b'ForewordI need to pay tribute to the late Mike Pratt who was the inspiration for starting the history group for which this book is the final outcome. Together with Kate and the rest of the committee, the Bishop Wilton Local History Group was formed. We met in the old Village Hall previously labelled the Mens Institute, how times have changed! Mike inspired us using his new ideas learned from his previous corporate career and I clearly remember his ideas cloud he produced for the first meeting. A professional start-up and plans for community interaction included workshops, events, guided tours, talks, research, and the production of twenty high quality bulletins which are reproduced in this book. Because of space we have not been able to reproduce every article from every bulletin, but we have included nearly all with close relevance to the local history of the village. The success of the Bishop Wilton Group led to the formation of other groups in the area and the committee helped other groups to start and use our template for success. The High Wolds Heritage Group, The Bolton and Fangfoss history group (which has since folded), and the Pocklington and District Local History Group which was started in 2007 by Jo Green and me following a conversation between the two of us at a Bishop Wilton meeting.We both thought Pocklington would benefit from the start of a history group, which is still successfully running today. This in turn has led to the setup of the Pocklington and District Heritage Trust which has the objective of creating a Museum and Heritage Centre in Pocklington for the benefit of the district. This book has many quality articles including interviews with local people who have since passed on. It has many unique photographs including school photographs and many with names. In fact, the group have collected almost every school photograph known for Bishop Wilton and every old postcard and old photograph we could find.It also has some genuine research articles that could stand alone and be published in any academic history journal together with full references of sources. Our thanks go to the National Heritage Lottery for funding the production of this book and I pay tribute to Mike English for pulling this book together from my many digital files left as a legacy from Mike Pratt and producing it in such a professional format.Andrew SeftonPocklington and District Local History Group& Trustee of Pocklington District Heritage Trust5'