Trustees and members paid tribute to Mike Rickard’s six years as Chairman at the Society’s Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 14th June at the Villages Hall, Bishampton, during a surprise presentation they had organised.

Julia Hartley, speaking on group’s behalf, spoke about Mike and his wife Rosemary originally being enlisted to join by local residents Peter and Mary Averis on the Millennium project who were creating a book about the village. She was impressed how quickly they had absorbed the names and events of the village after having lived their only a short time.despite.

Together with Peter, they had both worked tirelessly on what resulted to be a very successful book called ‘Bishampton Remembered’, with a wealth of photographs and memories which is still proving popular today, both with residents and newcomers.

Mike had stepped in as Chair when Peter sadly died, and he had brought the group together, producing a constitution and registering it as a charity, while encouraging trustees all to take on various roles within the Society.

Under his leadership Julia went on to say, the Society had set up a website; organised the renovation of the War Memorial; taken part in three Heritage Open Days at the Church; published a Heritage Trail leaflet, two calendars, postcards and Christmas cards – as well as conducting eight tours, and hosting eight lectures of historical interest in the area.

Not content with that, Mike had set his sights on a Heritage Lottery Funded Project for the next phase of Society’s activities. The bid document to apply for this fund ran to several pages, and Mike manfully spent many hours scratching his head and jumping through all the hoops, to eventual success.

The Society was awarded £10,000 to investigate the effects of World War 1 on the rural community of Bishampton. This research is ongoing and Mike has very kindly agreed to continue as Project Manager (and Treasurer) until the autumn when the project will finish with the publication of the research.

During this time Peter Jesson and Charles Rigg published ‘Those that Served’, a research into the Bishampton men who served in the Great War and Mike’s support was a valued part of this exercise. As a result of the project many contacts from far and wide had come forward to discover information about their relatives who had lived in the village.

Mike said he was delighted by the support he had received from the trustees and members. With their help he would see the project through, culminating with a Vesta Tilley weekend and publication of a booklet based on the research into the WW1 project in October; the planting of commemorative cherry trees for the village’s WW1 soldiers and dedication of a memorial plaque for those left off the war memorial, in November. He said there still remained more work to do including a follow-on book about Bishampton post 1950 but he thought that going forward someone with fresh ideas should take the reins.

The existing trustees, (with the exception of Lesley Miller who was stepping down), were re-elected and Mike said he hoped that others would come forward, including a chairperson to replace him in due course.

LESLEY MILLER