Chebsey Parish Local History Society

Chebsey Parish Local History Society was formed in 2018 by two friends following a lively discussion of some historical photographs at a local community drop-in, which revealed a keen interest in the Parish’s past. Two quickly became four, but even now, four years later, the actual group consists of only six people with ad hoc informal helpers providing practical support for the group’s activities. Before the pandemic, meetings were weekly. The focus is solely on Chebsey Parish, which is a small rural parish (population 566 in 2011) situated between Eccleshall and Stone in Staffordshire, made up of several small villages and hamlets. Little development has taken place, and the parish has remained relatively unchanged. The group does not have a chairperson or other officers – roles have evolved based on the strengths, experience and likes (and dislikes) of each member – and currently is small enough to function well in this organic way. An additional strength is a commitment to friendship and respect within the group and support for each other. Affiliation to another community group (Friends of Norton Bridge) provides banking and other services where needed. The initial aim of the society was to establish an archive of photographs of people and places in Chebsey Parish and to share these through a series of booklets and exhibitions. This was given an initial boost by the permanent loan of a late local historian’s collection and other present and past residents soon agreed to share their photographs, resulting in a searchable database of over one thousand scanned images, which is currently held by the society. The first ‘Photographic History of Chebsey Parish’ on the theme of ‘People’ was published in 2019 (Figure 1), accompanied by a very well-attended photographic exhibition. In 2018, rather ambitiously for such a fledgling group, a bid was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund’s ‘First World War: Then and Now’ programme, set up to mark the centenary of the ending of the First World War. The bid was successful, and the eighteen-month project, entitled ‘Chebsey Parish in World War I and Beyond’ aimed to raise awareness of the impact of both world wars and included trips, talks, events and exhibitions. The project also researched the impact of war specifically on Chebsey parish. This research, conducted by Justine Pick of the University of Birmingham, was published in 2022 in two booklets, detailing the findings for each of the two conflicts (Figure 1). The research showed that small rural communities were no less impacted by both wars than their urban neighbours. World War One appeared to take a larger toll in lives lost and coupled with the influenza pandemic of 1918/19, it could be argued that this period had greater impact on the community leaving widows, widowers and orphans.