Egham Hythe History Festival 2019

2019 will see the very first Egham Hythe History Festival take place!

The idea came from the Egham Hythe History Group (EHHG) which was established in early October 2018, consisting of a small number of local Egham Hythe residents, The Egham Museum, the Friends of Hythe, and supported by Runnymede Borough Council Officer Suzanne Strong.

The group plan to carry out a number of activities throughout 2019 to encourage more people to engage with their locality, explore its history, and to create a sense of understanding and pride of place. The aim is to encourage more cross-generational discussions, more sharing of stories, and to bring back a sense of community in Hythe that the group feels has been lost over recent years; with heritage being an ideal way of addressing this.

As part of this year’s Festival, the Group will:

Produce and distribute a free Egham Hythe Calendar 2019, available from January;
Development of an Egham Hythe History Walk to be launched on Sunday 7th April, 2pm (meet at Pooley Green car park);
Participate in Frogs Island Fair on Saturday 25th May (find more information at The Egham Museum’s stand);
Support the following Hythe Park events: ‘Xplorer’ activity on Wednesday 29th May, Outdoor cinema on Friday 31st May, and further activity on Saturday 29th June;
Gather oral histories from local residents about their memories of Egham Hythe in the 20^th century and create a short 5-10 minute documentary;
Create a small pop-up exhibition to be displayed at the Hythe Centre on 1st July, looking at the changes in the local area including the residents’ own memories;
Support the information gathering and promotion of the Egham Hythe Conservation Area website.

As well as this, the group will continue to gather memories from residents and work with Suzanne Strong from RBC who publishes these in ‘Egham Hythe Matters’.

The Egham Hythe Calendar 2019, available now from the Egham Hythe Community Centre

Watch the fantastic film ‘A Year on Runnymede Rivers’ produced by TJ Lane, commissioned by RBC and Chertsey Museum as part of the 2018 River Celebration.