photograph is another original by John Hassall which was painted in 1928.
Coun Byford pointed out the differences between the two paintings. The Jolly Fisherman has moved over to the left to include the Pier in the picture and there are no clouds in the sky

The Jolly Fisherman mascot has recently undergone a controversial restyling (picture left)

Interviewer Paul Gooch asked Coun Byford what he thought about the new design Jolly Fisherman.
“I hate it!, he declared. “but we’re probably stuck with it now!”

The next Skegness Town Hall treasure is described by Coun Byford and the Town Clerk, Alan Crawshaw.
The picture shows two keys which are the keys to the Skegness Clock Tower. Coun Byford told us that these had recently come back to the Town Council. The keys, made of solid silver, were presented to the Countess of Scarborough, one in 1899 and one in 1932. He said “It’s so nice to see them back in the Mayor’s Parlour after being away for so long. It’s great that the Earl of Scarborough has decided to give them back”.

Mr Crawshaw showed us the ‘Programme of Ceremonial to be observed on the Celebration of the Marriage of the Earl and Countess of Scarborough and the Dedication of the Clock Tower’. The document is dated 11th August 1899.
(click photo below to enlarge)

Mr Crawshaw went on to say that a hundred years later, in 1999, Skegness celebrated the 100th birthday of the Clock Tower by holding a ceremony on Clock Tower Island, which included placing a Time Capsule beneath the Clock Tower.
Placed inside the Time Capsule was a local newspaper, a complete list of members of the Skegness Urban District Council and Skegness Town Council, a video and articles from local children.

Moving on, Coun Byford drew our attention to a lace picture, also on the wall of the Mayor’s Parlour.
He told us that the picture was made by Steibals, a local lace making firm back in 1977 to commemorate one hundred years of Skegness.

Coun Byford then showed us into the Council Chamber. “This is where it all happens”, he said.
He pointed to where the Town Clerk, the current and previous Mayors of Skegness sat during Council Meetings, and told us that the twenty town councillors, who represented four wards of Skegness, five members per ward sat at an arced bench opposite.

Interviewer, Paul Gooch asked Coun Byford if the Skegness Council was represented by the major national political parties.
Coun Byford affirmed that it was, comprising of representatives from the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal and Independent Parties.

Back in the Mayor’s Parlour, Councillor Terry Bryan (below) told us about the Mayoral Chains. He said that the Council had recently purchased a new set of Mayor’s and Deputy Mayor’s Chains.
Coun Bryan said he had actulally had the pleasure of wearing this chain when he was Mayor.

The chain bears the old Skegness Urban District Council emblem, which has now been replaced with that of the present Skegness Town Council, which has the Jolly Fisherman logo on.

Coun Bryan explained that each Mayor has his name added onto the links of the chain. As the chain became full, there was an option to have more links added, but the Council decided it was more appropiate to purchase new Mayoral chains, which are now being worn by the present Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

The exhibit below is the Civic Regalia of the Deputy Chairman of the Skegness Urban District Council. It was presented by Councillor D H Lilley in 1960.

What else do we find in the Mayor’s Parlour?
The Mayor himself, of course!
below: The Mayor of Skegness 2006 to 2007, Coun Phil Kemp.

Webmaster’s note - taking photos in the Mayor’s Parlour is a photographer’s nightmayor (sorry couldn’t resist that!) as exhibits are behind glass and there are lots of reflections and windows. I’m not a professional photographer, so please forgive the flares etc - I did my best!

The Earl of Scarborough

Lacework made by Steibal’s,a local lacemaking firm to commemorate 100 years of Skegness

1899 Order of Ceremony celebrating marriage of Earl and Countess of Scarborough and Dedication of the Clock Tower

Regalia of Skegness Urban District Council

Model for Jolly Fisherman Statue in Skegness Compass Gardens

Keys to Skegness Clock Tower

Display Cabinet in Mayor’s Parlour

Jolly Fisherman painting by John Hassall in 1908

Jolly Fisherman painting by John Hassall in 1928

Video of the Skegness Town Hall Open Day

Starting your Family Tree

Keep Records

It is important to record every piece of information gathered AND its source immediately, as when you’ve inspected 1001 records, you will forget what you have already covered!
Choose how you want to record your tree. Computer program, build an on line tree, or a hard copy. Remember to SAVE.

Start With Yourself

Your own home and your parent’s home will be a hive of BMD (Birth Marriage Death certificates, newspaper clippings, old letters and photographs (your library should have books on how to date old photos).
Begin by recording your immediate family.
If you’re using software, many of them will allow you to add images to each person’s field, so scan in all the documents and photos that you acquire.

Interview Elderly Family Members

Great Aunt Ada will love chatting about her mother or grandmother and will enjoy telling you about the happy days they had on Skegness beach when she was a little girl in 190-blob.
Try to steer the conversation towards facts and figures, particularly the occupation and birthplaces/dates of family members, as these will provide useful cross references. Better still, ask if you can record the interview.
Ask to see any BMD certificates/photos/clippings she may have and record the facts. She may let you borrow them to scan in.

