Mission accomplished! We comfortably reached our target by the time of our AGM on 10 June, with 1008 members. It is a fine achievement and a big 'thank you' to all who joined in the effort to reach the target. We are pleased to welcome Stanley Soffa from Cardiff who is our one thousandth member. To mark reaching the one thousand membership the Council members met the Press Gang recently to thank them and celebrate over tea and cake in our lounge. The membership marches on and is now over 1030. The next thousand won't take us twenty-five years! We are still looking for volunteers to join our friendly and happy team to help us make a difference by increasing our membership and networking with our members at Kew. If you would like to join us and get more involved, or would like more information, please contact: [email protected] A Successful AGM Over sixty members gathered for the AGM in June. It was a very successful and productive meeting with changes approved for new membership rates and arrangements, and the adoption of a revised constitution. Steve Cable, photographic specialist from The National Archives, began the meeting with a short presentation about COPY 1 and the work of the Friends on this series. Simon Gregor concluded the event with an excellent illustrated talk about the Remembrance Image Project and highlighted how he will mark the centenary of key anniversaries with photographs. Many members commented afterwards that it was the best AGM they had attended. New Members Joining in 2014 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Coming soon! www.friendsofthenationalarchives.org.uk Contact Us We have introduced a new arrangement for our email traffic. We no longer use The National Archives gsi.gov addresses or the variety of other personal addresses that were used to help us respond more quickly to queries and requests. The new system is supported by a new single page website: www.friendsofthenationalarchives.org.uk All our addresses have the suffix: @friendsofthenationalarchives.org.uk The following addresses are currently available: chairman, secretary, editor, membership, projects, visits_events, enquiries, and recruiting. Other addresses will become available in due course. Please ensure you have these addresses in your address book (particularly membership and editor) to ensure you avoid the spam filter and are kept up to date with membership matters and receive the electronic version of Outreach (and Magna if requested). If you have an email address and do not receive Outreach please contact: [email protected] The Online Community and Blog Please join us on The National Archives Online Community at the link here. The Community provides the opportunity to share ideas and information about the records and issues in the archive sector. Our online group (together with the Railways Studies Group) can help to keep the Friends more connected and share knowledge and expertise more effectively. The latest Blog can be found here Archives and Chapter Library of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle On 12 July the Friends were represented at the Adopt-a-Book open day to view selected items from the historic collection (dating back over 800 years) and to view one of our adopted books - Speeches and passages of this great and happy Parliament. In October 2002 the Friends of the Public Record Office donated £213.50 to the Archives and Chapter Library to adopt four books to assist with their conservation. The four books adopted were: All Change Behind the Scenes Our co-ordinator Juliette Johnstone is handing over the reins to Kelly Kimpton after three years in the role. Our co-ordinator is a TNA staff member assigned to look after the various Friends' admin arrangements and being a point of contact for staff. It involves a wide-range of chores and Juliette helped to ensure the Friends' activities ran smoothly behind the scenes. Juliette remains in ARK and the Keeper's Gallery co-ordinator. We are grateful for her support and wish her well. We are looking forward to working with Kelly at a time of change and increasing membership. Juliette is pictured on the left of the picture with Tony Wakeford, and Kelly Kimpton on the right in our lounge. RBK E.49: England; Parliament, An exact collection of all remonstrances, declarations, votes...and other...passages betweene the Kings...Majesty, and his...Parliament (London, 1643) RBK E.55: England; Parliament, A true copy of the journal-book of the last Parliament, begun...the sixth...of March 1678/9...Wherein is...a fuller...discovery of the Popish plot... (London, 1680) RBK E.50: England; Parliament, Speeches and passages of this great and happy Parliament (London, 1641) RBK N.5: Nalson; John, An impartial collection of the great affairs of state, from the beginning of the Scotch rebellion in...MDCXXXIX. to the murther of...Charles I... (London, 1682-3) At our recent Council meeting is was agreed to donate £50 to adopt another book from the seventeenth century to mark our twenty-fifth anniversary. The Archive and Chapter Library has a wealth of treasures and the open day prompted us to organise a group visit for early September. See back page of this newsletter. Great War biscuits recreated for the Press Gang The Press Gang had a real treat in June when members Simon Fowler and Sylvia Levi brought along some WW1 biscuits to the recruitment stall at Kew. Sylvia had reviewed The Great War Cook Book for TNA Bookshop’s webpages and was inspired to make some chocolate and potato biscuits. Riced potato replacing much of the flour which would have been in short supply in the dark days of 1917 and 1918. Simon suggested that they took some along so the Friends could try them out. Both volunteers at the stall, and readers who were tempted to try the biscuits, agreed that they turned out rather well. They were more savoury than expected: rather like cream crackers. Sylvia says that this would have been normal: even sweet biscuits in general would have been less sweet than we are used to. If you want to try the Potato and Chocolate Biscuits for yourself here’s the recipe: Mix three ounces ground rice with two ounces of ground rice flour (Sylvia used a mixture of half plain white and half wholemeal), rub in one and a half ounces of fat (cocoa butter can also be used), add a pinch of salt, four ounces of cooked riced potatoes, and a teaspoon of cocoa. Blend well and add a teaspoon of treacle and half a dried egg (half a medium egg). Beat until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated, then add vanilla essence to taste, and a half-teaspoon of baking powder. Mix, roll out half an inch thick, cut into desired shapes; bake about twenty minutes on a greased baking tray in a quick oven (at 180C or so). Busy recruiting – Bronwyn enjoys a biscuit whilst John (sitting behind) is busy checking the day's tally of new members. Meg Byron, The Great War Cook Book (Amberley) is on sale in the bookshop price £9.99. Don’t forget the Friends' discount! It has been hot out in the park. Your intrepid editor spotted an optimist and watched some Tufted Duck ducklings on speed trials. A growing bow wave as this Tufted Duck duckling 'goes for it'. The ducklings are remarkably quick and agile. A tranquil scene with mother and two of her cygnets Meanwhile, something has caught the attention of a Grey Squirrel. As the season progresses so the identity of the Black Headed Gull becomes more obvious. Not quite airworthy – this Mute Swan cygnet optimistically flaps its wings but remains firmly grounded. One of the Herons, still watching and waiting Please contact the editor if you would like to share your wildlife photos from Pocket Park in Outreach or Magna. For the benefit of those reading the print version of this electronic newsletter the hyperlinks in the electronic version are shown in full here: BLOG: http://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/can-1000-friends/ ONLINE COMMUNITY: https://community.