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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Current highlight of week off: Ellen Terry's cat basket

Shingle beach with a hut on it (black timber walls and red roof). Beyond the hut is the sea. Beyond the stretch of sea is a nuclear power plant.

Ellen Terry's cat basket on a chair. Made out of wicker with a suspiciously loose lid.

Concrete pill box with a doorway looking onto flat marshland. A red roofed house is in the distance.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Dinner time agitation has begun...

Half a cat peering round a door frame, sitting near a bit of floor where a food bowl should apparently be.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

18th century name of the week: Essex Gunman (widow)

Two entries from Dover parish registers:
1749: baptism of Christopher, son of Christopher and Essex Gunman.
1788: burial of Essex Gunman, widow.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Extra and unexpected guest at the Works Pub Trip

Murphy the Old Windmill cat curled up on a chair.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Having plumbing work done and the cat's coping mechanism is currently to inhale catnip in fish form and then vigorously wash her arse. I'm just drinking tea.

Cat picking her toes behind a chair after harassing a catnip fish.

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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Some of the most powerful talks in our conference 'Blood is the Price of Coal' looked at coalfield communities after the pits had closed These and more can be watched in full at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

Pair of boots with dates that the owner worked at Kellingley Colliery painted on the toes.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

A July 4th 🧵 In 1772 Calderdale weaver Thomas Swaine set sail for a new life in North America. He was accompanied by his c.12 and 9 year old sons Sam and John, and brought with him textiles, mustard and crockery to sell His pregnant wife and the rest of his children were left in West Yorkshire...

Coloured engraving of 'An east prospective view of the City of Philadelphia', made in 1778. It looks towards the city across a sea filled with sailing vessels and what appears to be a floating windmill.

Advert put in the Pennsylvania Packet newspaper between 19 October and 9 November 1772 by John Ackroyd and Thomas Swaine, "just arrived in the Polly and Hannah, Capt. Smith, from Hull, with an assortment of goods suitable to the present and approaching season". The goods for sale include textiles (broadcloths, forest cloths, shalloons, calimancoes, durants, camblets and sundry other woollens and Manchester goods), flour of mustard in casks and cakes, and crockery.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Pinpointing part 9 as the point when whoever wrote these instructions finally gave up

Extract from assembly instructions for an easel, featuring the backstop (piece no.5), the batten (6), the baffle (7 and 8), and 'small pieces of wood' (9).

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Adding 'opening the curtains' to the list of sounds that Merlin has so far interpreted as a parakeet squawk

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Cyanotype colour changes in the sun (plus cat assistant)

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Steven Sheil @scsheil.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Another great Gollancz cover - love how it builds in intensity from 'Thrills!' to 'The vaults of the Bodleian!'

A yellow Gollancz hardback - 'Operation Pax' by Michael Innes. The tagline read 'Thrills! Detection! Adventure! The vaults of the Bodleian!'

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Wild strawberries rooted in the coal spoil The remarkably complete, fragile landscape of Chatterley Whitfield colliery and the wildlife that's reclaiming it One for @mininglandscapes.bsky.social

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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Our archives contain an Attenborough link but not, perhaps, one you might expect...🧵 In the wake of the 1937 bombing of Guernica, nearly 4,000 Basque children were evacuated to Britain, escaping the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. The children were supported by a national network of volunteers...

National Council of Labour leaflet calling for support for "four thousand Spanish children ... brought to safety from war-stricken Basque villages and towns" to Britain.

Circular from the Basque Children's Committee:

4th February, 1938.
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you as one who has given us generous support in our appeal for the Basque children saved from Bilbao. We feel the time has come to give you an account of this epic of relief work, of how it has been carried out and of the position to-day.
You will remember - who can forget it? - the wave of horror produced by the destruction of Guernica from the air and the massacre which attended it. You will remember the impassioned appeals to rescue the children of Bilbao which immediately began to reach us. You will remember how the whole of this country was stirred by the movement to bring the children here; how our own doctors went out to pick the children, being forced to carry on their work at night by the daily air raids; how the parents beseiged our representatives begging them to rescue the children; how at last we brought away the Habana crowded to overflowing by these innocent sufferers of the war.
We brought 3,826; and in the camp at Stoneham, a miracle of successful organisation, we began the care of the children, began to nurse them back to health and happiness. Gradually they were drafted away to homes in all parts of the country. We had given the National Government an undertaking that there would be no individual adoptions, no cost to public funds and no question of the children remaining permanently in this country - all were to be returned to their parents when conditions permitted.
So the children were divided up among more than a hundred homes. In many places local committees undertook the complete care of the children for us; they have done wonders in maintaining their support. Perhaps one of the most moving details of the work has been the eager and self-sacrificing help given by the people of the distressed areas, South Wales and Durham in particular.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Our General Strike recording studio all set for the combined voices of the MRC

Archive strongroom. A microphone on a stand has been set up between two (non-moveable) aisles of shelving filled with archive boxes.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Waiting for a bus. There may be about another hour of vuvuzelas to go...

