Help is needed to track down past members of the March museum and their families for a celebration of its 40th anniversary.

The plea went out during a meeting of past and present members of the March and District Museum Society who filled St Peter’s Church Hall for an evening of reminiscence to celebrate four decades years since the museum opened.

David Edwards, museum archivist gave a presentation of slides which explained how a group of interested people had their first official meeting in July 1971.

They ended up holding a number of successful exhibitions before finally moving into permanent museum premises just six years later.

The museum was officially opened on 28 May 1977.

Some of the important exhibits were featured including a large kitchen table, which was the first object donated to the collection, the Benwick church clock, a Zeppelin bomb; the ASLEF Railway Union banner, the Cavalry Guidon, the medals of Jim Hocking and the Ben Gimbert George Cross and memorabilia.

The evening, which also included spoken contributions from Joan and Richard Munns, Edna Stacey, Peter Wright and others, ended with the cutting of a celebratory cake by one of the original members of the Society, Trevor Quince.

• The trustees would like to make contact with the other founder members, or their descendants/spouses who still live in the area to invite them to a celebration event to mark the anniversary of the actual museum at the end of May or early June.

• The members needed are M G Williamson; Annette Brookes; W P Hite; G W ‘Nick’ Simpson; Harry Prime; David Sills; I Grumbley; G Baker; J Fisher and M A Barker.

• If you know them please either email details to David Edwards info@marchmuseum.co.uk or contact the museum during opening hours (Wednesday and Saturday from 10.30am to 3.30pm) in person or on 01354 655300.

• The next March and District Museum Society meeting will be held in St Peter’s Church Hall on Friday March 10 at 7.30pm when Mary Dicken will be speaking on suffragettes. Admission £3, £2 for members. Refreshments included.

• The second episode of Channel 5’s The Railways that Built Britain with Chris Tarrant will feature a short item on Ben Gimbert and the Soham explosion of 1944. It will be shown on Monday, 20 February, at 9pm.