As the GOC Archivist, the 50th Anniversary provided a good opportunity to show off the club’s physical archive to its members. The AOG was the appropriate venue so I arrived in Northampton university, armed with boxes of items that I hope would provide interest…
Display boards were up for the weekend in the large university foyer to illustrate the history of the club. This consisted of a timeline from 1974 to 2024 with specific events/changes of GOC and, to help illustrate the context, a LGBT+ history of each year along with a selection of British/World events (a mix of the trivial to the weightier subjects). There was also a background of about the development of the club’s logo; and history of the Annual Outdoor Gatherings from 1977 to present (an updated version of the article that had been published on the website during the first five months of this year) with opportunity for others to add missing information to the accompanying images. Plus, the addition of a memory board for people to record their thoughts and memories of the club. Jim Cornwell, courtesy of Graeme Brown, brought a batch of over 100 newsletters dating from the 1990s and early 2000s to give away. These were put under the displays so people could help themselves (I took the leftovers as duplicates always useful for future displays).
On the Saturday evening, following a quick dinner and sup of wine, I set up an Archives’ table in front of the display boards consisting of items including photo albums and samples of newsletters from over the years so that people could browse through. Having only done one of these displays previous, I am always nervous of how they are going to turn out: What should I actually include? Is there enough? Will anyone be interested? As it turned out, I had no worries as after people finished their dinner or had a break from dancing at the disco in the nearby bar, members came to the desk, to have look at the displays and to have a chat. This became the highlight of the evening for me, speaking to those who has been in the club over for forty years sharing memories or those just genuinely curious about some of the archives’ materials. One of those I chatted to was Rob Foster who was instrumental in putting the archives together and gathering a lot of the materials linked to the club, especially in its formative years. On the night, Rob brought over other members to the desk who were able to provide information such as identifying people or dates of events in photographs. I also learnt a few new (to me) facts about the club (such as the true origin of the word Goslings and that club apparel including GOC swimming trunks!). Rob also had a large haul of photos that became a talking point, and some of them I selected and have added to the Archives’ physical collection.
Ultimately, the evening was successful and I’m grateful for support, whether big or small: Thanks goes to Jim Cornwell and the 50th Anniversary board for suggestions; I want to thank for Ari Speed, for providing me with boards, pins and other provisions to facilitate the displays. Many thanks to Robert Poniatowski, my partner who patiently put up with my procrastination of the last few months of creating articles for either the website and/or those for the display the AOG. He was also on hand to help me get ready the displays over the weekend and supplying with me meringue and alcoholic beverage as the evening wore on.
And thank you for those who came over and spoke to me (sorry, don’t remember everyone’s name) to talk about their memories of the club or gave me feedback about the display, or anyone who just took the time to look at the displays in general.
Simon Ball, GOC Archivist.
If you do have any GOC related material that you would like to part of the club archives, please contact me via the contact page by selecting [email protected].
