South Holland Local History Group was entertained at their Christmas social on 16 December by Margaret Lee and the Haven Singers from Boston. They sang a number of Christmas carols with voices like angels and everyone was delighted with their performance. A buffet was provided complete with a Christmas cake and wine, and a good time was had by all.

After the obligatory raffle the evening concluded with a lady member of the group giving a monologue about the festive season and health and safety. It was very well presented and enjoyed by all.

The award-winning book Building a Railway: Bourne to Saxby, published jointly by the Lincoln Record Society and the SLHA, was based upon a unique album of photographs taken by Charles Stansfield Wilson who was the principal civil engineer of the line.

The album was passed down through his family to his great granddaughter, Mrs Hogan, who brought it to the attention of the SLHA IA Team in 2007.

Now, the final chapter has been "written" when, at a small ceremony at the Wren Library at Lincoln Cathedral, Mrs Hogan's husband presented this important album to Lincolnshire Archives for safekeeping and public access. The ceremony was attended by the Hogan family, the two editors and representatives of the SLHA, the Lincoln Record Society and the Lincolnshire Family History Society.

Copies of the book are still available.

The first half of our 2010/11 series of lectures, held monthly at St John's Church Hall, Hawthorne Bank, Spalding, was a great success. This was due to the interesting subjects and the excellent speakers giving talks on history, archaeology, our heritage, farming and much more.

Our Committee works very hard to ensure that a high standard is kept at all times. It is getting more difficult to find speakers, but with help from SLHA in Lincoln we manage very well. The attendances at our meetings average 48 over the ten-month season. We would like to increase this number, so anyone out there will be very welcome to join us. If anyone wishes to contact me regarding the group meetings please do so through the SLHA main address or by email through this website.

Our season of local history meetings starts in September and runs until July, when we break for the summer period. In December we have our Christmas social to show our appreciation to the members of the public who attend our meetings.

At all our meetings we serve tea and coffee and give everyone chance to talk or buy books and chat to the speaker. The books we sell are a good selection from the society - available of course at 20% discount to SLHA members.

Look for further news and reports of the South Holland Group here on a regular basis.

Dennis R Wolfe, Chairman