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Transport historians build another bridge |
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Transport historians build another bridge |
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Following on from the success of its first ‘Leaving No Stone Unturned’ conference in October 2007, the Roads & Road Transport History Association is organising a second conference, which will be held in Leatherhead, Surrey, on Saturday 18 October 2008. The announcement coincides with the publication of the papers presented at the 2007 conference, together with information about over thirty participating organisations. Among the topics covered in 2007 were the use of local records, the Internet and oral history when researching roads related history, with a further contribution which specifically related to ‘Road Haulage (records) in the National Archives’. This year will see the first three topics repeated plus a look at archives nationally. Last year’s conference was opened by Councillor Stanley King, Deputy Chair of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority, who made the observation that ‘For most transport professionals and politicians in Britain, the past is a foreign country and you mention it at your peril or at the risk of a patronising glance which implies that anything that happened more than twenty years ago cannot possibly have any relevance for the present or the future. So, inevitably we make mistakes which we could and should have avoided’. He went onto point out that once upon a time it was common practice to conceive, plan, build and open a tramway system in two years or less and that in Europe they still do. This year’s conference, on 18 October is at Leatherhead Leisure Centre, Guildford Road, Fetcham, 10.30am–4.00pm, aims to ‘cross the boundaries between historical research in roads and road transport history, local history and family history’ and to ‘span the gap between academic and amateur research’. The cost is £17.50 plus £6 for a buffet lunch. Cheques, made payable to the Roads and Road History Assn, should be sent to John Howle, 37 Balcombe Gardens, Horley, RH6 9BY. Leaving No Stone Unturned Conference Papers, 15th Annual Conference, Roads & Road Transport History Association, Leeds, 27 October 2007, A4, 40pp, £5 post free, cheques, made payable to the Roads and Road History Assn, should be sent to Roger Atkinson, 45 Dee banks, Chester CH3 5UU. |
17 June 2008 |
