Village history eight years in the making

The book, entitled An Oral History, has been compiled and published by Weaverham History Society after volunteers conducted interviews with people of all ages from the village.

The idea to write the book originated from a 'Millennium Dream Party' held in the village in 1996, when the society recorded conversations with the first two Weaverham Rose Queens.

Since then, a team of volunteers has conducted more than 40 interviews and recorded 120 hours of conversations with people about their memories of living in Weaverham.

The book looks at every aspect of life in the area, starting with family life, moving on to how the village has changed over the years and then looking at community life, featuring everything from football to pubs.

It also includes war memories and then looks to the future.

Glen Gidley, who coordinated the compilation of the book, said they had just wanted to record the memories of the two rose queens.

He said: "From that starting point, we thought it would be a good idea to record other people's thoughts about how the village had changed over the past 100 years.

"We tried to pick out themes about life in the village."

Glen said the volunteers made a number of interesting discoveries while conducting their interviews.

He said: "We have very distinctive parts of the village but Weaverham itself has a very strong sense of place. People take very great pride in living here or coming from here.

"We wanted to enhance that sense of place and pride, and this was one way to do it."

He said it was clear that the way of life had changed enormously over the century.

He said: "There used to be a very strong agricultural influence here, and then Brunner Mond and ICI came along.

"Now it has essentially become a commuter village."

The book, which costs £6.95, is available from the Northwich Road newsagents and the Lime Avenue post office.

rbabington@guardiangrp.co.uk