The Auxiliary Territorial Service in West Sussex – Part One

By Victoria Evans, Searchroom Archivist As the archivist in charge of our social media at WSRO, I am always trawling through documents and photographs to share with our following. This led me to stumble across a comprehensive photographic collection (PH 28906-29041) of a woman’s service in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Her name was (Kathleen)…

Building, Acting and Relaxing: A brief dip into new collections at West Sussex Record Office

By Nick Corbo-Stewart, Archivist and Volunteer Coordinator The volunteers at West Sussex Record Office (WSRO) work with a wide variety of collections. They sort, list, order, catalogue and package. Once ready, these are opened for use to our researchers. Within this, the first of a series of blogs, I will introduce you, the reader, to…

The Log of the Jogolong – a caravanning holiday through Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire

By Victoria Evans, Searchroom Archivist The joy of a holiday is a longstanding staple of British summertime. That feeling of the anticipation as the holiday grows closer and closer. And being to put aside any troubles for just a week or two allows for a moment to switch off your mind from the everyday routine…

National Volunteers Week, 3-9 June 2024-Volunteers at West Sussex Record Office

By Nick Corbo-Stewart, Volunteer Coordinator and Archivist In the week that celebrates the 40th anniversary of this event, organised by the NCVO (The National Council for Voluntary Organisations), we at the West Sussex Record Office (WSRO) would like to thank all our volunteers from the local community who make a positive contribution towards the services…

Tuesday Talk: What did the Victorians do for Chichester?

By Alan Green, Guest Speaker Visually Chichester did not alter substantially under the Victorians, so its character remained – and remains to this day - essentially Georgian. PH 12594 - Chichester: East Street and the Cross In this illustrated talk Alan Green explores the Victorian era in Chichester including the coming of the railway, new…

Cataloguing Crawley New Town: The Catalogue is Live!

By Alice Millard, Project Archivist After a year of cataloguing, the Crawley New Town archive is now available to the public at West Sussex Record Office. It is the first time these 3000+ records have been fully accessible, and researchers can search the catalogue online via our website. So, what's in the archive? The nucleus…

Tuesday Talk: Chichester in Colour 1973

By Alan Green - Guest Speaker In this talk local historian and author Alan Green will, with the aid of Stella Palmer’s slides and some others, take you on a tour of the city as it was fifty years ago; a city preparing for pedestrianisation but still ruled by the motor car. You will see…