Thursday, October 17, 2013

Reworking the military men pages

I know this is not one of the things I said I was going to be working on but I've reworked the military men pages a wee bit. Previously I had these lists split into WWI, WWII, and Other. The Other list was getting a little bit long though, so I've split that into 19th century, 20th century and Other.

The Naval servicemen within them have been spruced up, so to speak. Their date of service has been corrected (the revised catalogue entries at The National Archives make it clear that I had noted their birth year, rather than service year, so I've fixed this - I haven't paid to get copies of their actual records though so the service date is just an indication to the year they joined up I think, not their full service), five more Naval men have been added and the link to the Naval records at The National Archives was updated. I've also added a recipient of merchant marine war medals.

The war memorial page has been updated following the unveiling of the fully restored war memorial in November 2012. The page now includes two new photos of the restored memorial, along with expanded text about the memorial.

I've also updated the photos of the Evelyn Close plaques, now larger and without rain splatters!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

I came, I saw, I photographed

Hi everyone! I'm back from my trip to the UK and more importantly my visit to Wing!

I'm going to try really really hard to finish a couple of outstanding projects (like the farms projects and the 1910 valuation books) and get those up on the website for you. You can also expect to see some things coming out of my visit – however those 735 photos I took in Wing (eeek) won’t transcribe and arrange themselves onto webpages all by themselves so that'll be happening gradually. However I am going to try to let go of that perfectionist streak and upload a little but often, rather than waiting for a particular research project to be completely finished.

Apologies to those of you I wasn't able to meet up with while in the area. I did manage to fit in a visit to Heather who showed me round her charming several-hundred-year-old house in Wing, complete with bowed floors and ceilings, and doors formerly installed in All Saints Church. One Wing resident I had previously corresponded with was Vic Sirett and I was very sorry to learn he had passed away earlier this year – farewell, Vic.

For those looking for accommodation in the Wing area I stayed at Ivy Cottage Annex, a self-contained converted building in Burcott. This meant I could walk throughout Wing so was perfect for my needs, and was in a lovely rural setting with a neighbouring listed building (Ivy Cottage) to boot! My hosts Siewlin and Ed’s daughter Fei Yen Ashton Waller is a talented artist who has sketched various buildings in Wing, and you can see an example of her work below. Another local accommodation option is Wingbury Courtyard Business Village B&B (formerly Upper Wingbury Farm), however this is further out from Wing towards Wingrave.

Houses off High Street Wing by Fei Yen Ashton Waller
Houses off High Street Wing by Fei Yen Ashton Waller

 
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