Tag Archives: genealogy courses

A Week in the Life of an Everyday Historian

by thehistoryinterpreter

Lots of family history bits and pieces on the agenda lately. My article on Surviving the Seventeenth Century has appeared in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine – full of handy tips about how not to die from the various hazards that beset our seventeenth century ancestors. I’ve chatted to Radio Devon about family history. You can catch this here at about one hour ten minutes in. I’ve helped to set up a VE Day commemorations exhibition. I’ve written up and published the story of my father’s wartime experiences, which you could read here. It is a bit of a different account as he started the war by continuing in his civilian job as a cinema operator. He worked for the small south London Granada chain and as luck would have it, Guy Morgan wrote a history of that chain in 1948. This book now retails for silly money but I borrowed it from the library twenty five years ago and it was just what I needed to understand what my dad was up to. Then he joined the RAF Regiment, serving in southern Italy and Sicily. Towards the end of the war he was one of the RAF personnel who was transferred to the army and he peeled a lot of potatoes in Ireland. Then he agreed to sign on for a further term of service, this time attached to ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association). In this capacity, he returned to Italy as a cinema operator. If you are interested in writing family stories my Are you Sitting Comfortably?: writing and telling your family history course starts this month. It is online so you can join in from anywhere.

I’ve got ready for this weekend’s one-name family reunion, as the Braund clan make their annual pilgrimage to North Devon. I’ve done lots of behind the scenes preparation for next year’s residential family history conference in North Devon, with a few more speakers announced and more lined up to reveal. It is going to be a great weekend in such a beautiful part of the world. I’ve taken advantage of said beautiful part of the world with early morning walks. Now I really do need to unearth the hoover.

Of all Things New: presentations, courses, books and more

by thehistoryinterpreter

New year, new things on the horizon. Here is just a selection. Last week I spent a very interesting day at the headquarters of Family Tree Magazine, filming two presentations for their downloadable content. Despite the fact that I am used to presenting, it is actually very difficult to talk for nearly an hour (x2) with no audience participation, no hesitation, deviation, umms and ahhs, coughs, pauses to swig gin etc.. The presentations will be available in a month or two. One is on tracing twentieth century English ancestry and the other on pauper ancestors.

Whilst on the subject of Twentieth Century ancestry, my online course for Pharos begins in a couple of weeks and is filling up fast, book now to avoid disappointment and all that. I am also preparing two new online courses, which will be available through Pharos. There will be an introductory one-place studies course, which will begin in September (ok, so that isn’t written yet either). The previous course, run by Celia Heritage, is no longer available, as Celia has other commitments. This one will be a brand new; I have deliberately not looked at Celia’s version. A course to help those tracing Agricultural Labouring Ancestors is planned for 2021. I also have a new presentation on the same topic, Sons of the Soil, which will premiere at Dorset Family History Day  in March. Err, no, that isn’t written yet either.

Back to one-place studies for a minute. Putting your Ancestors in their Place is now very nearly out of print. I am preparing a new booklet, which will have a rather different approach and a more international feel. It will also be available for Kindle, which I hope will be popular. With luck, that may be ready for THE Genealogy Show in June and yes, you’ve guessed it, not actually written yet. Add to this the book that I may need to write in connection with the job I must not mention and there are no prizes for guessing what I shall be doing over the next few months.

Deepest Darkest Devon

And now for something completely different, something that is actually written! Hurrah! Exeter Authors Association of which I am very much an inactive member, have produced an anthology of short stories with a Devonian slant, Tales of Deepest Darkest Devon. I am not by nature a short story writer but one of mine (ok the only one of mine) Brought to Book is in that collection. If you enjoyed Barefoot it is similar in style and based on a true story that took place in Devon in the 1820s and 1830s. You also get to read all the varied and fascinating contributions by other local authors. Priced at £4.99, it is due for publication on 31 March and is currently available in Kindle format only. It can be pre-ordered now here. Part of the proceeds will be donated to Devon Air Ambulance Trust.

My next novel is due to be launched on 29th August, ok, so there is the small matter of a third of it still to be written (have you spotted a theme here?) – that’s a mere detail. Advance notice that I will not be creating a millstone round my neck and writing 100 blog entries about the characters and locations as I did for Barefoot but I will be drip-feeding some hints and teasers in my blog posts in the meantime. #1 It is, like Barefoot, based on a true story. So, stand by, there will be more and a title reveal is imminent (when I have decided what it is to be that is!).

Whilst I look forward to these excitements, my thoughts are with my many Australian friends and the appalling fires that are currently threatening their homes and families. On a more positive note, it is exciting to see that several of my favourite genealogy presenters will be participating in Family History Down-under in March 2021. I think that it is very unlikely that I will be able to attend but if you live nearer than half a world away (or even if you don’t) this is going to be a major event on the genealogy calendar.

And in an Historical Household this Week….

by thehistoryinterpreter

Just to prove that my family have been busy training up the next generation and putting my booklet Harnessing the Facebook Generation: ideas for involving young people in family history and heritage into practice, Edward, aged nearly 3, has been investigating social history. He told his mother very seriously, ‘In the olden days they ate porridge.’ In the world according to Edward we now live in ‘newen days’ – got to love the logic.

I spent a lovely morning with my authors’ group, chatting about choosing titles and other book related gossip. We hope that we will soon be able to announce an exciting ‘writers in residence’ event for our group, in a stunning and inspirational location. All we can say at present is, if you would like to come and chat to us about our work, keep part of 29 April – 1 May free. Edward again, ‘Where have you been Granny?’. Me: ‘I’ve been talking to my friends who write books’. ‘I’d reeeely reeeely like to read those Granny’! That’s my boy! His cousins are just as keen on books, although, to be fair, the youngest tends to regard them as a dietary supplement.

#Daisy is actually making progress. You have no idea how long it takes to work out the state of the tide in relation to a newspaper account of a shipwreck. You’ve no idea but I can tell you that the answer is all afternoon, even with the expertise of a fisherman of my acquaintance. At 4.30am one morning inspiration struck and the blurb for #Daisy popped into my head almost fully formed. Even I am not up at 4.30am so I scrabbled for something upon which to write these beautifully crafted sentences before they slipped into oblivion. It is surprising how much you can scribble in the margins of a TV paper. As a bonus I could even read most of it afterwards, no mean feat with my handwriting.

ivy-and-gwenFamily history has led to fun tracing World War 1 Red Cross volunteers, oh and spending a small fortune on an online auction site acquiring a related medal. I’ve also enjoyed immersing myself in plague and pestilence, partly to revamp our Swords and Spindles history of medicine revision session and also to work on my new Pharos course In Sickness and in Death: researching the ill-health and deaths of our ancestors. I am looking forward to the start of Discovering your British Family and Local Community in the Early Twentieth Century on Tuesday – still time to sign up if you are interested. It is an online course so no excuses. In celebration this post includes one of my favourite family photos from the time.

The weather is taking a chilly turn so the garden bird feeding regime has been stepped up a notch. I am also still ploughing my way through the post-Christmas visitor laundry pile. My only method of drying laundry is to hang it on a washing line outside. Well fed birds and a line full of washing are not the greatest combination methinks, as I scrub away at the after effects of a very large flock of starlings.