The 1939 National Register
Cardall's Corner - August 2019 - Linda Doyle
After Britain declared war on Germany on 3rd September 1939, it was announced that ‘National Registration Day’ would be on 29th September. This ...
A Childhood with books
Cardall's Corner - July 2019 - Linda Doyle
Even today, in this technology-dominated age, children are still encouraged to read books, and for many of us books were a big part of our childhood experience. As a 1950s child, I ...
Oral History
Cardal's Corner - June 2019 - Helen Morris
In 2007, shortly after joining the Friends of the Cardall Collection, I volunteered to work on collecting oral history – that is, recording spoken historical memories. It is one of the best ways ...
Summer Exhibition: Toys
Cardalls Corner - May 2019 - Linda Doyle
High days and holidays, birthdays and Christmas, were probably the only times in the past when a child would receive a new toy or book. Here in the Collection we have a few of those very precious toys ...
Southam’s 19th Century Dairy Industry
Cardall's Corner - April 2019 - by Linda Doyle
You don’t have to be a farmer to know that the better bred the cow, the better the profit. Enclosure allowed for the segregation of small herds, enabling farmers to undertake breeding selection. At the turn of the 19th century, landowners and farmers were beginning to take advantage of Southam’s central position on the drover’s …
Speed Records
Cardall's Corner - March 2019 - Bernard Cadogan
Speeding vehicles on our roads is a problem that we are all aware of, and most of us will know of someone who has been ‘caught speeding’. With two of the country’s leading car manufacturers, Jaguar and Aston Martin Lagonda, having facilities within seven miles …
Joseph Arch
Cardall's Corner - February 2019 - Pam McConnell
In February 1872 a meeting of farm labourers was held at Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. The meeting had been called to address the problems of the rural working poor. About 30 people were expected, but over 2,000 turned up, and this meeting led to the foundation of the National Agricultural Labourers Union …
Southam Fire Brigade
Cardall's Corner - January 2019 - by Linda Doyle
An old adage describes fire as being a good servant but a bad master: fire provides basic needs for life, but can also destroy in an instant. Today the risk of fire is less than it was when houses had open fires and thatched roofs - sparks could cause disastrous …
The Great Storm of 1703
Cardall's Corner - December 2018 - by Jill Prime
‘The Great Storm of 1703’ was of unusual, tremendous ferocity, probably passing in intensity all the storms ever known in Great Britain. It was the most terrifying and catastrophic storm ever recorded here. During the night of 26th-27th November 1703, widespread devastation was caused to many parts of the Midlands, East Anglia …
WW1 Commemorations
Cardall's Corner - November 2018 - by Val Brodie
As a hundred years passes since the ending of the desperate war of 1914-1918, details continue to emerge in Southam of the men who died, who served and of what was done to assist the wounded here on the home front. This photograph was recently donated to Southam Heritage Collection. Southam people raised money ...
A New Home in Southam
Cardall's Corner - October 2018 - by Pam McConnell
Whilst pondering the impact of the new housing estates that are springing up all around Southam I am reminded of my own family’s move to Southam in October 1960. I was six years old and we moved from an isolated tied farm cottage on the Fosse near Harbury, to a new …
WW1 Centenary Archive
Cardall's Corner - September 2018 - by Val Brodie
People in Britain, across Europe and around the world are commemorating the tragedy that was WWI. As Armistice Day approaches in November, at Southam Heritage Collection we are continuing to develop the Centenary Archive, a permanent record for future generations of ...