BUCKLEY SOCIETY - PUBLICATIONS


The Society has produced a number of publications over the years, and continues to do so, when time and funds allow. 

The new Buckley Town & Heritage Trails leaflet pictured below is now available at the town library and Council Offices. 

                                                   

Several images from the Buckley Society Community Multi Media Archive (COMMA) with supporting facts have been included in the leaflet. A wealth of industrial history can be seen whilst following the trails and visiting Buckley Library and Museum. 

Released 23.09.2010 by the Buckley Jubilee Committee 'The Buckley Jubilee Centenary 1856 -1957' 

In a joint initiative with the Buckley Jubilee Committee a film of the Buckley Jubilee Centenary 1856 - 1957 Celebrations has been digitized and is now on sale in Buckley.
 
The events which were recorded on 16 mm film sponsored by the J Arthur Rank Organisation and filmed by Thomas Dempster Jones contains classic footage of Buckley streets, community preparations before the day, the procession itself and activities at various churches thereafter. Professionally filmed it is possible to identify many people involved in the celebrations, people in the crowd lining the streets, as well as Churches, buildings and locations in the back ground many of which have altered or been demolished in the last fifty years or so.
 
For a few minutes at the end of the film it switches to the Buckley Amateur Pantomime Co. Silver Jubilee production of Jack and the Beanstalk, featuring close ups of the Director Alderman Dennis Griffiths JP and members of the cast as well as several clips from the Pantomime itself.
 
The film was thought to have perished beyond repair but with professional help from the National Screen and Sound Archives in Aberystwth most of the footage has been recovered and restored to an excellent standard.
 
The Jubilee Committee are undertaking all sales of the item from two outlets i.e. F & J News Centre on Buckley Cross and Drury Post Office, the Buckley Society is therefore unable to offer a postal service on this occasion.
 
The DVD which is silent and lasts for 32 minutes is on sale at £4 a copy. All the proceeds go to support the Buckley Jubilee Charity Fund.
 

 Released 11.6.2010

            'Working Life in a Buckley Pottery'

                                    DVD

                                 

The Town of Buckley in Flintshire, North Wales is renowned for its past clay industries. A geological fault through the mountain on which the town is situated exposed clay which small cottage industries and major manufacturers exploited to produce a wide range of  highly sought after products. Small family run Potteries operated in and around the town for over six hundred years until the start of the Second World War.

Mr. John Jonathan left school in 1931 to work in one of the last such potteries to produce traditional Buckley slipware.

Now in his nineties, as far as can be established Mr. Jonathan is the last person still surviving with experience of working in the Buckley pottery industry.

Through a series of recorded interviews Mr. Jonathan describes his daily work life at Hayes’ Pottery in Etna Road, Buckley and processes that had changed little since the original business was founded nearly two centuries earlier. The DVD is illustrated with archived images of the Pottery and his fellow workers, locations and examples of pots produced in the various Buckley potteries.

Lasting some 45 minutes the DVD is recorded in PAL format for use on European television DVD players and computers.

Price £8 A postal service is available by e mailing the Society at the contact address shown below. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT CHEQUES AND POSTAL ORDERS SHOULD ALWAYS BE MADE OUT TO 'THE BUCKLEY SOCIETY' IN STERLING.

Released 17.12.2009

The Buckley Railway Album and Associated Industries

                                    DVD

                              

Based on the book released in 2007 which sold out very quickly (Scroll down to see original book) this DVD contains the original images plus three additional photographs that have come to light in recent months. Unfortunately despite extensive appeals over the past five years no film footage of the line in operation has been unearthed but the images on this DVD are supported by a commentary. The ability to see the photographs on a large TV screen or computer  brings out more detail and in the case of certain images points of interest are highlighted. The pause facility on DVD players enables further close examination. DVD  duration - 1hr.5 minutes

PAL Television system suitable for use in the UK and Europe

Price £9.95 the DVD is currently on sale at Buckley Library, the Barbers Shop, Mill Lane Buckley and Bethany Books, Shotton.

A postal service is available upon request UK price £11 including postage and packaging e mail for details

Please note that any cheques or postal order should always be in sterling made out to the Buckley Society

This 2009 publication is a DVD containing a compilation of cine footage dating from the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's of Jubilee processions, two Carnival processions and a Civic Service procession. It also contains  the 1980 Jubilee procession filmed using early video technology.

A fascinating archive of just over an hour of film footage it is for sale at Buckley Library for £5 a copy. Feedback to date suggests viewers have identified themselves as children as well as relatives as they appeared several decades ago.

As well as capturing the events featured views are also visible of old buildings, vehicles and fashions over several decades.

To order by post please contact the society via the Society mail address - details shown below.

Two other recent publications are listed below:

"The Buckley Railway Album"

A collection of over 200 photographs many of which have never previously been published. 

They recall the local standard gauge railway that connected the town with the docks on Deeside.

The reader is taken on a nostalgic trip back in time to experience some of the difficulties involved in working this steeply graded, antiquated industrial line. The album charts the journey from Connah's Quay Docks up line through Northop Hall to Buckley and includes views of the industries it served.

Hard back priced at £9.95

Sorry  but the 1,000 copies printed all sold out within four months and it would not be financially viable to have a reprint! Some have however already appeared on Internet auction sites such as eBay. 

In the light of the interest shown in the Buckley railway the Society would like to hear from anyone who may have further photographs or cine film of the railway when it was operational. 

Contact

"The Making of Buckley & District"

 

 

An excellent book by T. .W. Pritchard who has very generously donated copyright to the Buckley Society

Recently reprinted this book is still available for sale in Buckley Library and at local Bookshops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Society also maintains an extensive "Community Archive" - using Commanet Software - for details on the archive, and how to obtain a copy, see the "Community Archive" Page