I ended yesterday by saying that I would write more about our MWiB Heritage and Archives work during the course of this week. I should really start the story of my involvement from the beginning.
When I began working voluntarily with MWiB last summer I thought it wise to appear eager and willing to be helpful, and so I took on various responsibilities as they were offered to me. It began with tasks such as finding and booking the most reasonable overnight accommodation I could find for our London Executive meetings, taking minutes of meetings and working with a designer to produce our new banners. Then came the next request: “Would you join the Heritage and Archives Task Group?”
I must be honest and say that history has never been my ‘thing’. I gave it up as a school subject at the age of 14, after what was then known as the third year, now year 9. I suppose that, in itself, is history! I have always felt that life was full and complicated enough with managing the present, without worrying about the past!
Over the next few days I will explain how MWiB is capturing the story of Methodist women since the time of Susanna Wesley, and working in partnership with Epworth Old Rectory, the Methodist Heritage site in Lincolnshire, towards an exhibition there. I am beginning to get it, slowly, as I see how we can use the past to challenge the present and help to determine our future direction.
