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mightygwyn

@mightygwyn.bsky.social
1.6K followers 239 following 765 posts

@DrillHalls elsewhere The Vosges and Alsace in occupation and wartime: thebluelinefrontier.com ~~~ A few snaps on www.mightygwyn.eu ~~~

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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 19m
My mum often played the organ for our town's Remembrance service. When I think of the thought, time and sensitivity which she put into preparing so that her music could create the appropriate atmosphere, this sort of stuff makes me really upset. It's so shallow, so cheap, so unthinking, so maudlin.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 40m
What a beautiful piece of stone cutting. The font is so well mannered and elegant. Whilst in the Cathedral, did you see the plaque and the window to Ivor Gurney?
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
I'm fundamentally conscientious. My lovely kind friend was honest too. We were used to her phoning in & saying she would be late because she had to rescue a pigeon / bird cat had chased under floorboards / wounded mouse... To be truthful, we got a bit tired of doing her job on behalf of a pigeon.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
... but I said they didn't know how many guests had been taken in. Google shows that there are many of these hotel reservation scams & all are very convincing. They often use WhatsApp because it takes interactions off platform. Even if it slows us down, it's so important to be super cautious.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
The hotel also uses a booking platform. It sounds possible that a security slip has given scammers access to the hotel's reservations data. The msg was very convincing but I was wary because it came via WhatsApp.The hotel said I was alone in reporting this, maybe a problem my end, ... /2
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Last week I had a WhatsApp msg purporting to be from an hotel with which I have a booking. My name, dates & mobile no were correct. I was to confirm immediately or lose dates. I didn't. Suspicious, I phoned the hotel. It hadn't come from them. I had booked by phone, not via an online platform. 1/
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
If anyone contributes any more information I’ll pass it on. I wonder why the top was detached from the base, which is where the interesting information would have been. Maybe it’s still in the junk shop!
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
I think this will help you, Matt. (Scroll) It was contributed by a member of a Macclesfield history forum. I won't name her on a public platform but I'll send you the information. This is Bollington, near Macclesfield. www.bollingtonparisharchives.co.uk/pages/WW1_ho...
bollingtonparisharchives.co.uk
War Memorial Home
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Aaagh. A previous cat used to bring back baby rabbits which usually dived into the nearest dark place which was under the boiler, right at the very back. The dilemma was either going to work and coming home to a massacre or phoning in with an invented excuse.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I've sent you a private message. I'll see what I can do.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
I could post your image on a local FB page if you like.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
There are two Bollingtons in this part of Cheshire. One is near Macclesfield and the other is near Dunham.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
She is gorgeous, though. Those eyes… One of ours had a speciality of bringing in live mice and chasing them under the piano, then losing interest and wandering off. There’s nothing quite like swishing around in a long skirt knowing there’s a live mouse within a metre of your legs.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I’m sorry. We had to have one of our cats aged 16 euthanised recently as he was very poorly. His sister became very clingy, but we have become close substitutes, giving her plenty of fuss and she has adjusted happily. They are indoor cats so she has never been able to go searching for him outside.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Conversations with teens (usually girls) at the salon backwash have shown me that they are indeed interested provided that someone has inspired them, & they want to return to battlefields with time to do it their way. Condemning swathes of young people bcause they don't respond like boomers is lazy.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This super piece confirmed what I've tried to say to other people who have homed in on the supposed uninterest in 20c wars by young people who allegedly know nothing anymore,& the move of the Ashcroft collection (tragic, cutting off nose, etc) which I would never have visited. Thank you for sharing.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
What a gorgeous kitty!
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Oh, I am so sorry. I feel for you. Saying goodbye to an animal companion is impossibly painful.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Yes, the guy walking out of the image is disturbing and unsettling. It underlines a hostile feel whereas the portrait version is a contrast between two scenes in one.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
So do I. oll-mond. I am also a northerner. My spouse says ar-mund but his mum was a southerner.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I must add, though, congratulations on getting to the point where you're ready to publish 400 pages on your current subject. That's a major achievement!
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The focus tends to be on font size, white space etc & rightly so, but if the physical size of a book is a deterrent, it is a barrier to a potential reader before she has even opened it. Hand & muscle problems mean weight has a real impact. Book pillows or beanbags are available but space consuming.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
As someone who has hand problems and finds it painful to hold a normal sized paperback novel, I wouldn’t be able to hold a 400 page book. For example, I can’t physically manage Wolf Hall. If possible, two volumes are more accessible. They’re also easier for the reader to cross-refer.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Your mum, the midwife, was a special woman. She brought lives into the world partly to counter a huge, lifelong loss in her own. I hope you'll be able to be peaceful with your new-found knowledge in due course.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
