“Going to Barbados” (a euphemism for being “under the influence”.) Benjamin Franklin, 1737. (attrib.) [1] “Barbados is the other place where I like to be.” Cliff Richard. Introduction This is the sequel to “Pamela...
On 12th May 1850 when a baby girl was baptised at a small village in Somerset called Queen Charlton, her first name may have caused a slight flutter of interest, as it did to...
Only a few days back from Charmouth in Dorset, so I’m still demob-happy, not yet ready to contemplate the list of historical ideas I’ve got for future blogs in the dark days and long...
Today, 7 August 2023, I made five pots of Strawberry Jam in the Jam Pan. My young man grows fruit at the allotment but don’t worry if you don’t do the same. Strawberries are...
As my small band of followers will know I have a family connection with Outer Space. Way back in the days of yore I was idling through the Brislington parish registers when I spotted...
On 23 March 1958 Buddy Holly and the Crickets played at Bristol’s Colston Hall. I had a ticket but nobody to go with. I was in the doldrums, and it was a Sunday. I...
9 May 1943, something was up, my cousin Joyce Comley arrived “to mind me”. She was sixteen and very grand. Children then were supposed to be “seen and not heard” which didn’t suit me...
Tuesday June 2nd, 1953, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. I was 16, pleased to get the day off school, [five years of misery], and shortly due to start work at J.S. Fry &...
12.5.1937, one month before I was born. Very few men, except for those in drag; women in pinnies; numerous kids….…. Do you recognise anyone? First posted in https://bristolfamilyhistoryblog.wordpress.com/2015/06/16 Thanks to Dorothy Acford.
This is old news, but I’m sad to see that Zahringer’s in Kingswood closed in 2022. When I lived in Kingswood from 1937-1966, Mum and Dad always took our clocks and watches there to...
I have been researching the social history of the West Country for 45 years. During this time I have collated information on a wide range of people living and working in the West Country including miners, ethnic minorities, petty criminals, sailors, tommies, benefactors, brassmakers and many more. The thing that I find amazing is that ordinary people always lived extraordinary lives. I hope you like my blog that brings together my lifetime of research.
The Great Laxey Wheel & the Miners of Laxey and Snaefell
18 August 2025
An Irish Odyssey – Part 1: The Lusitania
25 June 2025