Looking Elsewhere

You should now have got a good start to your tree but eventually you will exhaust domestic sources and will have to broaden your search.
Before this, it is useful to know what resources are available to you and what information is yielded by them.

Resources

BMD Certificates
From the year 1837 to present, civil records were kept of EVERY birth marriage and death.
These are kept at the GRO. Copies of the certificates can be obtained either directly from the GRO (via the 1837on line website) or from the district office where the event was registered. The current cost is £7 per certificate, and the process takes about two weeks.
The GRO website contains EVERY BMD available on a pay per view basis.
On finding your event, there is a reference number which you will need to order your certificate.
The certificates are invaluable as they give lots of information,
Websites like ancestry.co.uk and freeBMD have searchable records for BMD events but the transcribing process is still ongoing and is therefore incomplete.

Censuses

A census was taken every ten years beginning in 1841, the last one was in the year 2001. Due to privacy restrictions, these cannot be available for public viewing unless 100 years have elapsed. This means that in 2001, the 1901 census became public so Family Historians can now consult every census between 1841 and 1901.
Information on the 1841 census is fairly spartan but the remaining ones give quite a lot of detail.
The enumerator visited each house in his allocated district recording details of it’s occupants on a given night.
The information was then written on official forms which were then collated. (Take into consideration that most of the population could not write, which accounts for some deviation in the spellings of names. Ages in the earlier censuses were often rounded to the nearest 5)

Accessing the censuses
The censuses are kept at the archives usually in each county, eg the Lincolnshire Archives in Lincoln.
Local libraries usually keep copies of local censuses, eg Skegness Library or Alford.
These are either on microfilm or microfiche. Special readers are required.
Censuses for each county/year are available on CD-Rom and these can be bought from on line genealogical suppliers.
Several websites have made the censuses from 1861 available and searchable on line, although you may have to subscribe to access some of the records.

Newspapers

Libraries keep old editions of newspapers, often from the late nineteenth century. These can be invaluable for birth, marriage and death announcements.

Summary

So far we have discovered that in consulting BMD certificates and census reports, it is possible to trace ancestors back to the early 1800’s.
To trace back further, we have to use other resources.
IGI (International Genealogical Index)
The International Genealogical Index was compiled by the Latter Day Saints from parish records, and some of the records may go back to about the 1500’s. It is available on microfiche and held at the archives. Alternatively, the whole index is on line and fully searchable on the LDS website.

Free Census Lookups

I am an experienced genealogist and can offer lookups and supply documents from the following censuses

1841 England Census
1841 Wales Census
1851 England Census
1851 Wales Census
1861 England Census
1861 Wales Census

1861 Isle of Man Census
1861 Channel Islands Census 
1871 England Census 
1871 Wales Census 
1871 Isle of Man Census
1871 Channel Islands Census
1881 England Census
1881 Wales Census
1881 Isle of Man Census
1881 Channel Islands Census
1891 England Census
1891 Wales Census
1891 Isle of Man Census
1891 Channel Islands Census
1901 England Census
1901 Wales Census
1901 Isle of Man Census
1901 Channel Islands Census

Instructions for placing a request:-

Post the following information in the comments box.

   1. census year
   2. census country
   3. first name
   4. surname
   5. age on census
   6. birthplace if known
   7. county/town of residence

Genealogy Links

Ancestry.co.uk
FreeBmd
IGI Records
Search Church Records
1837on line

Post Your Appeal

You can post an appeal for family members or friends, or free genealogy help requests in the comments box at the foot of the page,

Ask an Expert

I am a genealogist with around 15 years experience. I have been helping individuals trace their ancestors for sometime now, normally quite successfully.

I led a genealogy workshop at the Skegness Library in
May 2005.

If you need any help with your research, post a message on the board. I aim to respond within 24 hours.
This is a free community service.

Resources I am able to search:

• England and Wales Censuses 1831 (Sheffield only) to 1901
• National Burial Index
• Birth Marriage Death Records (from 1837 to present) supplying reference numbers for you to order certificates)
• Pallot’s Marriage Index
• 2001 and 2004 United Kingdom Electoral Roll
• International Genealogical Index
• English Church Records for Births/Marriages (not Deaths)
• Servicemen (and women) lost in World Wars 1 and 2
• English Archive Newsreel (requires exact keywords)

Sample Certificates and Census

sample birth certificate
sample marriage certificate
sample census report
sample family tree
Good Hunting!

News story date 5th January 2007

The old, Victorian train station at Skegness is threated with demolition after Network Rail announced that it is looking into selling the whole site for redevelopment.
The redevelopment would include new passenger facilities with retail and commercial buildings.
A conclusive report is due at the end of March.
The idea has caused much controversy in Skegness.
Network Rail has agreed to consider the possibility of retaining some of the Victorian features after an appeal by the Skegness Civic Society.

The chairman of the society, Coun Steve Kirk said that preserving the railway station’s old buildings, including the old station master’s house.

