On 20th February 2016 we helped the Quay Theatre promote the screening of the film Suffragette.

Sudbury Ephemera in collaboration with the Quay Theatre became Suffragettes for the day to protest that Women deserved the vote!  The group of Suffragettes marched through town handing out publicity leaflets and chanting:

Come and See

At the Quay

No Vote yet

For the Suffragette!!

Then we stormed the Town Hall demanding to see the Mayor, who invited us in for refreshments.

The idea behind this outing was to publicise the forthcoming screening of the film ‘Suffragette’ that was shown on Tuesday 8^th March.  There will be a repeat showing of the film in April but no Suffragettes!

On Tuesday 8th March 2016 when the Quay ran the film Suffragette we were there before, during and after the two performances, handing out both our leaflets and the Quay Theatre’s advertising leaflets.

Many thanks to photographers Bob Andrews, Mike Davies and Jeremy Cheshire.

Sunday 30th August 2015

 Sunday dawned grey and overcast, but we were blessed with a dry day and not too hot for the costumes we wore. The theme was the 1960s to 1970s. We chose to recreate The Pickwick Club which was active in Sudbury between 1973 till 1999.

Sudbury was known in the 19th century for its political shenanigans and corrupt elections and so Charles Dickens used Sudbury as the basis for his town ‘Eatanswill’ (eat and swill!) in his novel The Pickwick Papers.

In the early 20th century the Eatanswill Society was set up in Sudbury. Members portrayed characters from The Pickwick Papers. They enjoyed dining and drinking at local hotels and inns but the Society dwindled and was wound up.

About 1973 it was revived as the Pickwick Club and members once again portrayed Pickwickian characters, held mock elections and even published the Eatanswill Gazette. They enjoyed travelling by stagecoach to drink and dine in local hostelries. The Pickwick Club continued for around 25 years with the last dinner being held in 1999.

So, Sudbury’s Pickwick Club of the 1970s is recreated for the 2015 Sudbury Carnival.

There was no stagecoach or dining and drinking but, we hope, plenty of fun.

Below is a list of characters and the novels in which they appear:

We were delighted to have a large number of characters.

Madame Defarge	Mr Pickwick, Ebenezer Scrooge, Barkis	Mr Perker, Dora Spendlow and Uriah Heap
Peggoty, Esther Summerson, Kate Nickleby	Isabella Wardle and Mr Perker	The Pickwick Club Revived for Sudbury Carnival 2015

The prizes for the floats went to:

3rd prize: Ceroc Dancers

2nd prize:  Gypsy Tractor and Trailer

Overall winner: Cancer Research UK – Give Peace a Chance!!

A very worthy winner!

See also the article Carnival magic as crowds gather in Sudbury for parade fun in the East Anglian Daily Times online edition.

Sunday 24th August

Sudbury Suffragettes (alias Sudbury Ephemera Archive with the help of members from The Sudbury History Group and the Sudbury Society) joined in the fun of the the procession in the Sudbury Carnival on Sunday 24th August.

A great day and much fun was had by all who joined the procession.  When later we learnt that we had been judged ‘The Best Float’ there was much rejoicing and merriment.  It is the first time I have ever been called a Best Float!!!!

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The long awaited Sudbury Carnival returned to the town on Sunday 24th August, it has been well over 20 years since the town last held a Carnival.

The weather was helpful, it was sunny without being so hot the entrants were over heated. and the rain stayed away all day.

Delphi Sports and Social Centre was the collecting point for the entrants prior to the start of the procession at 12.30pm

Sudbury Ephemera Archive members ready to start

Sudbury Ephemera Archive once again turned back the clock to appear as Sudbury Suffragettes.

The procession wound it’s way around the town amidst a lot of noise and excitement. The Suffragettes were warmly received and many leaflets given to the numerous towns people that had turned out to watch.

After the procession returned to Delphi there was a chance to mingle and meet the other entrants.

One of the entrants was the young star of the Warhorse film, Joey aka Augustus who is trained by Andy Butcher of AB Film Horses.

The Suffragettes were lucky enough to be able to get a photo taken with the star, bringing together the memories of Emily Wilding Davieson  who was killed under the Kings Horse during the Epsom Derby in 1913, and the huge part that many horses played during the Great War.

Memories are what the Ephemera Archive is all about.  We want your paper memorabilia of both the wars plus we would love to be able to record the voices of the older generation that can remember the second world war, both here at home and those service men and women who returned to civilian life when it was all over.

See also photography by Bill Hiskett and Ben’s photos on Flickr.

The weekend weather wasn’t kind to the exhibitors or visitors to the 31st Vintage Rally 2014 run by the Farm Machinery Preservation Society Ltd

Our stand was set up on the Friday night amidst a site which was a hive of industry and a buzz of anticipation for the weekend to come.

Sudbury Ephemera Archive stand

Model tractors in Ring 2

SEA was present on the Sunday rather than both the days.  When we arrived on the Sunday a number of other exhibitors had admitted defeat in the face of the persistant rain and packed up.  Stands with anything in paper or boxes were struggling to keep them dry.

Our pitch had a ringside view of the Second ring which kept us amused throughout the day.  We had displays from Hawks, motor bikes, mountain bikes, a Youth band, sheepdogs and model tractors.

We had a slow start but managed to chat to a wide variety of people who had varied interests in Sudbury and what we are doing to preserve its heritage in paper.

The intriguing Lobster and Squid kites	Various Bicycles
Colourful Gypsy Vans	Vintage Sudbury Coach
Bone shaking Tractors	Vintage vehicles of all sorts

Altogether despite the miserable weather, Sudbury Ephemera had a good day promoting the Archive.

Sudbury Ephemera Archive took a stand at the colourful vintage rally held by the Monks Eleigh Bygones Collectors Club

This annual event was held on 14th and 15th June 2014 Sudbury Ephemera Archive revealed their new Gazebo, kindly donated to them last year as a result of an appeal on the Lesley Dolphin BBC Radio Suffolk show and together with the table also donated from the appeal set up a stand at the Rally.

Vintage tractors

The SEA gazebo

The weather wasn’t too kind to begin with on the Saturday, a steady heavy drizzle fell till mid morning when the events in the main ring got underway. But there was certainly plenty of stands to look at: 

Someone’s vast collection of bells!	Lego
A collection of ‘state of the art’ garden tools!
And a great collection of Vintage/Classic Cars

Sudbury Ephemera will be taking a Stand at the forthcoming Open Day for the Sudbury Model Railway Club  to be held in St Peter’s Church on 1st June

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