Hello Everyone

Unless you have been asleep for the past few weeks you will of course know about the Corona Virus and the effect and panic it has brought with it around the world.

At present the annual OPC meet up set for mid May in Swindon is still going ahead but of course we will take all the advice available and a decision can be made nearer the time.  Sadly some people are already cancelling and other thinking of cancelling which I fully understand but sad to hear too as it would be great to meet new faces and catch up with old acquaintances.

The whole situation has got me thinking about my own mortality (am not being morbid honest – just being practical).  I have so much information held for the website on my PC and not sure who would be able to access it all if anything should happen to me.  John Pope has access to much of the items already published.  However I need to plan for the future – I do have a back up external hard drive that holds everything so that is a plus and this is backed up on a weekly basis – but who is going to carry on the day to day admin of the site.  Who shall I will all the books and the hard drive to.  Ideally we need someone young, enthusiastic and wanting to learn more about their Wiltshire history so anyone wishing to volunteer please get in touch.  I can train you up remotely and make sure you have access to everything you need.  I am bringing my laptop etc to Swindon so I could effectively transfer everything to someone there too.   You would not need to do anything until you know for sure that I am no longer around.

In the meantime since the last BLOG not a lot as happened apart from a very dark gloomy day when  I hit the lowest of the low and felt like no-one would miss me.  FB solved that one and I am most grateful for everyone who took the time to lift me from that dark cloud.  The cloud is still grey but I know there are people out there now who will support me if I need it.

I have been working harder on the website than I had for awhile and things are slowly getting done again.  I keep asking for volunteers to assist with the backlog and admin but all good intentions etc.  We all live busy lives.

Recently Ancestry have added items from the Bristol Archives many Wiltshire items are included where boundary changes occurred moving parishes from Wiltshire into Gloucestershire.  Since there is no OPC project for Gloucestershire we will hold claim to the parishes.  In fact we have a Nationwide page too where we can add items from other areas although I wouldn’t want to see this get out of hand.

So that’s the best I can do for this edition of the BLOG – a bit dark and dismal but fingers crossed by the next BLOG all the panic will be over and we can start living normal lives.  In the meantime

Be Cautious, Be Safe But Don’t Panic