” ‘The Lodge’, has been a long standing aim of the Skegness Civic Society. The society hopes that if demolition were to be decided upon, the possibility of the relics being moved to the local Church Farm Museum should be considered.
“It is very important that they should be saved. Once they are gone we will not be able to bring them back”, Coun Kirk emphasized. “We need a full debate on the issue to see what the majority of the townspeople want!”

The chairman of the Skegness Hoteliers Association, Mr Tony Tye, expressed his concern that if the developers were faced with having to work around relics, they would abandon the project, wrecking a great opportunity for Skegness. Mr Tye said that redevelopment would much improve the face that Skegness gives to its visitors.

Coun John Byford, seeing both sides of the argument, advocated moving the old buildings brick by brick to Church Farm Museum.

Save the Stationmaster’s House…our last chance to save the relic

The Skegness Forum has launched a campaign to stop the demolition of the Victorian Stationmaster’s house located at Skegness train station.

Skegness Civic Society

There was a petition-signing campaign by the Skegness Civic Society to save the railway station’s stationmaster’s house on Saturday 17th February 2007.

The petition collected over 1500 signatures.

You can sign the online petition here

What the Webmaster says:
The face that Skegness shows to its visitors is very important as the town depends on the tourist trade. It’s important that visitors to the town should be met with a pleasing, inviting and comfortable environment. And don’t forget that when their holiday ends, it will be their last memory of Skegness!
The present train station is run-down and drab. It’s obvious something has to be done!
But what?
All in all, the tourists probably won’t really care about preserving the Victorian features. They are tired by their journey, they’ll probably be glad of a quick cuppa, a quick freshen up in pleasant surroundings, then they’ll want to be off to their lodgings or explore the town. Visitors waiting for their trains home will probable want the same facilities, with somewhere warm and comfortable to wait.

But what right have we, this present generation, to destroy for ever historical relics, dating back to 1873, which future generations may want to keep?
What a relief that when St Matthew’s Church was built in Skegness in 1879 the generation of the day didn’t say “we may as well demolish the 16th century St Clement’s church now, it doesn’t look too good!”.
The present generation would have be sorely robbed of the true foundation stone of Skegness! How would we feel now if St Clement’s had been ripped down?

If the outcome of Network Rail’s report recommends the demolition of the relics, then Coun Byford’s movement for the removal of the relics to the local heritage museum is the best option!
Angela Gooch

We carried out a VideoVox Pop Skegness Train Station Demolition Proposal at the railway station over the weekend asking YOU what you think.
Paul Gooch is the interviewer in the video.

Here’s what you said:

Margaret Chapman has lived in Skegness for a long time. Margaret said that the train station definately needs something doing with it.
She hopes that the old buildings will be retained.
“I like old buildings!, she told us.

Don’t compromise safety!

Ziemo is from Poland but lives and works in Skegness. Ziemo said it’s a good thing to have investments in Skegness. Interviewer Paul Gooch asked if the existing featues of historical interest should be preserved.
Ziemo said that the train station doesn’t look safe as it is. He was in favour of preserving the Victorian features so long as safety and the working of the station wasn’t compromised.

William Darbyshire lives in Skegness and travels by train regularly. He agrees that the station needs renovating as it’s an eye sore at present. ” The first thing people see when they come into the town is the train station”, he said. William is in favour of incorporating the Victorian features into a new railway station, “so long as it doesn’t cost the taxpayer a lot of money”.

Let’s have the old Skegness! Keep it!

Mr and Mrs Marsden live in Skegness. Paul Gooch asked whether they were in favour of the station being modernised. ” Yes, look at the state of it”, Mr Marsden replied.
Mrs Marsden said she’d rather the station be renovated to how it was originally, keeping its old character.
“It’s a bit of old Skegness”, she said.
“It’s getting that there’s none of the old Skegness left, it’s all modern shops and buildings. Let’s have the old Skegness. Keep it!”.

Brendan Paddinson lives in Spilsby and travels by train regularly to and from university. Brendan says that the present station is grubby and not very welcoming for Skegness.
He agrees that it needs a face lift but said that it would be nice to keep the old buildings alongside the modern ones.

Skegness train station is a shambles!

Mr Wheatley is a regular visitor to Skegness and has been coming here on holiday for the last six years. He lives in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.
Mr Wheatley says the train station needs to be modernised as quickly as possible to make it better for people coming to Skegness.
“It’s a shambles! It’s disgraceful!”, he proclaimed.
He was in favour of including some of the original features in the redevelopment project.

Video Vox Pop Skegness Train Station Demolition Proposal

Wet weather put a damper on Spring bank holiday weekend as the recent sun gave way to driving rain and high winds.

Weatherman said that some parts of Britain struggled to reach 10 degrees C today, Bank Holiday Monday.

We braved the wind and rain to find out how the holidaymakers were coping in Skegness.

Tower Gardens in Skegness were awash with rain puddles, no one braving the weather, but the ducks were having a whale of a time!

This family from Nottingham were looking positively wet and miserable. Mark Paling had brought his surf board presumably to go surfing on the… pavements?

At least Demi Lee and Cory from Nottingham were brave enough to struggle with their brollies against the winds…

….some just gave up!