Broadford Historical Society is once again in the swing of October History Month with a series of events to celebrate the history of the area.
Three events are planned for the remainder of October, with daily Facebook posts featuring articles from the Broadford Courier; Devonshire tea served every Wednesday at 10.30am at the old Broadford schoolhouse; and an extravagant wedding display later in the month.
Society member Marg Inness said this year’s events would be supported by the Broadford community.
“At the first open day, we had lots of ladies come in, a couple of men came in. We had photos out, but we didn’t know who they were, and some of the older residents of Broadford were able to identify them, which was fantastic,” she said.
“That’s what we do when we have these open days – if we know there’s someone in the photo, we put it out and say ‘who’s this?’ because some of these ladies are [aged] in their 80s and 90s and they may well remember these people.”
A new addition to Broadford History Month is the wedding display on October 26-28, which has already garnered significant interest from the society’s strong following.
“[People] have been really interested in the wedding displays, we’ve had a couple of albums and they’ve been looking through those as well,” Ms Inness said.
“The wedding displays are mainly about getting the historical society out there.”
A wedding display, at the Gavan Hall, next to Broadford’s Anglican Church in High Street, will feature dresses and photographs dating back to the 1920s. The opening hours will be 10am until 3pm and entry will be by gold coin donation.
To complement October History Month, the society has partnered with the Broadford Men’s Shed and Broadford Secondary College to help prepare displays and restore historical items.
Students who are part of the Project Ready program through the college have been working to restore various vehicles such as a large wheat wagon and a spring wagon, with one of the next jobs to help clean, set up and decorate the rooms of the society.
Broadford Historical Society secretary John Brissett said the students’ assistance was appreciated in preparing the displays, with all involved in the collaboration having done a ‘great job’.
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