Introducing our ‘Heritage Collection’

January 15, 2021 Heritage, News

We begin 2021 with news of an important project which the company began last autumn! We hope to share more with you throughout the coming year.

With the help of professional archivist, Jane Middleton-Smith, who has worked on numerous research projects and archive collections, we have begun to categorise our incredible ‘archive’ of records. A database has been developed not only to identify the objects and documents such as photographs and artefacts that make up our company history but also to protect them for the future so we can share as many of them as possible with our team and the wider community.

We receive many enquiries every year for records or information about timepieces we may have a connection with, and we hope this archive, which we are calling our ‘Heritage Collection,’ will help us to answer these. It will be an invaluable resource of not only timepieces, but events, people and society through the years.

We’ve uncovered many wonderful photographs during the work completed so far on this project and we’d like to share a couple with you as we feel they offer some hope and positivity in these difficult times. The photographs show three past Smith of Derby employees on a walk they took on May 8th 1945 – VE Day.

  

The photos are captioned – ‘Chris Newton, Harry Farnsworth & Eric Ladds spent that wonderful sunny, peaceful day walking from Ashbourne to Kirk Ireton via the riverside, talking, laughing, sleeping, drinking and taking photographs.’

We think these photos show the joy and appreciation for the simple things in life that are so very important to us all. We hope that we will all be able to get together with family and friends again soon, it is something we’ve all missed. Here’s to looking forward and making new memories in the months and years to come.

If you are reading this and have any anecdotes, photographs or artefacts relating to the company that you would like to share or talk to us about and potentially add to our collection, it would be lovely to hear from you!

Please email us at enquiries@smithofderby.com or call us on 01332 345 569.

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Rachael Inglis: