IF you're interested in the history of Tang Hall and Heworth, then you'll want to get along to St Aelred's Community Centre on Fifth Avenue this Saturday (January 20).

Members of the Tang Hall Local History Group are holding a special open day (well, open morning at least, from 10am-12 noon) at which visitors will be able to browse through the group's extensive archive of old photographs and records, and chat to members about the area's history.

To give an idea of the kind of photographs you're likely to see, the group supplied a selection to The Press. They range from the 1933 wedding of Miss Muriel Thorold of Abbeyfield House and celebrations at the Tang Hall Hotel in honour of the Jubilee of King George V in 1935 to old school photos, a 1950s Heworth Rugby League team picture and images from the 1920s of the workmen who built the Tang Hall estate.

These and many more will be displayed on boards and in folders on the morning.

If you have any old photographs yourself of Tang Hall or Heworth, meanwhile, members of the group would love you to bring them along.

Thanks to a £1,224 grant from The Conservation Volunteers the local history group now has its own scanner - so digitally copying photographs is easier than ever.

"We will be able to scan photographs on the day so that people can take them home again," says the history group's secretary, Jane Burrows. "Then we can add them to our archive for future generations to see."

The group is particularly keen to get more photographs of the Tang Hall estate during the 1920s, when it was under construction. Work began in 1921 - so the centenary will be in three years. "We are hoping to gather photographs of the new occupants and houses for this date," Jane says.

So if you have any photographs from the early days of the Tang Hall estate tucked away in a drawer somewhere, dig them out and bring them along. You'll get a warm welcome...

Stephen Lewis

Tang Hall Local History Group open day, St Aelred's Community Centre, Fifth Avenue, Saturday January 20 from 10am - 12noon. Entry is free - and refreshments will be provided.

To find out more about the local history group and its activities, or to view its online archive, visit tanghallhistory.com/