In 1995 John Raybould tutored a course entitled "The Changing Village". It covered the last hundred years, and focused on Helmdon. His enthusiasm lingered after the course was over, whetting the appetite for further historical research, and several members of the original class formed themselves into a local studies group. At the beginning, Val and Stewart Moir, Judy Cairns, Audrey Forgham née Harwood, Jean Spendlove and the late Will Watson were the main members. In Spring 2000 two new members, Danny and Kate Moody, joined the group, both very interested in the difficult-to-unravel early history of Helmdon. From the outset, the group felt that what was researched should be recorded in some way and so, steered by Ross Vicars for a considerable time, and then by Audrey Forgham, Aspects of Helmdon 1 was published, followed later by Aspects of Helmdon 2, 3, 4 & 5.

In between all this, under the direction of Val Moir, the churchyard inscriptions were recorded. In 1999 the idea of the Helmdon web site was mooted and this is now a joint venture between Danny Moody and Audrey Forgham. Early in 2000 the group showed two showings of Will Watson's film "A Year in the Life of a Village" at the Reading Room. It was produced with posterity in mind and a video disc was deposited at the Northampton Record Office.

The local studies group is open to anyone interested in local history or geography, or indeed any other aspect of local life. It is not "closed group". You do not have to be an attendee at a WEA class to belong. We welcome new members at any time. Please contact Audrey Forgham (01295) 768251 or e-mail audreyforgham@msn.com