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Project News 2007/2008


This page details the development years of the project.

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10.12.2008 - Several names on the team photos for the pages featuring BL Stars, BLFC and St Mary's Institute Football Team in the Sport & Leisure section have been discovered and added to the captions. The introduction to Health Services in Burton has been updated to include details of dental services in the town.
  • The production team has now finished its work for this year, and will reconvene in January. Consequently, there will be no more updates to the site until mid-January 2009, when a major feature on Burton Latimer Hall will be ready. The site will also be getting a mild redesign to improve browsing and legibility.
  • 07.12.2008 - Thanks to new information given to the Society by Caroline Mitchell, the feature on Burton's all-round sportsman Billy Perkins - found in the People section - has been updated.
  • 03.12.2008 - The Churches section has a large feature on the story of Robert Sybthorpe. The Sport & Leisure section has updated details on several of its features. The Transport section has a brief feature on Murrell's Haulage Services. Details of Emergency & Welfare Services personnel have been further updated with more comprehensive lists of individuals.
  • 26.11.2008 - The Churches section has a feature on Sunday School prizewinners at the Baptist Chapel in the first part of the last century. The entry for The Cemetery (point 8 on the Town Trail) has been updated.
  • 19.11.2008 - Details of Emergency & Welfare Services personnel have been updated with photos, and a feature on WVS/WRVS has been added. The Leisure section has several new items - photos of the Baptist Chapel Gymnastics Club in 1932; St Mary's Tennis Team in the mid-1950s, and The Night Hawks pop group in 1960. There is also a feature on Burton's second band in 1878, and the team photos for St Mary's Church Institute have been updated.
  • 13.11.2008 - Thanks to a great deal of work by Margaret Craddock, the final major section of the site is now online. Click here for the 27-point Town Trail. Most of its pages have links to extended information on people, history and features.
  • 05.11.2008 - A link to the site search facility on the site has now been put on every section index page on the site.
  • 29.10.2008 - Thanks to Tony Jolley's kind contribution of his memories of life in Burton in the 1950s and 60s, the History section has a new feature. Elsewhere, the Churches section has an update on the former rector, Hugh Ashton, plus a photofeature on the Baptist Ladies Bilble Class in 1934. The Sport & Leisure section has had a major update, and now carries features on sport in Burton, photos of older football and cricket teams, an update on the Church Institute, a feature on the Church Army Social Club, and details of some of the musical bands, choirs and groups which flourished in the early part of the last century. The War section has a photofeature on Prisoners of War who returned in 1919. The sitemap and Site Search databases have also been updated, so that all the new names on the new features can be found.
  • 16.10.2008 - In the Crime and Emergency Services section, there is a new listing of people who have served in the emergency services. The Leisure section carries an item on a harmonica band in the 1950s. In the History section, the Local Government page in the Brief History of Burton now carries a listing of Chairment of the Parish and Urban District Councils.
  • 08.10.2008 - The Genealogy section now carries listings of Burton Latimer residents admitted to Northampton Infirmary in the period 1744-1827. There is also an article on the origins and brief history of Northampton Infirmary. An error in the navigation of the names on the 1957 Electoral Register has also been fixed. The Search Engine databases have been updated, so that the latest info is available to them.
  • 08.10.2008 - The Town Council has developed a website - Burton Latimer Online. There is a link to it on the Local Links page.
  • 05.10.2008 - The site has now registered over 200,000 visitors since its launch in June 2005.
  • 21.09.2008 - Tickets are now on sale for the "Burton Remembered" event on November 15th. Click here for more details.
  • 10.09.2008 - Details for Shops-E (Duke Street & South High Street) in the Local Business section have been updated.
  • 27.08.2008 - Listings for Baptist Church Births 1806-1837 are now online in the Genealogy section,
  • 06.08.2008 - The Retail section has a new brief feature on shops in Burton in 1974. It includes an aerial view of the town.
  • 31.07.2008 - The Churches section now carries a brief article on the 215th anniversary of BL Baptist Church, plus a link to the BL Baptist Church website. The Property section has Douglas Ashby's article on Historic Gardens in the town. The Sport & Leisure section has extended details of St Mary's Church Institute.
  • 10.07.2008 - The Agriculture section's feature on the wartime survey has been finalised, with images added to the details on indivual holders. The Property section now has an article on new design mobile homes in the 1950s.
  • 14.06.2008 - The Retail & Local Business section now carries details of a number of local trades and businesses which operated in Burton Latimer in the last century.
  • 11.06.2008 - Latest updates include a feature on Smiths Transport Services in the Transport section, and an extra photo in the "Making ATS Tunics" feature in the War section.
