Welcome
Welcome to the Spring 2026 edition of the East Riding Archives e-newsletter!
In this issue:
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News & Projects- Archives Supporting the U3A; Rayne's Week in Archives.
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What's On?- Remembering Humberside; Cześć, to my!; Goole Unboxed; Travellers and Settlers in the East Riding.
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Collections spotlight- Some Rugby Excitement; Goole- the plaice to go for tonnes of tunny; Celia’s Hanukkiah; Mary Foster, Sportswoman Extraordinaire.
Best wishes from the East Riding Archives and Local Studies Team.
archives.service@eastriding.gov.uk / 01482 392792
News & Projects
Archives supporting the U3A
The Archives have recently been supporting the University of the Third Age (U3A) with their various community events.
We were delighted to share more about the East Riding Archives at this year’s hugely successful (sold out!) Beverley U3A Spring Fair. To complement the fair’s location at Bishop Burton College, Archivist Hannah Stamp enlightened audiences with historical facts and archival findings about Bishop Burton village.
Read more about what went on at the fair, held on 10 April 2026, on the Beverley U3A website:
 Image: Archivist Hannah presenting at the Beverley U3A Spring Fair. Photo courtesy of Simon Tull, Beverley U3A.
The Bridlington U3A also held their Community Information Fair at Bridlington Spa on the 13th April. Over 50 local organisations were involved and it was a very busy day for us on our East Riding Archives stand!
 Image: Archives stand at the community information fair.
There’s more upcoming as we will be giving a talk at the Swanland U3A’s Heritage event to celebrate their 30th anniversary in May.
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Rayne's Week in Archives
 Image: Rayne looking at a scrapbook compiled by sportswoman extraordinaire Mary Foster.
We have recently had the pleasure of welcoming Rayne to the Archives team on a work placement. Rayne tells us more about her week:
"I've been spending a week in the archives on a work placement and it's been such an interesting experience! There's so much that happens behind the scenes to make sure that the archives run smoothly and collections are looked after properly for future generations - not to mention the outreach work that makes the archives accessible to people.
In particular, I've enjoyed having the opportunity to delve into some of the records in the archive and learn more about the local area, its people, and history over the past thousand years. The archives hold some really interesting records, including royal charters from the Elizabethan period which are beautiful as well as important for documenting the history of the East Riding.
I would definitely recommend that anyone who is curious about archives makes use of the resources available (and there are many!). Whether that's using the reading room to explore records in person, attending events, using exhibitions as a starting point for research, or just browsing online collections, archives are there to be used! Everything is done with the local area and people in mind, and overall is such an amazing place, both for myself to gain experience in the sector and for the public."
The Archives wish Rayne the best of luck for her career!
What's On?
Exhibition: Remembering Humberside
Ground Floor, Champney Treasure House, Beverley, available in June 2026.
 It has been 30 years since the abolition of Humberside- what did Humberside mean to you?
Remembering Humberside is a free, touring exhibition which marks the 30th anniversary of the abolition of Humberside County Council and sets the shared history of the Humber region within a longer historical and cultural perspective. The exhibition will tour the north and south banks of the Humber simultaneously, beginning at Hull History Centre and the North Lincolnshire Museum (Scunthorpe) from 6 May 2026.
This exhibition will be at the Champney Treasure House in June 2026.
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Exhibition: Cześć, to my! (Hi, it’s us!)
Champney Treasure House Museum, Beverley, 13 June 2026 - 3 October 2026
 Featuring some insightful documents from the East Riding Archives, East Riding Museums are delighted to be working with Hull Museums and Galleries on an exhibition exploring the Polish community in our area from the past to the present day.
The Polish community began in Hull in the 19th century when merchants, traders, furriers and bakers established businesses in the city. In the Second World War, Polish airmen were stationed in the East Yorkshire and played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain.
Today, the Polish Consulate can be found in Beverley and two Polish Saturday Schools thrive in Hull.
If you are of Polish descent and have stories, photographs, documents or even special objects that you would like to share with us, please get in touch. We would love to hear from you! Please email sally.hayes@eastriding.gov.uk
Cześć, to my! will be showing at the Champney Treasure House Museum from 13 June 2026.
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Exhibition: Goole Unboxed- A Bicentenary and Beyond
Ground Floor, Champney Treasure House, Beverley, available 4 July 2026 – Spring 2027.
 Image: Photograph of the Barge Dock at Goole, 1899 (Archives reference: DDX882/15)
From Saturday 4 July 2026, visit the ground-floor corridor of the Champney Treasure House to explore the East Riding Archives’ exhibition: “Goole Unboxed: A Bicentenary and Beyond.”
The East Riding Archives are marking Goole’s bicentenary as a port town with an exhibition that uncovers its fascinating journey from marshland to modernity through treasures from the archive collections.
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Exhibition: Travellers and Settlers in the East Riding
Sewerby Hall, Bridlington, 20 September 2026 – 8 November 2026
 Our exhibition “Travellers and Settlers: A History of Ethnic Diversity, Migration and Settlement in the East Riding of Yorkshire” will be on display at Sewerby Hall this September.
The exhibition highlights a selection of stories found within documents in the East Riding Archives and artefacts from the East Riding Museums’ collections, evidencing that East Yorkshire has always been a place of diversity.
From the Mesolithic to the Modern Day, we present stories of sanctuary seekers, workers, 'aliens', evacuees, freed slaves, interesting visitors, and more. In addition to celebrating the region’s diverse heritage, to highlighting the stories of today, the exhibition also shares contemporary oral histories and school pupils’ creations about their life and culture.
Please note that seasonal opening times and standard admission charges to Sewerby Hall and Gardens apply:
Collections Spotlight
Interesting stories found in the archives from the Public Services and Collections teams.