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ We have raised over £780! Please join the 39 members using easyfundraising to help us raise even more funds. www.easyfundraising.org.uk Mrs Ivy Raper 5 April 1917 - 25 June 2014 It is with much sadness that we record the passing of one of our members, Mrs Ivy Raper of Ruislip. She was a member of the Friends for a number of years and a dedicated family historian. She devoted so much time trying to trace 'elusive ancestors' that her family joked with her that her epitaph should perhaps be 'I couldn't beat them so I joined them'! We send our condolences to her daughter Mary and family. Napoleon's Hundred Days: An experiment in co-operative historical enquiry Prof. Peter Clark writes: Next year sees the 200th Anniversary of Napoleon’s return to France from his exile on the Island of Elba. It was a turbulent and eventful historical period that would lead to Napoleon’s final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon’s attempt to re-establish himself as the Emperor of the French and once again make himself the dominant force in Europe is well known, but in many aspects it has only been scantily researched. His return to France lasted a little over One Hundred Days. I am proposing that at The National Archives we set up a small co-operative research group of between 6 to 10 people to pull out of the myriad of documents in the collection some of the original papers that record British actions and perspectives on the dramatic events of February 1815 to July 1815. I imagine that the research group would meet on six or so occasions in October and November of 2014 (ideally we would meet one day a week). We would collectively select and examine what we as a group regard as interesting areas of enquiry. I see it as essentially a group effort making group decisions, quite unlike so much of the individual research that takes place at The National Archives. We would need to examine, for example, diplomatic papers, Parliamentary records, espionage documents, naval and military records, and contemporary newspapers. The Group would collectively decide where best to look, and co-operatively agree who was to do what. I am certain that in the limited time available for us to work together we would be ‘cherry-picking’ the most interesting and useful records that illuminate this period in our history. I see three outcomes to our work: 1. To produce a printed list of the most useful sources within the collection and place it on record so that others, at any future date, could use to follow in our footsteps; 2. To produce a paper for publication explaining how we set about collective research, and being honest about the ups and downs of working in this way; 3. To present an illustrated lecture on our findings, and for individuals in the group to present some choice discoveries from their own searches to show how these discoveries fit into the overall picture. Oh!, and after that we would organise a collective dinner for the group at some point during the 200th Anniversary of the Hundred Days itself, to celebrate the history, and to applaud ourselves on what we have achieved in that new and exciting way of working, that many people are now calling ‘Collective Enquiry’. Wood carving of Napoleon surrendering his sword to Captain MAITLAND, RN, on board HMS BELLEROPHON, 15 July 1815 If this appeals and you would like to become involved or seek further information from Peter, then please get in touch with the editor and include 'Napoleon' in the header: [email protected] Volunteer opportunity: Migration records For the past five years The National Archives has led an ambitious project to develop a database containing information from surviving records of British Naturalisation and Registration for Citizenship in the series HO 334. We are looking for volunteers, working at Kew, who are interested in immigration histories after WWII to help us further enhance the database. Using original documents you will be inputting information which will make searching the database more accurate and efficient. If you would like to take part or require more information, then please contact: Karim Hussain, Modern Domestic Records Specialist, The National Archives, 02088 76444 ext 2345 [email protected] Dates for the diary Four visits have been planned for the remainder of the year. Arrangements for an event in November has also been finalised. Full details of the visits, with a booking form, are included with this edition and in the August edition of Magna for those not online. 5 September – The Archives and Chapter Library of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. 27 September – The London Museum of Water & Steam, near Kew Bridge. 11 October – The National Computing Museum at Bletchley (part of the former Bletchley Park site). 12 November – The British Postal Archive and Museum, Phoenix Place, London. Magna - paper or pdf? Can you collect? Every pdf or collection will save us over £1 in postage costs Magna is now available to be emailed to you as a pdf. Over 100 members have now opted to receive their copy in this way. Over 40 members have also opted to pick up their magazine from TNA rather than have it posted to them. If you are regularly at TNA then this option might suit you and help us to further reduce postage. The collection point will be the bookcase in our members' lounge. On 4 November Paddy Ashdown will be returning to TNA to give another talk to the Friends on his latest book about the Battle of Vercors in 1944: The Cruel Victory. If you would prefer to switch to a pdf version, or are able to collect from TNA, then please contact me at: Following feedback we have included a couple of Saturdays. However, not all venues are able to take group visits at weekends, hence the archive related visits are on a weekday. Please include your name if your email address does not adequately identify you. [email protected]