An Irish Odyssey – Part 1: The Lusitania
On 9 April 2025, three of us, George, Kevin and me, were in Ireland; George is a native Irishman, Kevin, a passport holder, and me, a Brit, without a red corpuscle of Irish blood,...
Bristol and The Haka – 1917
I hazard a guess the first time any Bristolian had ever seen the Haka was on Saturday the 29 December 1917. The Haka is synonymous as a precursor to rugby matches involving the New...
More of the Peters family story
The history of Jimmy Peters, the first black man to play Rugby Union for England, and the sketchy life of his father George is told in a previous blog. In this post, I return...
A Brislington Autograph Book, 1916
Through the magic of the internet assisted by the mention of Brislington on this blog, I was recently contacted by Carol Gordon of Bolton, Lancashire. A while ago Carol bought a tiny autograph book,...
Index of names: Brislington’s & St Anne’s “We shall remember them”.
I had a few people who enquired whether I might add an index to “We Shall Remember Them” book so they could easily track down their Brislington and St Anne’s ancestor in World war...
I love synchronicity – how I ended up owning a Lysaght’s plaque
I love synchronicity. The story of how I was given my treasured drawing of the Five Collier Boys was at that very moment in preparation and not quite ready to go up on the...
“ZULU CHIEF DIES A SOLDIER’S DEATH” – Buried at Arno’s Vale
“With military honours, a Zulu Chief who served with the South African Labour Battalion was buried at Arno’s Vale on Saturday. His name was Private Mrogoy Modlala (sic) who died at Southmead War Hospital...
“We shall remember them” : Brislington and St Anne’s in the Great War 1914-1919
If you attend church on Remembrance Sunday it is quite likely you will hear the names of the local War Dead read aloud by a member of the congregation. St Luke’s, Brislington is no...
