Just getting a quick update in before the festive and reflective periods start.   We have Halloween in just a few days.  November brings Remembrance Day and of course we don’t need to be reminded of what is happening in December.  I admit to being a total Christmas obsessive and have been watching the Christmas films on UK channel 52 since September (I can feel you all cringing at the thought).

Halloween is upon us and no doubt there will be many scarecrow trails, pumpkin carving competitions and other scary and spooky activities happening all over the county if anyone wants to submit some photos or programme events please get in touch 

Hopefully I will get around to an updated blog entry before the Christmas holiday.

This year I am re-introducing the Christmas Quiz – this will be published on the website on the 1st December and will be open for entries until 31st December 2023 – The winning entry will receive a small prize for their efforts.  The theme this year is Wiltshire connections to film, music, tv and celebrity. (No googling – as if  LOL)

Next is that after all the upheaval caused by Covid and bouts of ill health on my part – I finally got time to check with all the OPC’s and Task Holders to see if they wished to remain with the project.  Only one person actually responded that they wished to resign.  This was due to  commitments changing and we wish them well in their new enterprise and thank them for their interest and contribution.  3 were unable to be contacted and 16  did not respond.  These people have been removed from their roles but if they respond in the future then we will be happy to re-instate them.  I sincerely hope that each and everyone of them are in good health and again we thank them for their contribution.  Good news we still have 45 volunteers covering parishes or pages.  At this point if anyone would like to join the team then please get in touch with Teresa Lewis via the contact us option from the home page.  We all work at our own pace and your commitment doesn’t have to be intense – just a few minutes can make a difference. 

In other news – the fund is healthy – meaning we can keep the website running for the foreseeable future.   I had a clear out of our books recently and found we had several duplicates.  I advertised these on our Facebook Page and am happy to say that 5 of the list have been re-homed for a small donation to the website fund.  We still have a few left which if there are no takers I will put up on e-bay at some point.   We have over a thousand books, CDs and pamphlets that we can use for source material and look ups.   OPCs and transcribers have added over 27800 items on parish and information pages.  New items are being added almost on a daily basis.  We also have over 300 photo galleries on the website, these include church exterior and interior images, headstones in churchyards and cemeteries, Buildings of interest, people, war memorials etc.  All may be accessed on the relevant parish pages.

At present Martin Barrett has been updating the Military Page.  The new page will be launched over the next few weeks.   Am quite excited to see what the new page will look like as Martin has added quite a few new bits and pieces but I haven’t seen the finished results yet. 

So until my next update – please enjoy the website and the upcoming festivities and don’t forget our motto “What is of interest to you or not will no doubt be of interest to others.”