What a story. The phrase 'tragedy magnet' is spot on and what you say about stories drifting is so true. I felt slightly similar when I found the inquest report of my mum's 17 yr old brother, who was killed in an accident on the farm. The death certificate was horrific & I hope my mum never saw it.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Wow. The first time I heard stags bellowing close up, I was scared. It sounds supernatural and eerie. (Other deer noises such as the barking are also spooky in the dark). The stag to the right of your film is impressively large.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I had that when I bought an image tank from a shop in Berlin but not as interesting as yours. Someone evidently returned it without telling them it had been used. So instead of my photos of Berlin I got strangers grinning in tourist haunts & my own pics were reduced to thumbnails, effectively lost.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I have never had any problems with GMX. I have had an account with them for over 25 years.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The audience must have been traumatised for life. One goes to the circus to see magic, not murder. Do you know whether the bear's victim survived?
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
And on this day also, Cromwell died
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
@bumblebeetrust.bsky.social Member here. Can you help, please?
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
One thing has come back to me. The family took pleasure in seeing pale, possibly undernourished children beginning to get colour back in their faces, beginning to relax and increasingly more energetic. This was from my mum’s memories.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Well ... they are probably spending hours and hours on Porsche social media pages agonising about whether to have yellow callipers, or red, or acid green.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Unfortunately not. I have some much older cousins who might remember what their parents told them, so I ought to ask before it's too late. I can also ask on local history social media. This was Cheshire. I'm afraid I've been more interested in my Welsh family caring for a German Jewish refugee girl.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
I would love to come across records of names and especially to hear or read any first hand recollections of their evacuation to the farm.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
My family were farmers and had several evacuees at any one time. My grandfather welcomed their mums to come and stay on the farm whenever they wished. He also ensured that the women went home with some fresh produce. I believe some stayed in contact after the war.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
We have an oldish TT. I usually drive an oldish Captur. Compared that with the TT it's really noticeable that some other drivers experience a TT effect which means that they feel the need to prove they can drive fast & aggressively. Guys, I don't care whether you can go faster than the TT. Grow up.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I intended to share this on 25th August. Le Trou d'enfer, the Hell Hole. Le Col de la Chipotte, 1914. thebluelinefrontier.com/2014/08/25/l...
Le Col de la Chipotte, oblong stone memorial (1919) to Chasseurs, stone military figure in front as part of the monument. Surrounded by trees. Empty road passes it with single woman contemplating the memorial, her bicycle lying on the verge close by.Photo of memorial taken in September 2012, road adjacent. Text on memorial is: 
Aux Chasseurs de la 86e Brigade 
Morts pour la Patrie
Août Septembre 1914
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
That's good to know. I just wanted to show that you hadn't gone unheard.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Do you have someone you can talk to if you need to?
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Juvenile graduates talk grandly in terms of asserting yourself, networking opportunities, prestige, salary increases, etc etc. We don't see it like that. It's about becoming a more thoughtful manager, having the knowledge & skills to respect colleagues' abilities & needs, enabling others to shine.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The equivalent fee for spouse's MBA is £21500. Without his company sponsorship, it would have been unaffordable. The promotional stuff focuses on the difference the MBA will make to your future earnings, but I think what is more important is personal: self-belief, open-mindedness, sensitivity, etc.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
debt or jobs during university term time. Today’s young people often can’t even find temp work.Their choices of degree subject are maligned & disparaged. They’re criticised for choosing a subject because it’s interesting or they enjoy it rather than bc it leads to £££. We left school with hope. Now?
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Indeed. I still remember a friend from the boys’ grammar school looking at my little card with my A and S level results & asking incredulously, “Are those yours?” !! Then I returned to my holiday job filing invoices for machine bearings. We could get holiday jobs then, so we didn’t need to take on …
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
And me! I was asleep (I don’t sleep well atm). And when I worked out what it was & found the warning, it was in Welsh. Probably because we’re near Wales. The ‘English’ button didn’t work. My Welsh isn’t good enough to understand a serious national warning. I’ve felt anxious all evening.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
I think Wuthering Heights is easier read than listened to. You can pause or flick back in a physical book. The family tree helps. Apposite reference as it’s been The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever this week!
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
When the fields across the road are planted with oilseed rape, our experience is that oilseed rape honey crystallises & solidifies very quickly and is a total pain to extract from the comb. You have to try and extract it while it’s still new. I also dislike the taste.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
It is indeed valuable for insects, but as beekeepers we rather hope our bees don’t find much of it because I believe the honey is very bitter.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
I agree! The ‘they were all innocents and heroes’ myth is tiresomely pervasive.
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mightygwyn @mightygwyn.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Is someone proposing something to help with the inflamed disk? I’m sorry about your mum’s knee. It sounds painful and immobilising.
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