Monthly Archives: April 2020

Books, Games and 34 years of Family History Teaching – Isolation Day 42

by thehistoryinterpreter

So, in the week when we saw the leader of the free world advocate drinking bleach (here is a tip – don’t) what has been going on in the bottom left hand corner of England? The days roll on but today, after two years and 80,691 words, I think I might just have ‘finished’ novel number two. Of course, ‘finished’ doesn’t actually mean finished at all. Now comes all the hard work of editing, tweaking, lurching between being quite pleased with it and thinking it is all total rubbish. It is a sense of achievement nonetheless. I have also seen the first rough ideas for the cover, which is very exciting. I will now reveal that the sub-plot involves a character undertaking genealogical research. I was heard to say that there probably wouldn’t be a novel three but I have just bought a book that might help with a germ of an idea.

I have been updating my beginners’ family history course, ready for presenting it online to a full group, organised by Crediton Library in May, which is apparently Family History Month. I am still struggling with days of the week. Please don’t expect me to remember month names, let alone special designations for those months. It was a bit of a shock to realise that I taught my first family history course thirty four years ago. Techniques and methods of accessing records have changed beyond all recognition since then. The sources and the excitement are unchanged however. My early courses were illustrated with large posters and overhead projector acetates. I advocated, purchasing International Reply Coupons (remember those) and wearing skirts in case you offended an elderly relative that you were interviewing (that was the women of course). Now I am that elderly relative! Online databases and DNA tests were the stuff of science fiction. I am not convinced that it has all been change for the better. I miss the meticulous research that has, in all too many cases, been replaced with a grab it all quick and never mind checking to see if it is plausible, let alone true, attitude. Of course, many modern researcher are scrupulous about verifying the evidence and citing sources and long may that continue. In comparison to those days in the 1980s, so much can be done from the comfort of home and with luck, reasonable trees can be built in months not decades.

On the family front, we have tried playing Monopoly online. It was not an unqualified success. To begin with, neither party had traditional Monopoly. Well I had a traditional board but couldn’t find the corresponding cards and money. So I was using the deluxe version, with renamed streets and allowances for inflation and my opponents had a superheroes Monopoly. ‘I’ve bought Thor’. ‘Where’s that?’ ‘Regent Street.’ ‘I don’t have a Regent Street’. ‘Third green one along’. It was a laugh a minute and I was swiftly bankrupted.

The garden has come on apace. We now have a fully re-instated path, well the weed inhibitor is laid but we will have to wait until replacement chippings are available. We have recycled as many old chippings as possible but the new path is longer than the old path and many of the original chippings have long since disappeared.

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I am gearing myself up for tomorrow’s #twopointsixchallenge when, in lieu of a marathon that I was never going to run, I will be doing a 26 minute workout, 26 minutes of gardening and offer 26 people the opportunity to have 2.6 hours of genealogical research in return for a donation to my chosen charity. I have not yet reached 26 takers for this so there is still time – I will give you until midnight my time on 26 April.

Stay safe – until next time.

My Own Take on the Marathon #TwoPointSixChallenge

by thehistoryinterpreter

Even with my daily dose of Joe Wicks, I shall never run the London Marathon (other marathons are also inaccessible). Many charities rely on donations from those taking part in the London Marathon, which was scheduled for 26 April but cannot now take place. In order to compensate for the loss of funds, a number of people are taking up ‘at home’ physical challenges and are seeking donations. A number of possible challenges are suggested. I can now manage a 26 minute workout without too many ill effects (thanks again Joe) and I’ll add on 26 minutes of gardening.

The idea is that the challenge should be something energetic but I thought I’d play to my strengths. Therefore I will also offer 2.6 hours of free British genealogical research (or provide a 2.6 hour consultation) for each of the first 26 people who donate to this charity and contact me before the 26th April 2020 with proof of their donation. I am not specifying the size of the donation but it would be nice if it had a 2 and a 6 in it! Bear in mind though that this is nearly 70 hours of work if 26 people respond and may take me months to do all 26. This is of course limited to what I can do from home.

The charity I have chosen is The Calvert Trust Exmoor. This is a small Devon charity who provide adventure activities and holidays for individuals and families with disabilities.

Here is Edward enjoying his time there last summer.

