Friends of Lancashire archives

Friends of Lancashire Archives

The Friends of Lancashire Archives was formed in June, 1986, with the aim of promoting, supporting, assisting and improving Lancashire Archives in its crucial work of protecting and conserving the archival heritage of the county, and making it available to the public.

It provides a forum through which the archive service can explain, publicise and promote its work and policies whilst users can put forward ideas and suggestions for improvement and can comment upon proposals. The FLA also makes a positive contribution to the work of Lancashire Archives and has funded several projects.

The Friends meet socially and enjoy visits to other archives services and to places of historical and archival interest, including those not normally accessible to the general public.

Membership is open to all who are concerned for Lancashire's archives and want to play a part in ensuring that their future is secure. The majority of the 350 Friends live or work in "historic" Lancashire, but many come from elsewhere.

The Friends have a stimulating and varied programme of events and activities, including:

• Trips to places of archival interest in North West England.
• Open days and similar events at Lancashire Archives.
• Social evenings and entertainment - an opportunity to meet and talk with other Friends.
• Discussion meetings to consider topics of concern to users of the Lanc.
• One-day workshops, with guest speakers on a wide range of subjects.
• Supervised groups of Friends doing voluntary work in the Record Office. The groups meet on Monday and Wednesday mornings.
• A quarterly Newsletter, which gives news about Lancashire Archives, details of forthcoming events,  catalogue updates, and an opportunity to air views and experiences.

FLA contributions to the Record Office

• 1851 Census purchased to mark the 50th Anniversary of the service.
• Assistance towards the purchase of the Towneley collection (DDTO).
• A £600 computer bought for public use in the Searchroom is of particular help for family history research.
• £1000 funding for a student to sort Land Tax documents into township order.
• Creation of an index to the Amounderness wills. Cost: £3500.
• £550 purchase of records of the Lancaster Canal Company, 1793.
• Recent major acquisitions are the 1891 and 1901 Censuses, and the Friends also contributed £2500 towards the funding of the Apprenticeship Records project.
• Other purchases made by the Friends are the Rothwell Papers (£425), a Civil War letter (£341), and Quarter Sessions records (£500), and funding was also provided for binding the Census indexes (£509).

Join the FLA

We invite you to join one of the largest archival support groups in the country. Please send your completed Application Form or letter to:

Mrs Janet Lane, Membership Secretary of the FLA, can be contacted at:

Annual Subscriptions:

• Individual membership £10
• Family membership (persons living at the same address) £12
• Overseas membership £10
• Junior membership for those below 8 years of age, is £3

Cheques or postal orders should be made payable to Friends of Lancashire Archives.