Some Rugby excitement
Here is a curious cause of death found recently in our Coroners collection (NC/1/1/4/6). Entry No 1251 refers to the death of Rugby fan George Robert Coates, Grocer, Age 37 who on the 27th December 1900 suffered “cardiac failure accelerated by excitement at a football [Rugby Football] match”. The Coroner notes that it occurred at a match between Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers.
 Image: Extract from entry 1251, 27 Dec 1900 (NC/1/1/4/6)
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Goole: the plaice to go for tonnes of tunny (If there is anywhere batter, let minnow)
Fish stocks have been in the news recently, with certain breeds under threat from overfishing, but there seems to be plenty of fish to go around here in these two photographs from the collection of G E Clark of Goole. He was mayor of Goole from 1953-1954 and owned a shop which sold fish, rabbit and poultry from 91 Pasture Road, Goole.
These two photographs show two enormous fish - a 500lb ‘tunny’ fish (Atlantic Bluefish Tuna) and a giant halibut on which someone has, with a touch of humour, placed the label ‘baby halibut’.
 Image: G E Clark in front of his shop with a large halibut fish labelled 'baby halibut', c.1940s-1950s (archives reference DDX2571/2)
 Image: G E Clark and staff in front of his shop with a tuna fish that weighed 500lb, c.1940s-1950s (archives reference: DDX2571/1)
The noticeboards in the picture read “This Tunny 500lb was the largest of four caught yesterday off Scarboro’, the other three went to London, Hull & York. Goole got the best”. The other one advises customers to place their order soon in order to avoid disappointment.
The North Sea stocked a large number of bluefin tuna particularly off the coasts of Scarborough and Whitby, but this collapsed in the 1950s due to the overfishing of herring and mackerel, the tuna’s main food supply. It is unclear where the halibut was caught but it could also be from the North Sea.
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Celia’s Hanukkiah
Guest post by Sally Hayes, Champney Treasure House Museum Curator
As part of research into early Polish communities in East Yorkshire for the exhibition Cześć, to my! (Hi, it’s us!), East Riding Museums have been looking at alien registration cards in East Riding Archives.
Alien was a historic term used to describe people from overseas living in Britain. The Aliens Act 1905 required all incomers to register with local police and re-register each time they moved. East Riding Archives has around 63 registration cards relating to Poles, providing fascinating evidence about movement into our area.
 Image: Historic alien registration papers for Celia Bermitz (archives reference POL/3/7/2/8/20)
East Riding Archives item POL/3/7/2/8/20 is the registration card for Celia Bermitz (nee Waxman) who was born in Staszów in Poland in 1888. Celia was Jewish, and like huge numbers of Jews, left Europe in the early twentieth century due to persecution.
Celia arrived in Hull in 1910 where she made a home with husband Israel, set up a women’s clothing business on Holderness Road, and had five sons.
We were delighted when Jonathan Levy, grandson-in-law of Celia, contacted us to say he had a miniature hanukkiah (nine-branched candelabrum) which belonged to Celia. The hanukkiah is central to Jewish identity and is used at the festival of Hanukkah. Celia had brought the hanukkiah with her from Poland when she came to Hull.
 Image: Celia's hanukkiah (East Riding Museums)
Jonathan has been researching the life of Celia’s son Harold, and in 2024, staged a production at East Riding Theatre called Harold’s War. As well as looking at Harold’s life, the production explored family who stayed in Poland, many of whom died in the Holocaust. Visit the Harold’s War website to find out more.
We are looking forward to displaying Celia’s hanukkiah in the Cześć, to my! (Hi, it’s us!) exhibition when it opens on 13 June 2026 at the Champney Treasure House.
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Mary Foster, Sportswoman Extraordinaire
The archives recently were gifted a collection of documents (DDX2620) relating to Mary Foster (nee Goodinson), by all accounts an extraordinary sportswoman, excelling in -amongst others- football, cricket, golf and swimming.
She joined the Women’s Royal Air Force at the age of 18, taking up post as a physical training instructor. In 1954, barely 21 years of age and a corporal at the RAF Leconfield, she played for the Combined Services Team against New Zealand.
 Image: Group photograph (with Mary standing on the far left): from July 1954 of the WRAF cricket team – some of whom were part of the Combined Services team who took on the New Zealand Ladies in August of that same year, as illustrated by the leaflet (archives reference DDX2620/6/1)
 Image: An advertisement for the cricket match- Combined Services v. New Zealand Ladies, 1954 (archives reference DDX2620/6/1)
A very talented and versatile sportswoman, Mary soon played cricket for the county, but also made the Dick, Kerr’s Ladies football team as a goalie, and the Hull Wanderers hockey team. Dick, Kerr Ladies was one of the most famous and popular teams of the WWI era, being formed by employees of the Dick, Kerr & Co. munitions factory – and boasted players such as Lily Parr!
She was asked to play both for the England cricket and for the England football team. Upon her marriage to RAF officer Maurice Foster, she was asked to resign from the WRAF as spouses were not allowed to both serve. She nevertheless continued leading a very active life and travelled the world with her husband. While posted in Singapore she took up golf, and upon their return to Leconfield she became an active member -and indeed first lady captain and later president- of the Driffield Golf Club. Having obtained a swimming instruction certificate at the precocious age of 13, Mary became a swimming teacher in later life and ran a lifesaving club for several decades in Beverley. She passed away in April 2025.
 Image: telegram sent upon Mary making the selection in 1954 (archives reference DDX2620/6/1)
Explore the Archives Research Room Virtually
 Did you know, you can take a virtual wander around the Archives research room and the Champney Treasure House?
This virtual tour is useful for familiarising yourself with the building and our services before your visit.
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Visit the official East Riding Archives Facebook and Instagram pages for more stories from the collections and service announcements.
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