Calvert Trust (25)

If you go Down to the Woods (maintaining safe social distancing) – Isolation day 33

by thehistoryinterpreter

This week Edward decided that we should have a virtual Teddy Bears’ Picnic. This is a bit more involved than Peter’s request that we should all wear particular socks. Always up for a challenge we went into the garden, bashed the dust of ages off four generations worth of teddy bears and struggled to get them to sit up in the wind. We brought out plates, cups, food, drink and arranged them perfectly on an attractive daisy-strewn lawn. The occasion was snapped from all angles. We reversed the process, returning all the picnickers to their homes and various foodstuffs to the larder. It was then I realised that the memory card was not firmly in place in the camera and that I had no photos. My camera usually warns me but in the bright sun I couldn’t see the screen. The pictures may be preserved in the camera’s internal memory. I am sure I should still have the lead to connect camera to laptop. I unearthed every lead in the house but none would fit. There was nothing for it but to repeat the process once again. By this time the sun had moved round so the teddies moved to the patio. This did mean I could prop some of the wobbliest of their number up against a wall and Lovely Boy could toast invisible marshmallows, courtesy of part of our C17th kit. I won’t apologise for Gladly (the cross-eyed bear)’s inebriated state, at 95 I feel she can be excused! No social distancing as they are all from the same household. This is just a selection of the many photographs. Edward was thrilled that so many people joined in.

Lovely Boy toasts an invisible marshmallow
Gladly, aged 95, a little worse for wear

A request went out on Facebook for a picture of a dusty stone demi-john to use in a film shoot. Well my house is full of random stuff, so I was able to oblige, complete with an impressive amount of antique dust (I am pretty sure this hadn’t been dusted since before Christmas). I am now using that as an excuse, ‘of course I can’t possibly dust any of my possessions in case anyone wants to use them in a photo shoot’.

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In other matters, the zooming continues. Last night our local history group took the meeting online. Considering we were all still familiarising ourselves with the technology, it went quite well. The added advantage was that two members who did not live locally, one from Hampshire and one from New Zealand, were able to attend, even though it was 6am in New Zealand.

The latest gardening project is reinstating the gravel path that had becoming overgrown. This involves hand picking the stones from a mat of grass roots and weeds. This is startlingly reminiscent of the kind of tasks that might be required of workhouse residents in the past. It might be preferable to picking oakum but it is a close run thing.

On the subject of gardening, remember that family tree that I pruned a couple of weeks ago? Well, after careful reassessment, I have reinstated 9x great granddad. 9x great granny has been exchanged for a more plausible alternative (one who wasn’t dead when her child was born).

The novel is nearing completion. Hopefully, next time I post, I will be able to report that it is finished. If I am not distracted by gardening, zooming and piano playing of course (don’t mention the Cornish). A clue? You are welcome – the historical thread is set firmly in Mistress Agnes’ era, from the 1640s-1680s. The full list of clues revealed so far can be found here.

Zooming About – Isolation Day 29

by thehistoryinterpreter

There has not been a post for a while because, let’s face it, one day is pretty much like another. Day whatever it is (29 apparently) of staying at home and I am beginning to wonder how I ever found time to go out. Thankfully, I am gradually finding that I am getting a few things done now but I do still have 52 things on my ‘before the end of April’ list (like that’s going to happen). Sadly, there are a few more that haven’t even made it to the list.

So, what have I been up to since we last met? I have joined in with the millions (literally) around the world who do daily PE with Joe Wicks. Not for me the namby-pamby seniors’ workouts, oh no, this is the full on half an hour school PE session. Yes, I am probably certifiable. I should explain that, although we do walk a fair bit on holiday, I am not really an exercise sort of a person. I have never been to a gym, or for a run [edit – I have been reminded that once a year for getting on for twenty years, I have indeed run 5k as part of Race for Life – for which I have done zero training] and my idea of a successful school PE lesson was to hide my kit sufficiently well to be told to tidy the PE store. After day three of the enthusiastic Joe I could barely move. I persevered. I can now grit my teeth, get to the end and not feel any adverse effects. I am treating this a bit like essential medicine. Genetics mean that I am already at higher than average risk were I to catch COVID-19, so I really do owe it to myself to try and put my slightly dodgy heart and my lungs in the best possible shape in case I do succumb. I do still feel like the whole thing is a bit of a penance though.

