A busy weekend lies ahead for members of the Maldon Society, who are also seeking a member to join its committee.

The Society has been part of the Maldon Community since 1957 and continues with its aims of promoting and preserving the town's historical heritage. 

It is actively connected with local businesses, churches, voluntary organisations, councils, residents and young people to ensure there is a local awareness and pride in local heritage. 

The Society encourages high standards of planning and architecture by liaising with councils on applications and joins other representatives at the Maldon & Heybridge Heritage Working Group's monthly meetings organised by Maldon Town Council to discuss and support each other and to organise local events such as History week held in May and  National Heritage Open Days – of which two will happen this weekend.

On both Saturday (10 September) and Sunday (11th) members will be at the Maeldune Heritage Centre which will be open from 10am to 4pm.

The Maldon Society has organised oral history clips and a selection of visual archives which will be relevant to this year's National Heritage Open Days theme for 2022 – Maldon's industrial history.

The oral history recordings will include Marie Keeble who talks about farming and milk deliveries, Betty Chittenden mentions working at Bentalls. Phil Jarvis worked in the thriving eel industry at Heybridge Basin. Barry Pearce talks about barges and Cooks Yard and John Raven was a sail-maker in the Sail Lofts.

There will also be a selection of visual archives on our wide screen – Beeleigh steam mill, Bentall cars and agricultural machinery, barge construction and salt production.

Through the group's membership fees, it is able to provide and maintain blue plaques, which act as a marker for famous people in Maldon's history, an event or a former building on a site. 

Blue plaques and meetings with the Maldon Society.

A copy of the Maldon Blue Plaque Trail leaflet can be collected from the Maeldune Heriitage Centre or downloaded from its website: https://www.maldonsoc.org/.

The group holds monthly public meetings and speaker at the next one, on Thursday, 6 October is Adrian Wright. The title of Adrian's talk is 'By Train to the seaside' ending at Maldon East Station. Victorian railway development made possible mass migration to English coastal resorts each  summer and this presentation aims to show how this began then continued through the  following century. The start of the process in other parts of the country will be considered, then the emphasis moves to East Anglia, initially at Walton and Clacton, concluding with a brief look at how railways catered for trippers to Maldon. Holidays with pay allowed families to spend their eagerly-anticipated week or fortnight by the sea while at other times there were day excursions to the coast including huge factory outings. 

Appropriately, Victorians and Edwardians employed contemporary technology to devise many ways in which seaside holidaymakers could amuse themselves by riding on rails. The talk will be supported by photographic evidence including nostalgic views of steam-age holiday trains and colourful posters which adorned stations, attracting families to spend holidays at rail-served resorts.

The monthly meetings are held in the Cygnet Room behind the Swan Hotel, High Street, Maldon. Doors open at 6.30pm with the meeting starting at 7pm. Drinks may be bought from the bar and brought to the Cygnet Room. A raffle will be held to help raise funds and visitors will be requested to give a donation while members have free entry.

Email [email protected] or ring Dorreen 01621 853428 to pre-register your intention to come along so the committee can organise seating. Membership application forms can be downloaded from the website or a form can be collected from the Maeldune Heritage Centre. 

Help keep Maldon memories alive.

As well as free admission to meetings, members receive a half-yearly newsletter. If you would like to become a member, contact [email protected] to check the fee payable for those joining after 1 October renewal date. 

An extra committee member is currently being sought to join the current active, friendly team of nine, to help with various correspondence. Minute taking and membership correspondence are already undertaken by other committee members. The only requirements are a love of Maldon,  the ability to email and create documents, and if possible attendance at ten committee meetings a year, currently on the third Thursday late afternoon. For further details email [email protected]