Are you aware of the Earith Time Capsule? ...
The Earith Time Capsule is buried within the grounds of Earith Primary School.
This was officially done on 11th November 1999 at 11.30am with a guest of honour: Roy McFarland.
The capsule contains a wide variety of material which was collected to show people in the future what it was like to live at this time, and specifically what was relevant to Earith village. These sort of things were included:
- Photos: We have photos of the village from throughout this century. We have tried wherever possible to identify individuals and scenes. lt is particularly interesting to compare the traffic free High Street of the earliest pictures with children playing on the road, to the most recent photos of traffic chaos. We call this progress?
- Film: The Scouts very enthusiastically made a film of the village with the help of Mr. Martin.
- Franks. An edited version of this has been put in the capsule. It may be a classic of the future.
- Tapes: We have tape recorded the reminiscences of some members of the local British Legion. These tapes contain material which would otherwise have been lost to future generations and will provide a fascinating oral history of our time.
- Official Village Documents: We have material here from most of the village organisations, shops and pubs This is in the form of Programmes, Minutes of Meetings, Publicity, Photos of Members, Menus etc. Most of this material routinely goes into our rubbish bins and would have been lost over time.
- Children's work: The children of Earith school have made a great effort to leave a record of their work for the future. This includes stories, poems and predictions of what they think the world will be like in a hundred years time. They will probably prove to be more accurate than Government predictions.
- Histories: The histories include a history of the Jewson Company, and a history of the Parish Council in this century.
- Documents: We have tried to provide examples of the minute details of daily life. To this end we have included examples of all the irritating forms, booklets, questionnaires that we come across every day and throw away. Most people would consider this to be no great loss but it is possible that by the year 2099 Vehicle Licensing Forms from the 1990’s will be highly collectable.
- Books and Magazines: Books and Magazines with a particular topical or Millenium theme have been included. They have been chosen to give an idea of what was fashionable and popular at the end of 1999.
- Music: A selection of CD’s.
- Artefacts: This category was the most difficult to fill. We tried to imagine what objects would both typify the late 1990's and be of interest to people in 100 years time. We have included contemporary popular toys, disposable objects, car accessories, a mobile phone and some computer hardware.
- Wine: A bottle of recent English wine has been put in the box. What effect this will have in a 100 years is hard to say!
A large number of organisations and individuals have contributed to the contents of the capsule.
The main contributors have been:
Earith School, Earith Parish Council, the Earith Village Forum, the British Legion, the Cubs and Scouts, the Brownies, the Women's Institute, Minnaars Ltd, Jewsons Ltd and SmartDrive Ltd.
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