VILLAGERS have been thanked for their support for a community archive which has a new base.

The Goostrey Parish Archive is stored at Goostrey Village Hall, and is open to the public to view for a number of hours during the week.

An open day attracted new volunteers who are interested in learning about the village over the centuries.

Archivists have a mass of material gathered over the years still to examine and catalogue before adding to the growing collection.

It is proposed to continue to open the archive to the public on Tuesdays between 2pm and 4pm and on Thursdays between 10am and 12 noon.

In addition, the archive will be open for those unable to visit during the day, on the first Wednesday of the month between 7pm and 9pm.

Archive chairman Roger Burgess said they had a good response to the open day, with a number of visitors adding their names to the list of people volunteering their services.

He said: “The archive is up and running in its new home and people are welcome to drop in when we are open to look at documents and pictures of village life as well as bring any items they think we might like for the collection.

“It is amazing the amount of material we have that might otherwise have been lost, including photographs of the village and its people from before the Victorian age up to modern times.”

For further information about the group Roger can be contacted by calling 01477 535443.

Pictured above are pupils at Goostrey Primary School in a photograph which is believed to have been taken in about 1900.

Do you recognise any of the children in the picture – were they members of your family? The archive would be delighted to be told any of the names.

If you have photographs or other items relating to the history of Goostrey you think may be of interest to the archive they would be interested to hear from you.

Items can be dropped off at Goostrey Village Hall, or may be able to be collected.