  • 29.05.2008 - Fifteenth major update to the site. The 1957 Electoral Register Listings are now available in name-order format. A photogallery of shops has been added to the Retailing in Burton section. Further details have been added to the 1941-2 farms survey, with cross-linkings to people and families featured elsewhere on the site. There is a major expansion of the history of Health Services in Burton, with features on several doctors. The Sport & Leisure section has been expanded, with details on local boxers plus sports activities at the beginning of the last century. There is also a brief article on the Midland Railway bus service of 1911. The Site Search facility has been updated to give quick access to the new features.
  • 27.03.2008 - Fourteenth major update to the site. The 1957 Electoral Register Street Listings are now on-line. The final section of the history of Retailing in Burton is now complete, with details of shops in Duke Street, Pigotts Lane and the south High Street. A major transcription has been done of a Farms Survey carried out in 1941-3 to ascertain the productivity of farms and arable land in the town, as a potential contribution to the war effort. Photogalleries have been added for pubs and clubs, and also for Whitney and Westley's. Three new entries have been added to the People section. There are also details of Church School Concerts in the 1890s, with many names being mentioned, plus an account of the Manor House and its underground passages.
  • 06.01.2008 - Minor amendments to the entries for Andrews, Hobbs and Stockton in the Monument Inscriptions listings in the Genealogy section.
  • 12.12.2007 - Minor update, delayed two weeks, featuring The Round House in the Property section
  • 30.11.2007 - Thirteenth major update to the site, with some key additions: update to the Monument Inscriptions in the Churchyard and cemeteries - the listing now stands at nearly 2000 entries; major features on the history of shops in Burton, now covering about 80% of the town; five new features on the changing face of the High Street, with maps, aerial photos, and some newly-released home video footage of the Latimer Close area and the High Street cottages which preceded it. There is also an update to the listings of the street names of Burton, to include all the old Rows, Cottages and Terraces, many of which have now disappeared. The listings also carry links to other relevant parts of the site. New features, too, in the Crimes, Accidents and Leisure sections, plus the opening of the "Pubs & Clubs" section of the site, with details of the old off-licences.
  • 21.11.2007 - The process of collating all the Monument Inscriptions in the churchyard and cemeteries is now complete, and the revised lists will appear in the next site update, scheduled for the end of the month. The listings represent the most comprehensive collection of Burton Latimer MI data yet published, thanks to the huge efforts of a few dedicated volunteers.
  • 12.11.2007 - The Heritage Room will be open for the switching-on of the town's Christmas Lights on Nov 30th, and the DVDs will be on sale there - the ideal stocking-filler!
  • 27.09.2007 - Twelfth update to the site, including major extensions to the Genealogy and Retail sections, with the publication of the names index and the street index for the 1918 Electoral Register, plus the name index for the 1934 Register. The first two sections of the history of shops in the town are now also online, plus an evacuee's memories of being in Burton between 1940 and 1942. The Crime section also has five new reports on crimes and accidents.
  • 26.09.2007 - At the invitation of the Falcon pack of the local Cubs, a presentation on the changes to the High Street was given today, to assist the pack with their studies of the local community. The pack will be visiting the Heritage Room on October 17th.
  • 18.08.2007 - The Society has just taken delivery of another 1000 DVDs, the first 1000 having virtually sold out in four months.
  • 19.07.2007 - The DVD had been entered for the Northamptonshire area of the Renaissance (East Midlands) Heritage Awards, which is open to Museums and Heritage Groups. It was shortlisted for the Inspiration category of the awards, though it was not chosen as the final winner.
  • 30.07.2007 - Eleventh update to the site, with new features on local people an stories, plus the publication of the street index of the Electoral Register for 1934
  • 14.06.2007 - The next site update has been put back a week to allow finalisation of some of the features. Illness and holidays have delayed progress over the last month.
  • 13.06.2007 - The Society's Committee has approved the final project report to be submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund
  • 23.05.2007 - Well over three quarters of the DVDs have now been sold, with many people coming back to buy extra copies for friends and family.
  • 05.05.2007 - Almost two-thirds of the DVDs produced in the initial burn have now been sold. Many people have returned with repeat orders for friends and relatives. The Society is naturally delighted that the production has proved so successful. If you are thinking of ordering or purchasing copies of the DVD, please do not delay if the order is urgent. A new burn of 500 or 1,000 is easily done, but there will be a delay of 1-2 weeks while the duplication process is carried out.
  • 02.05.2007 - Following their reporter's visit on 19.04.2007, BBC Radio Northampton has published a feature on the Burton DVD on their website. It has the news item they ran throughout the day on April 20th, plus clips from the High Street reconstruction taken from the DVD. Click here to go to the page.
  • 28.04.2007 - Tenth major update of the site, featuring 26 new items, including an extensive report of the Station Road murder in 1979, the opening of the first Health Centre in 1970, the demolition of the Old Rectory, and much more. The site now has around 570 pages, including features like soundbites, movies and animated maps.
  • 20.04.2007 - The premiere of the DVD was a huge success. About 165 attended the first showing and about 110 were there for the evening screening. Sales of the DVD were brisk, with a number of people buying multiple copies for friends and relatives. If you are outside the local area,we have posted an order form on the site. Click here to download it.
