K/NIBB/S ONE NAME STUDY
2nd International Meeting of K/NIBB/S Researchers
Kettering
6th September 2003
The 2nd International Meeting of K/NIBB/S Researchers took place on Saturday 6th September 2003 at The Toller Church, Kettering, England.The Gathering was scheduled to coincide as nearly as possible with the 200th Anniversary of the birth of William KNIBB in that town.
The venue was the Toller Church at Gold Street, Kettering, where William and his brothers had attended Sunday school. It proved to be an ideal location having a separate room upstairs for researchers' displays. William KNIBB memorabilia and family trees were in the church room itself. The Gathering commenced at 10.30am with registration, there being 'designer' labels to distinguish K/NIBB/S Researchers from those related to William KNIBB who had also been invited to attend. The badges on sale, depicting the inner circle of the poster, were also a 'hit'- some still available to quick off the mark Mailing List members. I've offered the remainder to the Museum at �1 a badge to cover costs of production.
A half dozen new K/NIBB/S put their names down to join the Mailing List. I've enrolled a couple more to ease distribution of news of this Report.
Honoured guest The Rev Devon DICK, Pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in Kingston, Jamaica, and Chairman of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust failed to arrive. He suffered a series of mishaps and speaking to him after the event expressed his real sorrow at having missed the occasion. His goodwill message, amongst others from various persons and institutions, was on display in the Church. Most unfortunately, no other overseas visitor made it to the Gathering making the title of the event a misnomer.
The pre-gathering publicity organised by John KNIBBS and a live radio broadcast on Radio Northampton helped to swell the numbers as did the poster below. Word of the bi-centenary was also spread by the presence of an Anglia TV crew. They spent some time filming and interviewing myself and Helen STROUD at the Gathering but cut out references to the One Name Study in the broadcasts televised on the day.
In the upstairs room, The K/NIBB/S database which started the day with 19,999 individuals was viewable. No fewer than four people remarked independently on the nostalgia they felt at seeing the Host's Atari Falcon computer upon which the database resides. All of the specially formatted disks for copying data from it to a PC were used by the end of the day.
Several people commented on the similarity of features between K/NIBB/S present and members of their own family. One lady was so overcome with a likeness to her brother that she had to pinch herself that it wasn't him! Yet the respective family trees researched for generations don't (as yet?) merge.
The church cafe served hot and cold drinks throughout the day; the buffet lunch arrangements whereby everyone brought a dish, either savoury or sweet, for sharing with others worked a treat.
Just before 1pm a party left for the Civic Society's unveiling of a plaque on the premises in nearby Market Street where the family of William KNIBB lived. Some also went to the Manor House Museum where an exhibition dedicated to William KNIBB opened on the same day.
The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Eddie BRACE and his wife Daphne came on from the unveiling to attend our Gathering. John KNIBBS acted as host. They were soon busy presenting a certificate to Marcus James KNIBBS who moments before had become the 20,000th person in the K/NIBB/S database.
Photographer Chris RILEY
They were then shown and showed much interest in a chart of William KNIBB's family which 'stretched' from one end of the church to the other - 28 fan folded pages!
At 2pm, it was 'Time to pray' - the motto of the K/NIBB/S One Name Study seeking to link the KNIBB family of clockmakers with the Missionary and Emancipationist William KNIBB. A short service incorporating readings from 'Knibb, The Musical' by members of the Toller Church was conducted by the Minister, the Reverend Jo Williams.
The Deputy Mayor and his wife, clearly moved, made a short speech and presented gifts to Helen and Frances STROUD, the 'closest' blood relatives of William KNIBB there present. They are identical twins - 3x great granddaughters of William's twin Ann. Beforehand they had been shown the Toller Sunday School entry book for the KNIBB brothers, below which I had noticed when preparing exhibits for the event, appears the entry for Samuel LEA. He, I reckoned, was their 3x great grandfather as Ann married a Samuel LEA - proved on the day by another extract from the Toller records handed to the twins by Elaine PARKER, the magistrate in the Musical Readings! He must have mended his ways in later life as the record states BEHAVIOUR - indifferent, WHY DISMISSED - for insolence.
The 'well behaved' twins received framed colour copies of two Baxter prints of William KNIBB, the stunning images of which were provided by The New Baxter Society.
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Another presentation was to Michael PEARMAN who had first made the connection between the descendants of James KNIBB from Hellidon (of which he is one) and William KNIBB. He had also copied thousands of K/NIBB/S records by hand from the GRO Birth Marriage and Death indices without which the One Name Study would never have begun. His gift was the highly praised catalogue from the contemporaneous 'Masterworks' clock exhhibition at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Staged by the Antiquarian Horological Society, it features many KNIBB clocks.
I then said a few words thanking all who had contributed towards the day's events and those who continue to contribute to the K/NIBB/S One Name Study. Robin KNIBB and Sioux FENNESSY in particular deserved the ovation they received.
Rose-Marie in turn thanked me and Michèle, Emily and Harriet for their work on the day and their forbearance during the hours I spend on the Study. She presented me with a most acceptable gift combining my other collecting hobby with my love of tennis and drinking! - a brass bottle opener in the shape of a tennis racket.
After a photocall of all present, a party of a dozen or so left for a guided tour of the Fuller Baptist Church further up Gold Street. This was of particular interest to Valerie PEARMAN whose 4x great grandfather was none other than Andrew FULLER after whom the church was named.
The raffle main prize (donated by John KNIBBS) was not claimed so was given to Toller for charitable purposes.
The event closed by 5pm and judging from the feedback was a huge success. After paying for the hire of the Church and some expenses, there was a small surplus which will be put towards buying a GRO certificate or two for the benefit of the Study.
Chris RILEY's brilliant photos of the Gathering appear below.
The 'compulsory' Group Photograph
Sit back and watch these photos scroll across the screen and, by moving the cursor over a picture, the slideshow will stop. You should then be able to see a short description. Move the cursor outside the picture to restart the slideshow. If you would like a full sized version of any of the photos, click on the one of your choice and follow the directions given.
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Once again, I just regret not having had enough time to talk to everyone for as long as I would have liked or at all in some cases. All that remains to be done is to decide where and when we all meet again and for how long! Perhaps we should be the ones to travel overseas but the logistics would not be easy to settle. How about Oxford when we can major on the clockmakers and all the many K/NIBB/S past and present in that County?
Click here to go to a report of the 1st International Meeting of K/NIBB/S Researchers
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