At its recent AGM, the British Association for Local History (BALH) awarded Dr Hugh Pihlens its annual award for “Outstanding Individual Contribution”. The award is intended to publicly honour local historians who have made an ‘outstanding and significant voluntary contribution’ to local history.
Dr Pihlens was recognised for his outstanding labours for our local history in Hungerford and surrounding area over the last 46 years. In 1979 Hugh founded the Hungerford Historical Association (HHA), chairing it on a number of occasions, and has worked tirelessly in creating this thriving local resource, currently with around 200 members. Members and guests meet for monthly talks to hear local and national speakers on a wide variety of historical subjects.
In 2009, Hugh started to develop an online resource of local historical information that has grown in to a 1,700-page “Virtual Museum”, accessed over 30,000 times a year by people all over the world at hungerfordvirtualmuseum.co.uk. Hugh dedicates countless hours to maintaining and adding to the Virtual Museum as archivist, whilst also managing the HHA website.
In 2019, Hugh motivated a group of volunteers from HHA to commence a five year project to restore the Littlecote Roman Villa and Orpheus mosaic. Over these five years he has led working parties and sought funds to return the site to the state it was in following the original excavation during the 1970s. The restored Villa site is now visited by scores of people every month where they can also enjoy new information boards, designed by Hugh, and access a commentary by him through a QR code.
Working parties, organised by Hugh, continue to maintain the Villa site during the spring/summer months following the completion of the five year project. Hugh continues to work hard at protecting the Villa, encouraging the owners of Littlecote to work with him for future generations to enjoy.
Hugh has published three books on the history of Hungerford. He has inspired and encouraged countless other members to conduct research into their own areas of interest, publish books and papers and present their work to members. Hugh’s continuing efforts to promote our local history with such dedication and good humour are an inspiration to us all.
Dr Caroline Ness
Chairman
Hungerford Historical Association
More information about Hungerford and the surrounding villages can be found in Penny Post’s Hungerford Area Weekly News column, updated every Thursday evening and at other times as necessary. This includes news stories, events, information on voluntary and community groups and updates from the town and parish councils.
