A group of volunteers will soon begin flicking through the history books in a bid to preserve the memories and records of Beaconsfield from years past.

After receiving a £10,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund earlier this year the Beaconsfield Archive Project committee members have been planning on cataloguing the town’s history from next year.

Last week, they invited volunteers, and other residents who were interested in the project, to join them at the town hall to hear about their plans.

During the meeting senior archivist Laura Cotton spoke of the importance of preserving history and committee member Clare Bull has spoken of the need to retain evidence of the past as the town is constantly changing.

After the meeting on Wednesday, December 3, she said: “It was a fantastic event and we were so pleased to see so many people come forward to find out more about the history of the town and how we plan to preserve it.

“I would say over 50 people came on the day and there was a big interest in how people could get involved and we now have about 35 volunteers.

“I think everyone is just looking forward to getting started now.”

Some of the new volunteers will learn the ways of archiving during a course in January and the group then plan to begin cataloguing and presenting documents and records in February.

They will then hope to have all the information and pictures they gather put online.

The group needed about £20,000 to be able to implement their plans and after receiving the Heritage Lottery Fund in October, they have also received donations from a number of businesses and community organisations in Beaconsfield.