The Brief

The Family Adams Project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, is an exciting event for everyone to enjoy.  It will save for future reference, a vital aspect of community heritage found in the history of J H Adams, Ironmongers, 17 Main Street, in the Conservation Area of Littleport, Cambridgeshire. 

The J.H. Adams Hardware store is an integral part of Main Street. It’s easy to assume it would always be there, with the great shop front dominating the street and its windows full of tools, house wares and gardening equipment.  Inside its like you have stepped back in time with its great walls of dark wood drawers containing nails, screws and who knows what else. At the heart of the community J H Adams is as significant today as it has always been. 

The Family Adams project intends to create a public archive of local and national historic cultural events from artefacts, records and recollections which could be lost if action is not taken before the sale of the shop, which has served local residents and Cambridgeshire-wide customers for more than 100 years.  

Major aims of the project include exploring the past, talking with young and older members of Littleport, collecting and recording memories, stories and images.  Activities of local people and associated objects, perhaps unseen since the 1900’s, still significant in the life of the Fens, will remind us of traditions upon which present day events such as children’s outings and skating on ice, have their origins.  Littleport has a truly original place in history including a mention in the Doomsday Book.   

Robyn Llewellen, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said, “We at HLF are delighted to be able to support this imaginative project.  Spending time together and experiencing a sense of shared history can help bring communities closer together, and this is a particularly creative way of collecting and preserving the stories that have helped define the character and history of Littleport”.  

A big thank you to the proprietors of J.H Adams & Sons, David and Susan Porter. Without their kind support and encouragement this project would not have been made possible.

The Family Adams Project team

Helena G Anderson - Photographer

Jean Rees-Lyons - Playwright

Adam Giles and Richard Millen - Film makers/Webmasters

John Lyons  -  Poet & Artist 

Cary and Ricki Outis - Professional artists

Nicola Power - Archivist 

Zoe Davidson - ADeC's Project Manager

Trevor JJ Vincent (me) - Model maker