Edge of road lined with people dressed largely in sky blue. Flags, bunting and bloody vuvuzelas feature.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Absolutely packed Miners' Hall in Barnsley yesterday #GeneralStrike100

Miners' Hall, Barnsley, looking towards speakers on a platform at the back, with banners around the hall. The hall is full, with all seats taken, people standing all the way back to the doors, and others waiting outside to get a chance to come in.

Outside the Miners' Hall, Barnsley. Arriving marchers manoeuvre banners as they get ready to go in the building.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Out out today. Walk through the woods enhanced by car park cake van.

Bluebells and grass with shadow of person heading towards a Victoria sponge.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

1733 boxes done, two more to go.

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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

🚨 Conference booking open 🚨 Blood is the price of coal: Coal communities, health and welfare in Britain from the 19th century to the present 18 June 2026, University of Warwick Booking form and additional information about the programme available at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

Blood is the Price of Coal: Coal Communities, Health & Welfare in Britain & Beyond from the 19th Century to the Present

This free one day conference aims to bring together researchers from higher education, libraries, archives, museums and community and campaign groups to explore the history of health and welfare in Britain’s coal mining industry.

Conference programme:

Panel 1: Disasters, safety and commemoration

Oaks Colliery Disaster, 1866
Paul Darlow, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Paul Hardman, former NUM National Executive Officer

The Safety Men: the Colliery Deputies union in the British Coal Industry
Professor Peter Ackers, Loughborough University (Emeritus)

Welcomed to Wrexham
Sarah Castagnetti, The National Archives

The 1959 Auchengeich Disaster: class, community and commemoration in Scotland’s coalfields
Professor Jim Phillips, University of Glasgow

Chair: Dr Jörg Arnold, Universität Augsburg

Panel 2: Health

The Violent Realities and Multiple Temporalities of a Miner’s Life
Liv Robinson, Northumbria University

‘A wonderful difference to the home life’: pithead baths, pitwomen, and disability in twentieth-century British coalmining communities
Lucy Jameson, Durham University

Pneumoconiosis, Environment, and the Politics of Coal Miners' Health in Twentieth Century Britain
Dr Andrew Seaton, University of Manchester

A Special Case? Miners’ Health, Wage Relativities and the Fall of Heath’s Government
Robert Rayner, University of Birmingham

Chair: Professor Mathew Thomson, University of Warwick

Panel 3: Welfare

“Feeding on the job?” Pit canteens in 1940s Britain
Dr Ariane Mak, Université Paris Cité & IUF

The Warmth of Home: Concessionary Fuel and Domestic Energy in British Coalfield Communities, 1945-1995
Dr Kathy Davies, Northumbria University

Class, Culture and Democracy: the Miners Libraries of South Wales
John Pateman, University of Leicester

Deindustrialisation and the recreational provision of the nationalised British coalmining industry (1950s-1984)
Dr Marion Henry, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Chair: Dr Quentin Outram, Society for the Study of Labour History

Panel 4: Legacies

Now The Dust Has Settled
James O. Davies, Historic England

'The Big K: The Pit that shaped a community' Its legacy, a decade after closure.
Judi Alston, One to One Development Trust

Union Poorhouse to Union Leader - Herbert Smith, President of the Miners Federation of Great Britain 1922-1929.
Kathryn Stainburn, Castleford Civic Society

The Afterlife of Coal in Barnsley: Youth, Community, and Intergenerational Legacies
Dr Kat Simpson, The University of Huddersfield

Chair: Professor Keith Gildart, University of Wolverhampton

Showcase of exhibitions, displays and posters:

On Behalf of the People: Work, Community and Class in the British Coal Industry 1947-1994
Professor Keith Gildart, University of Wolverhampton

Coal: a record of an industry
Gary Winter, Historic England

Poster of Mrs Sheila Truman
Daniella Law, Historic England

Glamorgan’s Blood: Dark Arteries, Old Veins – Exploring the Coal Collections at Glamorgan Archives
Rhian Diggins, Glamorgan Archives

When Coal was Clean: Soap and Smoke in Nineteenth Century Britain
Oliver Marshall

Mining Disasters in the Village of Worsbrough
Maureen Gennard, Peter Fairham and David Bullock, Worsbrough Library Heritage Group

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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

New 1926 General Strike map online! Using early 20th century Ordnance Survey maps, the online resource shows strike events (through archive sources) in their contemporary landscape. Explore the map, digitised sources and more at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

Map of Britain made from early 20th century Ordnance Survey maps. It includes pins which link to digitised documents and links to a timeline.

