13 January 2022
Workhouse death brings on 1921 census blues
MUCH joy tempered by bouts of shock and sadness. Such is the lot of family historians everywhere. Something I can well attest to after recent foraging in the foliage of my family tree. Anyone joining this global corps of addicts soon learns that tracking down their ancestors is a long plodding journey. One beset by… Continue Reading
13 January 2022
Workhouse death brings on 1921 census blues
6 December 2021
Shock to find you’re not who you think you are
11 July 2021
Baffled by Hadrian’s Wall and a mystery postcard
27 July 2020
Lighthouse death a legacy of family’s maritime links
23 May 2020
Down to the pub for Gramp’s jug of beer
A CLICHE it maybe, but the saying that “everything old is new again” is one that has stood the test of time. As reliable as ever as each generation “discovers” something that was commonplace to their parents or grandparents. It rushed to mind as today’s papers splashed on the “innovative” ways public houses were coping… Continue Reading
Sorting through my recently discovered pack of old postcards has provoked not only memories but also an unexpected feeling of sadness for the Facebook generation. This intrusive all-seeing all-knowing app (what a ghastly truncated word) has enabled them to bombard their army of “friends” about every aspect of their lives. The postcards of the 21st… Continue Reading
1 August 2018
Idyllic times when fishing villages were all the go the Costa Brava
MEMORIES continue to be stirred as I return to flicking through those old postcards about which I wrote some time back. And this time there were none of the earlier struggles of recollection when I gazed at the next two postcards in my time-worn pile. So much to remember here. So many highs. Such a… Continue Reading
Some travels rouse a far greater depth of feeling than others. For example, a gentle meander through the chateaux and vineyards of Normandy and Burgundy could not be compared to visits made to Buchenvald, Auschwitz and Dachau. And being in battle-scarred Santiago at the time of Allende was light years away from the mere doddle… Continue Reading
22 June 2018
Postcards No.4: weekends in Beirut
On the tarmac at Beirut International Airport: a Comet 4C of MEA So, moving right along … The next postcard to take my eye among my recently discovered trove of long-lost messages home was another bog standard picture of an aircraft. This one is dressed in the livery of MEA, or Middle East Airlines, the… Continue Reading
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27 August 2020
Family history writes its own mysteries
TRACING one’s ancestors is akin to joining Poirot as he unravels the threads of an Agatha Christie mystery. Except that the little Belgian detective eventually provides acceptable answers. Not so with family history. So many detours and distractions. So many loose ends. So much that is left unexplained. Such was the case when on the… Continue Reading