Well here in the UK we are heading into Summer so logic says that our members in the Southern Hemisphere will be heading into Winter. From Facebook group posts it seems we can welcome a few of you from Australia, New Zealand and the United States to the islands we call home. At this point I would remind everyone planning to visit churchyards, churches and places that mean a lot to you family history wise to be careful and stay safe. Please check our Field Trip Essentials Guidance Notes
On the subject of field visits John Pope often visits Wiltshire and has visited many churches and churchyards around the county. He has now added all his photographs from previous trips to galleries on the website. He has also created many interesting documents from information gleaned from his visits to churches, he often creates lists of memorial inscriptions from wall plaques and transcribes list of clergy and other church officials to be included on the parish pages. I believe John is planning another trip to Wiltshire in June so no doubt more photographs and documents will be added to the site.
Sadly this year there will be no OPC get together. Maybe next year we can arrange something and as usual anyone can join us. So keep an eye open on the home page of the website for details and of course on our Facebook Page.
Funding for the website is still healthy and donations are still being made by grateful users and supporters. A huge thank you to all who have helped keep the website going – all donations are used to maintain the website and keep it online. No “wages” are paid to OPCs we are all volunteers and there is always room and a big welcome waiting for new volunteers so if you feel you can contribute in someway whether as an OPC, transcriber or task holder then get in touch with the co-ordinator via the contact us menu on the website for more information.
Since January we have had a few new volunteers join us as OPC’s and we welcome them to the team and look forward to their contribution. We also have a new admin volunteer so once she has settled in between us all we can look forward to the site continuing to thrive and more items uploaded. The census project is still continuing with a small band of volunteers working on that. We have lots of items that need transcribing though so new items are being added almost daily. Also the pages on the website are always undergoing housekeeping, tidying the layout and sometimes combining items or removing duplicated information. For some reason the song Never Ending Story comes to mind.
On a personal level my health seems to be improving at one point I was really worried that I would not be able to continue working on the website as much as I do but I think I am good for a for more years yet. I have managed a couple of mini trips too – Mid March I travelled to Sunderland to stay with family. It was just a change of scenery and I did not get out and about as I would have liked. Last weekend was a bit of a different story. My friend and I had a weekend in Glasgow, we booked two nights in an Ibis Hotel and one night in a Premier Inn, what a difference in budget hotels. I won’t say which was the better value. The reason for our weekend in the City even though we are only a 35 minute train journey away was that we had booked to see The Jersey Notes (Frankie Valli tribute act) on Friday night and from past experience decided a stay over was the best option. The band was entertaining and worth the effort. Saturday we decided to do the City Open Top Bus Tour (great experience), we did a full 90 minute circuit and decided to go around again this time alighting at the Transport Museum (well worth a visit) and times it well as there was a classic car display. I might add the weather was really good to us. After this we got back on the bus and headed for Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, besides the amazing architecture of the building itself, the exhibits inside are quite amazing. Being a fan of Charles Rennie MacIntosh it made my day actually seeing some of his designs up close and I was not disappointed. So far so good apart from the feet beginning to say enough, but I was determined to head to the Art Gallery as in the guide it said there were two Monet Paintings on display (yay MacIntosh and Monet in one day), of we toddle (well almost a crawl) to the French Gallery, the paper guide did not indicate where in the gallery the two Monet’s were hung so we took the route to the right and started to scan and appreciate the offerings on the walls, Pissarro, Manet, Gauguin, Matisse, many others as we wandered on, almost at the end now the last wall (I know what you are thinking I am going to say that the Monet’s were right at the end – Nooooooooooo!!!!!!). Every painting looked at not a Monet amongst them, checked the paper guide – yes two Monet’s are displayed. My friend did a quick circuit again to check whilst I headed to the little girls room. On my return my friend is sat on a bench with what I would say was a frustrated look on her face. She had managed to find a human guide and asked – “Where are the Monet’s please” – “Japan” replied the guide. Well they could have put up a notice saying that couldn’t they. I know that museums share their collections but please update the paper guides if only to save my poor aching feet. Still the day was good and I saw lots of things I hadn’t before. Later we had a meal and a few drinks and headed back tot he hotel for a well earned sleep.
On the Sunday it was time to move to the second hotel – the weather was what we in Scotland call Dreich (a bit like this blog post some of you maybe thinking). Our room was not ready (we were very early) so dropped our bags off and headed onto the streets to do a bit of shopping and get lunch, a very nice Italian. Returned to the hotel to prepare for the main reason for the trip. We had tickets to see The Mavericks – Oh my what good value for money that was, well worth the trek up a couple of flights of stairs for our well appointed seats. Monday it was back home to catch up on all the website stuff I had neglected – sorry but it was the Mavericks.
I am now taking it easy trip wise until July when I am off to see Giovanni Pernice and Anton du Beke strut their stuff.
In the meantime I will get my transcribing and uploading cap on and concentrate on the website.
