Melanie Guile, a writer and experienced historian, as an introduction, told us a little about herself, past projects, background and qualifications . She then explained the process of writing a history. She told us the benefits of, and why we should write a history and the aims. She described what a history may be like and what it would cover including events, key people, social and artistic contexts; the impact of the ASV and its achievements. It would include referenced material, e.g. members and prize winners.
She explained how she would go about putting a history together- The process which would involve research, interviews, invite members input. She would need to get ideas from members, documents, memoirs, letters etc. Finally she explained what a history of the ASV might achieve for the organisation and its members.
The first question raised of course was the cost. This is a large sum not able to be defined at this stage as we need to decide how extensive we wish the history to be and how presented. If we are to even consider this it will be necessary to carry out some serious fundraising in the form of grants sponsorship or social events.
Melanie was an interesting speaker and I think those present were impressed
Gillian Govan
