HERTFORDSHIRE ASTON Local History

WELCOME TO DES TURNER'S ASTON HISTORY AND PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION

Des Turner and his family moved to Aston village in 1966. As soon as he arrived he began taking photographs of village life and recording the village history. This started with audio recordings on cassette tape of the oldest villagers memories with the object of publishing a book on the history of Aston. During the process of the interviews he was offered old photographs of the village, family photographs and documents etc. and also valuable artifacts.

Among items he saved was a 14th Century sword, a 17th Century clock movement, a plough, a pillar drill and double blast bellows and hand tools from the forge etc. and deposited them in Stevenage Museum on permanent loan. The oldest artifact in the collection is a Neolithic hand axe and there are many Roman and pre-Roman finds. The collection comprises hundreds of photographs, slides and newspaper cuttings, etc. Over a 1000 years of Aston's history.

He began research of Aston history in the British Museum, county record offices and museums, arranged exhibitions, slide and talk shows and a multi-projector audio/visual show to raise money to help keep the project going and also to help charities in the village such as the church and womens institute.
He is now a pensioner and virtually all the people he interviewed have since died They included a blacksmith, wheelwright, school teacher, farmers, farm workers, WWI nurse and veterans, a cobbler, Commanding Officer of the local WWII Special Operations Executive secret establishment Station XII, publicans, domestic servants, parish councillors, gentry, etc. there are many hours of taped memories and hundreds of photographs.

It is his aim to preserve this primary documentary evidence of the lives of people from the village to keep the memories of Aston's past alive: to continue to record, document and disseminate the voices and images of Aston and to make this available to a wider audience. He formed a trust and made applications to the National Lottery for funds to assist with publication of the material but was unsuccessful. So the expense of the whole project still comes from his own pocket.

Why bother with it? Well he loves the village and enjoys living in Aston. He feels that he needs to give something back to the community for all the help, pleasure and fun he and his family receive. He has served on the local parish council the village society council, been a member of the 'Fund Raisers', the theatre group, cricket club, etc. and has provided historical information for local publications.

You too can help. If you have photographs or information that you would like to donate to the collection, please contact Des via e mail at desturner@aol.com