My Place:
Lyn Myles, Researcher, Darlington History Group talks to Trea Wiltshire
She is rightly known as ‘The Ferret’ for the determination she brings to a hunt, but Lyn Myles could equally be tagged Miss Marple as she calls on a range of deductive skills to unravel the mysteries surrounding a person, place or event that warrants a place in our local history. Lyn Myles is an invaluable researcher for the Darlington History Group, and whenever the Review has a history query, she is our first port of call. And we’re not alone. Lyn has also helped unearth the stories behind century-old homes purchased by new arrivals – because our village has a string of historic homesteads and cottages – and to find out more about the pioneering families who settled in Darlington at the turn of the 20th century. The teacher turned researcher has long been interested in history and her mother grew up in one of our impressive homesteads, the lovely Cairngorm in Dalry Road. However, it wasn’t until Lyn retired after 35 years as a science teacher that she was able to develop her research skills. “My brother and I have always had shared interests, and he’d already done quite a bit of work on our family’s genealogy by the time I retired, so I was determined to catch up and surpass him! And it’s such a good time to be doing this work given our access to both Ancestry.com and DNA testing and the growing interest in family history as a result of TV programs like Who Do You Think You Are?” she recalls. 10
When, a decade ago, the call went out for a gathering of locals interested in preserving Darlington’s history, Lyn was a key participant in the birth of the Darlington History Group which is garnering an impressive reputation. Preserving local history had been one of the key recommendations of the aspirational Darlington Towards 2060 workshops (organised by DRRA in the 1990s) and workshop participants Reg Kelly and Arlene Collings were charged with the task of taking this forward. “Arlene had accumulated countless snippets of information while working at The Pines General Store during the 1990s. Whenever a customer told her some interesting local history or had a query about a house, she’d jot it down on a lolly bag and go in search of answers,” recalls Lyn. “And locals like Judy Love [President of the Mundaring and Hills Historical Society] had also accumulated a small resource in the form of oral histories. “I put my name down for oral history because that was my interest. I was also aware that well-known resident Shirley Pepper was ill and knew she had limited time, so one of our first tasks was helping to record her family history. Shirley’s recollections were brilliant and she had lovely photos of Darlington in the early 50s. Darlington Review – September 2021
