HAT has recently made a grant to the Fleet and Crookham Local History Group. This will enable it to purchase a large collection of local postcards and photographs collected over the years by a former member.
FCLHG chair, Phyl Ralton, said: “We were thrilled to receive the news that HAT would grant us £1500 to buy about 1500 items from Percy Vickery’s collection. It would have been a great pity for this to be split up and go into private ownership so we will do what we can as a Group to use this opportunity properly.
“Percy, who passed away in January 2018, was an active local historian and an avid collector of local postcards. He was a member of FCLHG from its beginning, gave talks and published several illustrated books on our local history. He worked for County Commercial Tractors in Fleet for 40 years.”
When the collection has been acquired and examined, the website will show more items from this valuable collection. Meanwhile, some of those already in FCLHG’s extensive collection are shown, demonstrating that this corner of North Hampshire has some very interesting stories to tell.
Above all, the initiative of FCLHG in saving this material emphasises the importance for local collectors of thinking ahead and making provisions for the disposal of their collections in their wills or otherwise giving instructions to their heirs.