  • 19.04.2007 - The initial burn of the DVDs (1000 copies) was completed today, and the disks were collected ready for going on sale at the launch tomorrow.
  • 19.04.2007 - BBC Radio Northampton came to the Heritage Room today, to record a feature which is to be broadcast on Anna Murby's Breakfast Show tomorrow, between 6.00 and 8.00 am.
  • 12.04.2007 - The project is to be featured on BBC Radio Northampton at about 7.30 - 8.00 am on Saturday April 14th.
  • 05.04.2007 - The master copy of the DVD was taken to Alpha Duplication this morning, and all is on schedule for the launch on April 20th
  • 04.04.2007 - The final version of the DVD was mastered today
  • 03.04.2007 - About three quarters of the tickets for the "first house" (4.30pm) showing of the DVD have now been taken up. There are still plenty of tickets left for the later (7.30pm) showing
  • 25.03.2007 - Feature music was added today to most of the sequences on the DVD, in preparation for final mastering.
  • 25.03.2007 - Ninth major update to the site, featuring 27 new items, including the first tranche of transcriptions of the gravestones in the churchyard, a list of children who were at the Cottage Homes, the history of the parish church, the manorial court rolls, and many other stories from Burton's past.
  • 23.03.2007 - Editing of the individual DVD sequences is now complete and over the next week the final version will be assembled and mastered, ready for duplication.
  • 22.03.2007 - Today's "Evening Telegraph" carried a double-page feature on the development of the website and the forthcoming launch of the DVD.
  • 19.03.2007 - Tickets for the premiere of the DVD "Burton Latimer - A Sense of Place" are now available to the general public. Posters are going up around town with instructions on how to apply for tickets.
  • 15.03.2007 - The final commentary track for the DVD sequences was recorded at a studio in Newport Pagnell today, ready for the final dub next week.
  • 15.03.2007 - Tony Smith, features Editor at the "Evening Telegraph" visited the Museum today and gathered information for an article on the Society's project and forthcoming DVD. The article will appear shortly.
  • 13.03.2007 - A visit to Weetabix was made this morning. The company has approved the Society's DVD feature of the history of the firm and made available archive material and merchandise which have been photographed for inclusion as an extension to the DVD feature.
  • 12.03.2007 - Posters advertising the launch event of the DVD have now been printed, ready for public display next week. At that point, members of the general public will be able to apply for tickets to the launch.
  • 08.03.2007 - Half of the tickets for the first house of the DVD premiere have now been reserved. When tickets are offered to the general public in the week commencing March 19th, an application form will be available from this website.
  • 27.02.2007 - The final main sequence of the High Street reconstruction is now being done, leaving only the animations to be added. The DVD is scheduled for completion at the end of March, and the master copies will then go to Alpha Duplication for the commercial burn.
  • 26.02.2007 - Application forms for tickets for the DVD premiere went to Society members today via the distribution of the latest newsletter.
  • 19.02.2007 - Filming took place at Alumasc this morning.
  • 16.02.2007 - Following approval by both the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Heritage Society Committee, the image designs for the DVD disk and the presentation case have been sent to Alpha Duplication, who are doing the DVD multiple burn.
  • 16.02.2007 - Weetabix Ltd have contacted the Society with offers of background information on the history of the firm.
  • 12.02.2007 - Alumasc Ltd has given permission for filming inside its premises
  • 01.02.2007 - Pauline Swailes has finished transcribing the inscriptions on the gravestones in the various sections of the cemetery. The results are being tabulated for transfer to the website and the first pages will appear on the next website update.
  • 28.01.2007 - To enhance assistance to visitors and to ease indexing by the search engines, two new features have been launched - a Site Search facility and a Sitemap
  • 23.01.2007 - A presentation was given today at the Heritage Lottery Fund offices in Nottingham. Project progress was reported and approved, as were designs for the DVD disk and case. Samples of the DVD footage were also seen and approved.
  • 22.01.2007 - Redhead Designs have now completed and tested the first stage of the animated High Street reconstruction, completion of the second stage is imminent
  • 19.01.2007 - Eighth major update to the site, including the 1891 Census, which ensures that all currently available Census data on Burton Latimer is now presented on this site. To see the list on new and updated features, note the red and blue stars on the site or see the Topics page.
  • 15.01.2007 - Further fiming at I M Kelly Automotive's Coventry branch, to show a complete Aston Martin fascia as made in Burton.
  • 09.01.2007 - Update to the Burton Street Names page, incorporating details behind the latest roads: Addis Close and Ashby Close.
  • 03.01.2007 - Claire Weiss has supplied a list of names of soldiers who signed Annie Potter's Autograph Book, identifying where possible their country of origin, rank, number and unit. This will be added to the site at the next update.

    To read the latest project news, click here
    To read the project news for the year 2009 click here
    To read the project news for the years 2005-6, click here

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