Archive Group

Although the group is no longer active and the original website no longer exists, we are pleased to announce that a new website is currently being built by using many of the thousands of photographs, documents, newspaper cuttings, personal memories and general ephemera that the group gathered during the weekly meetings over a period of 15 years. The new website is a slow process and will take many months to upload all the images into the various photo albums and document folders. The website will be available to view during its development and will increase in size over the coming days, weeks and months. Progress can be viewed at www.historyofshrublands.net..

The Shrublands Archive Group had a small membership of elderly volunteers who were some of the original members of Shrublands Youth and Adult Centre. The Centre was possibly the most successful pioneering experiment in the Country to provide social activities and services to a whole new community being re housed and established after the second world war.

The Archive Group realised that long before the Shrublands Centre when they were children, they had experienced the trauma of war and they are among the very few survivors who live to pass on their experiences to todays generation.

The result is a small comprehensive book entitled The Civilian War In a Seaside Town. It includes some of their personal experiences and describes what it was like coping with everyday living whilst under bombardment. The book has been made available free of charge to many local schools and can also be purchased from our Food Club shop at the Shrublands centre.

It is hoped that the book shares their experiences and will help to make future generations appreciate todays contrasting lifestyle, technology and opportunities afforded to them resulting from the sacrifices made by their relatives during the Second World War.