Sandy Historical Research Group

Firstly may we apologise for the recent outage - the credit crunch has struck again! Our server provider went out of business suddenly on Friday 7th November and we had to move the site somewhere else. However, we are back up and running - the Forum, has had to be re-built and users will need to re-register. The Members area has been re-configured for Member access but if you have difficulty logging in, please let us know and we will reset your password.

Sandy Historical Research Group was formed in 2002, in order to capture the history of this Bedfordshire town during the last 150 years or so (and further back if possible).

A number of projects have been undertaken - some completed, others in progress

This website was set up to promote the group's activities and also invite contributions from interested parties.

The group also produces a Newsletter twice a year (Spring & Autumn and FREE to members) - "SHRUB". This is full of articles written by members and supporters, about the history of Sandy and its residents over the last 150 years or so. Back copies are available @ 40p, the Spring & Autumn editions are 75p. All can be posted for an additional 70p per copy. For back copies, please email us.
Sandy Historical Research Group published the first volume of 'Pictorial Memories of Sandy'. The book contains 40 views and images depicting the life of Sandy, dating back in some cases to the turn of the 20th century and up to the 1950's/ early 1960's. There are still some copies available.
The second volume of 'Pictorial Memories of Sandy' will be published in the Spring of 2009.

Projects:

The Sandy Show - 1869 to the present day. Many of the photographs in our gallery represent scenes from shows held at Sandye Place in the early 1900's through to its demise in 1953, when the property was sold off to Bedfordshire County Council and what is now Sandye Place Middle School.

In addition, Michael Rutt has carried out some research into the origins of a few of our local place names.

The group has already commenced with video interviews of some of Sandy's senior citizens, in order to capture their personal recollections of the last century.

Forum - please note that the Forum has been completely reset and is a new version. Existing users will need to re-register in order to post to the site. We apologise for any inconvenience - the cause of which was beyond our control.

If you have any information about life in general in Sandy, or something specific about any of the above projects, then please get in touch. Visit our Forum and air your knowledge. Or email us:

editor@sandy-history.org.uk

The group has recently presented several exhibitions of some of its collection of old photo's and artefacts.

Go to the Diary Section for news of the next scheduled event.

If you want to learn more about modern day Sandy and a brief snapshot of the town's history over time, please visit:

Sandy Community Website.

Click here to learn more about the launch