Beaconsfield Archive Group

The Beaconsfield Archive Group (formally called The Beaconsfield Archive Project) came into being as a result of a proposal put to the Society by Mike and Margaret Grace who had been tirelessly looking after the archive for a number of years.  They realised that the large archive of documents, books, newspaper cuttings, maps, photographs and artefacts in an attic in the Town Hall was not accessible to the people of Beaconsfield. Moreover, the archive had been added to over the years and there was uncertainty as to what exactly was in it.  A subcommittee, led by the late John Stanbury, including Margaret and Mike Grace, Clare Bull and Debbie Marsden, was formed and the Beaconsfield Archive Project (now Archive Group)was born.

Overwhelming support

Thanks to a successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £10,000 as well as financial donations of support from the Beaconsfield Historical Society and local businesses and organisations, our volunteers continue to catalogue, reorganise, preserve and scan new and old material which will then be made available as a learning and study resource to the community by way of our catalogue. The catalogue is gradually being uploaded onto this website as it becomes available. Please click Explore the Archive Catalogue  to see what has been uploaded so far.

Volunteers

We have been extremely lucky to recruit wonderful volunteers who have worked very hard on the project. We have, at the moment, around 20 of them who come either every week, every fortnight, monthly or whenever they can.  Despite  the project officially “finishing” in 2018, our volunteers still continue with us, as the Society is constantly being offered new material for their archive and need them to continue to reorganise and update the catalogue. Others continue to use the archive for personal research, writing articles for this website or for local exhibitions and talks.   The Archive group meets every Wednesday afternoon at  Beaconsfield Town Hall from 1-4 p.m. thanks to the support of Councillor Sandy Saunders and the Town Council.  If you would like to get involved in the Project, please contact us.