By Christine Swan As autumn draws in, I reflect on the extraordinary summer that has recently passed. Warm weather and sunshine was in abundance, which was conducive to outdoor theatre performances…

By Christine Swan When I began to publish this blog, I made the decision to tell everybody’s story, despite how unremarkable they may appear. William was my great great grandfather, so I have…

By Christine Swan I decided to visit Greenwich as my participation in Open City’s Open House Festival. My second port of call was the Old Royal Naval College, now inhabited by The University …

By Christine Swan Is there anything more elegant than a fan? A beautiful accessory to hide your blushes, and an elegant companion to cool you on a hot day. This summer, there were many hot days. La…

By Christine Swan During my recent holiday in France, I decided to revisit St Paul de Vence, a place that I last went to over a decade ago. It is not too difficult to catch the train to Cagnes Sur …

By Christine Swan In a week that saw both daytime and nighttime temperature records smashed in the UK, we need to take a long, hard look at ourselves. I make no apologies for this post appearing co…

By Christine Swan I love the theatre. I love London. Combining the two for a weekend is sheer bliss. My job is hectic and doesn’t fit into the working week. I have always had a habit of overw…

By Christine Swan I don’t often write about my day job in the blog, but I felt compelled to write down my feelings and reactions to the announcement of a ban on under sixteen year olds joinin…

By Christine Swan Sorting through papers recently, I found a form that I had completed early in my teaching career, when I was under threat of redundancy due to reorganisation. I had always believe…

By Christine Swan Reflecting on the news headline that an increasing number of young people are NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), this week, I thought about work and all that it mea…

Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.

by Christine Swan I have previously written of my great, great grandmother Mary Flood of Southwark who married William Henry Apthorp, coachsmith and wheelwright, in the grand church of St George&#8…

By Christine Swan Last weekend, the London weather was gorgeous. I decided to walk from Southwark to Kingsland Road, Hackney. Walking across London Bridge I walked along Borough High Street, past t…

By Christine Swan I have been researching my family tree for almost twenty five years. In that time, I have lost a number of close relatives, some still to painful to record in my family tree. Thro…

by Christine Swan My maternal grandfather died before I was born. When my mother became incapacitated by a stroke, I spent many hours talking over cups of tea, about old times, and the characters t…

By Christine Swan Last weekend was the beginning of a spell of good weather, which thankfully, continued into this week. Before I left for London, a bee swarm settled in my neighbour’s garden…

ALT: a man wearing sunglasses and a hat with the words we 're putting the band back together

Apply energy intensive industry relief (Supercharger scheme) to the ceramics industry to help cut soaring industrial energy costs & support ceramics businesses, which are at the risk of imminent colla...

By Christine Swan As I posted previously, I recently discovered that I had ancestral routes in the Belgian city of Antwerp. However, I wanted to discover what else the modern city had to offer. Thi…

By Christine Swan I love exploring the places where my ancestors lived and worked, and it has been a great pleasure to discover my links with the mainland. Last week, I set off for Antwerp to resea…

By Christine Swan In another time, Esther Deighton would perhaps have trained as a nurse. Throughout her life, she served others, sometimes at the very end of their lives. How do I know this, you m…