Wheatley Hill History Club, founded in January 1995, is a thriving society whose very active membership is bound together by common aims:

To remember the industrial past of our village
To discover how our ancestors lived
To collect photographs and documents relating to the past
To build up an archive of materials that can be handed on to future generations
To educate future generations by using the reminiscences of our members

We hold meetings on the last Wednesday of every month (March thru to October) in Wheatley House, Woodland Avenue, Wheatley Hill. The meetings start at 11:00am and there is always a speaker who gives a one hour presentation on a topic of local interest or history. See our Meetings page for more information.

We attend local history fairs hosted by other organisations throughout the year, and we are always prepared to spread the word of local history in Wheatley Hill.

The major annual event in our calendar is the Local History Day held in September. This event is our major fund raiser and we rely on a successful day in order to raise money to invest in acquiring local history information.

Our Successes

The History Club’s main success is the prolific manner in which we produce publications. We do all of our own research, word processing, editing, proof-reading, marketing and sales. We try to sell our books almost for what it costs to have them printed in order to make our work available to the public, and all money made on the books goes to produce the next one. As an indicator of our success, the first book we published, “The Thornley Coal Company – Owners of Thornley, Ludworth and Wheatley Hill Collieries 1830 – 1885”, appears regularly on second hand book sites at a price in excess of £50!! Unfortunately we only have 500 of each of book published and never do a re-print.

We have also transcribed all census materials for the village since 1841 and will be starting shortly on the 1911 census.

Become a Member

The History Club is always looking for new members – there is plenty to keep everyone occupied! Annual membership starts in March, and for members who are not local, the membership subscription for 2018 is £6.00 per year which includes the cost of quarterly newsletters.

If you would like to become a member, please email us at history.club2@btinternet.com.