Frodsham and District Local History Group

Frodsham and District Local History Group received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in March 2007 enabling some 8,000 images dating from 1850 to be digitised.

Thanks to the £29,000 grant, the entire catalogue will be accessible through the National Archives A2A website.

Working closely with Paul Newman at Cheshire Record Office enabled the Frodsham project to become one of 16 similar projects organised by National Archives. The original images will eventually be properly stored at Cheshire Record Office.

The extensive archive began when hundreds of images collected by local historian Joe Barker came into the possession of Frodsham and District Local History Group. Since then, a vast number of historic photographs, prints, postcards and negatives have been given to the group by residents.

The collection provides a comprehensive photographic record of the area over time and has been used by Vale Royal Borough Council in the creation of the popular interpretation boards in the village and to help with accuracy in the successful restoration of Castle Park House.

The entire catalogue and a selection of 300 images will be accessible through the National Archives A2A website. Some of the grant will be used to second a teacher to develop learning materials linked to the National Curriculum at Key Stage 2 using the digitised images.

This will enable children to learn about the history and heritage of Frodsham.

The project will involve teachers, schoolchildren and an exhibition of the youngsters’ work.

The grant also allows the purchase of a digital camera so volunteers can capture the changing environment of the area.