YOUR recent report on Studley forming its own local history group was welcome news, for there are many in the village who possess long-hidden memories and memorabilia.

The successful establishment of a Studley archive will require input from many primary sources and deeds, wills, inventories, photographs, estate plans, personal effects and reminiscences are just a few of the elements that must be made available if the work is to be done properly.

Much valuable work has been done already by members of the Alcester and District Local History Society, many of them residents of Studley and within whose area of interest the village lies.

It is to that society's endeavours that Studley owes much of what has so far been recorded and published of its history. Notable is the recording, in the early 1980s, of the memorial inscriptions then still readable in all four of its churchyards. Unhappily, many are now gone, which illustrates the value of timely transcription.

If the Studley Local History Group is to succeed in its own endeavours, it must acknowledge that it shares its history with its neighbours. It must share its hidden treasures too.

Arthur S Daniels

High Street

Studley