After several months of planning and preparation by a small group of volunteers, under the guidance of Daphne Knott from Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, the day finally came for the ‘Our Stevenage’ website to go public!
On Saturday 26 February 2011 the launch event was held at Stevenage Museum. A lot of work went into the event. A display of photos of Stevenage past and present went up around the walls and tables, together with a challenging photo quiz provided by Pauline Maryan, the Chairperson of the Local History Society. Simon Mortimer prepared a powerpoint presentation on how to contribute to the site. There were several laptops available so that people could sit and browse the site and Local Studies Librarian Gill Clements manned the scanner so that we could scan any photos brought to the event by visitors. Jo Ward, Jill Campbell and Dave Ward from Stevenage Museum helped to set up the room and computers and welcome visitors. Margaret Sullivan kept us all supplied with teas, coffees and biscuits.
Various books and publications on Stevenage were available to look at, including the new CD from the museum containing scanned images of all of the Purpose booklets issued to residents in the early years of the new town development, the original Purpose booklets themselves and copies of the ‘Stevenage Echo’ newspaper.
The event was well attended and visitors included the Mayor of Stevenage, Michael Downing, the Chairperson of Stevenage Borough Council, Sharon Taylor and local author and historian Hugh Madgin.
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Websites are easy to set up, to be valid they need transactions. This would be a good vehicle to promote Our Stevenage NOW in 2018, or even Our Stevenage next year when the next Stevenage Festival takes place. All part of OUR Stevenage in the Here and Now
Don’t lose the initial impetus make this a viable site