Helpringham History Society

A Brief History of The Helpringham History Society

In 2007 a small group led by the late David Layton, met to discuss the history of Helpringham and the possibility of producing a publication on the History of Helpringham. They decided that it was important to gather as much oral history of the village from the older inhabitants of the village before these memories were lost forever. The group began the process of speaking to the older villagers and gathering information.
By late 2008, photographs and other sources of information had been gathered in an ad hoc way and it was decided to formalise the work. The Group expanded and began to meet on a regular basis in the Memorial Hall. More formal interviews were conducted and recorded, whilst categories for the eventual chapters of the publication were agreed.
In 2010 the Group became The Helpringham History Society and adopted a formal constitution and set up a structure that would allow for grant applications to be made to fund the eventual publication.
Obtaining funding for the publication proved very difficult, so it was decided to self-publish a first edition of a mainly nineteenth and twentieth century history of the village based on the memories of local people with plenty of photographs and personal touches.
At the February meeting in 2012 the Society decided to go to print with members putting up loans and using the amassed funds of the Society. Also at this time several residents of the village made very kind donations to the Society which would enable the book to be sold at the affordable price of £8.50 a copy. Once the final editing and additions were made Westgate Printers of Sleaford ran off the first 100 copies of our History of Helpringham. These were spiral bound with a clear cover and aerial photograph of the village provided by John Forman. The books were then put up for sale and these first 100 copies went so quickly that demand soon outstripped supply.
The demand for the book really surprised members of the society and by the end of March another 50 copies had to be printed, these too sold out almost immediately and a further 50 copies were printed in May 2012. Copies of the book have been sent to France, Spain, New zealand, Australia and Canada. By the end of 2014 we had sold over 250 books.