Zoom has taken over my life. There were several meetings last week, including chatting to nearly 100 genealogists, predominantly from Australia and New Zealand and writers’ group get togethers. Having climbed the Zoom learning curve, I have now arranged to take two sets of regular family/local history meetings online and organised a virtual two day one-name society reunion for May. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The garden has been duly attacked. Of the ancient seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago, only one sort has germinated. I now have a glut of woad. Hmm, that will come in useful if we are inside long enough to run out of clothes. Actually, outgrowing them is probably more likely, despite Joe. Some new flowers and veg seeds have also been planted. I don’t really have sufficient room but fingers crossed. The trees are coming into blossom and there are blue tits (one of whom thinks it is a woodpecker – long story) and sparrows in the nesting boxes. It is a positive aspect of being at home that I can see the garden at the nicest time of year.

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We had another family sock wearing meet up, lobsters .v. Amelia Earhart and the grandchildren have been showing me their Easter gifts. One of our number had to confess to not having his socks accessible but we managed to include him using the wonders of technology. It is surprisingly difficult to photograph your own feet – especially when they are hovering in front of a laptop.

The NHS clapping in our village gets louder each week. This week I broke out the replica C17th drum in order to join in.

Drum

The piano is progressing, the Cornish not so much. I have very very very nearly finished novel number two. I estimate there will be about another 2000 words to go. Then for the edits. Today’s clue is that it includes the (true) story of an errant clergyman with a chequered past.

Happy Easter!

Pruning the Family Tree and other adventures – Day 19

by thehistoryinterpreter

I, like many others in these strange times, am finding it difficult to concentrate, least of all on what I should be doing. After a couple of totally unproductive days. I revisited a branch of my family tree that has been virtually untouched for over forty years. Before you scoff, bear in mind how difficult research was then. No digital images, no indexes, just trawling through page after page of original parish registers in archives. In fact, much of this was done by another trusted researcher. It is only now that I have got around to going over the earlier generations and verifying the information. Or in this case not verifying it. I come from a long line of Bishops. Not actual bishops you understand but people with the surname Bishop. This included four successive generations of chaps called Christopher.

It seems that the original researcher was pretty hot on baptisms and marriages. She also spent ages doing in-depth research in churchwardens’ and overseers’ accounts in which they feature, all good stuff. What she failed to do was to attempt to kill these guys off. First, I discover that the lady who held the distinction of being 9x great granny, Annes (or Agnes) Maddick, died before alleged 8x great granddad was born. Cue the substitution of Jane Thorne, second wife of 9x great granddad Christopher Bishop I, in the role of 9x great granny. Oh hang on, here was a burial of a Christopher Bishop just two weeks after the supposed baptism of 8x great granddad Christopher Bishop II. Clearly ‘my’ Christopher Bishop, who married Mary Bowman and went on to have yet another Christopher (lacking in imagination these Bishops), was not only not the son of Christopher and Annes but not the son of Christopher and Jane either. In the absence of probate material for Devon, I doubt if I will ever be able to be conclusive about my 9x great-grandparents on this line but never mind, I’d rather have a shorter tree that was accurate.

I have also undertaken the biannual excavation of the flies’ graveyard that is the shelf round my conservatory where the ‘walls’ join the roof. This involves much precarious balancing on window sills and is not to be recommended. Said shelf contains many historic ornaments, all of which have to be taken down and wiped in order to remove the fly pooh. What is it about flies and conservatories? The warmth I suppose. I maintain that I leave the cobwebs there (and believe me there are plenty of those) for six months in order to catch the flies. Are you convinced?

After over a week of ‘block’, I have just written some more of novel number two. Still scheduled for launch in August, even if it can only be a virtual launch of a digital version at first. It is so nearly finished. Probably about 4000-5000 words left to write. Today’s clue. Although the characters in the modern strand inhabit a rather different version of 2020, there are references to COVID-19.

Oh and the Cornish? Still not got beyond dydh da I’m afraid but a helpful book arrived in the post today.

And a pretty sunrise from my bedroom window (December 2017), just because I can.

19 Dec 2017 1 (2)