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Steven Sheil @scsheil.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Back on Twitter I had a long-running thread featuring classic yellow jacket books published by Gollancz, all of which demonstrate their rather eccentric approach to cover quotes. Today I saw this one, which is a prime example. 'What better entertainment than a "long-short"?'

A yellow-jacketed book published by Gollancz. It's The Sole Survivor/The Kynsard Affair by Roy Vickers. The quote reads 'Roy Vickers of "Dead Ends" fame here give you two "long-short" detective stories. What better entertainment than a "long-short"? Not a course: not a banquet: but a meal!"

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Have at least managed successful sightings of rain, more rain and sausage dog this month.

Photo of whiteboard headed 'What have you seen or heard in the Arboretum February', including sightings of rain, more rain, sparrowhawk, hare, woodpecker, sausage dog and pheasant.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Faffing-with-cyanotypes-as-a-minor-distraction attempt two

Two cyanotypes, one with feathers and the other with various plants (including fern, ivy and grasses).

Two cyanotypes of various plants. Ivy features, as do grasses, brambles and something that was growing in the carpark. One of them also has netting over it.

Two more cyanotypes, one with a bottle and two thin, stemmy plants, the other with a broken pair of glasses and some watch bits.

Three cyanotypes, one with an unravelling micro cassette and a pair of headphones, the others with bits of lace and some sewing paraphernalia.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Going to work I got into the habit of nodding to this pigeon mug, left each day on a bench by the office. The spot on the bench varied, once or twice money was left on top. The mug has been missing since new year. This week it reappeared in slightly tea stained glory, a low key moment of #TinyJoys

Photograph of an upside down mug on a damp bench. The mug is white with a silhouette of a pigeon and the caption 'All I care about are pigeons and maybe four other people...'.

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Alex @alexsippel.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

OK, English-speaking folks, I'm trying to think of a nice, short-ish poem for my adult audience. I thought of Wordsworth's Daffodils, or of Frost's Road not taken, but if you had to choose one poem for a French audience with an intermediate level, what would be your pick?

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Have typically picked the time of the year with least sun to start playing around with cyanotypes at home

Three cyanotypes in a tray, one with cogs, one with a couple of thin plants with small flowers at the top, and the third with feathers and what appears to be a small seagull.

Cyanotype of ferns, because every attempt at this photographic process appears to require at least one image of ferns.

Three cyanotypes of plants, including ivy, grasses and something else that was growing near the house.

Three cyanotypes, one involving grasses, one with cogs and skeletal fish, and the third featuring a fern and a selection of lizards.

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Framework Knitters Museum, Ruddington, Nottinghamshire @frameworkknitters.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Here to share more about our work celebrating the craft and graft of framework knitting, plus our new programme of events, workshops and exhibitions coming up in 2026.

Black and white image of a Victorian knitting frame, still used to demonstrate at the FWK Museum.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Feet up, cat installed, that'll do for today.

Black, orange and white cat on a knee, ignoring the camera.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Back to 'Coal Country'... Exploring the Miners' Hall, Barnsley, with the @sslh.bsky.social

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Have bought a chocolate log, some tangerines and a poinsettia and am counting that as Christmas shopping done

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Young Historians Project @younghistorians.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Hi everyone! As some of you may know, our organisation, YHP, is focused on the promotion of the scholarship of Black British History. We have some amazing projects which we can't wait to share with you next year. But the research, editing etc. for these projects are done on a volunteer basis.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Useful archival cataloguing term found

Extract from typed document with title 'Main Comments on Bungle of Documents'

It continues by listing the contents of the Bungle.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

The reason why I now know (1) what filter keys are and (2) how to turn them off so that I can use the keyboard again.

Close up of a cat's face (orange, black and white). A blurry laptop on a desk can be seen behind the cat, who is ignoring the laptop now that she's manoeuvred her way on to a knee.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Having my DIY skills assessed after reattaching the wardrobe door

Black, white and orange cat in a wooden wardrobe, peering at a door hinge.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

#MondayMotivation from today's freshly catalogued archives

Back of a forty year old letter with 'KEEP IT UP AND MAKE THE BASTARDS PAY!' written on it in all caps.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Statement of health policy, 1957. Literally the only document in the archive file with a cigarette burn.

Memorandum headed 'Statement of health policy' with a singed hole in the top right corner.

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

If you can get there, thoroughly recommend a visit - an outstanding building crammed with history

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Liz Wood @worsted.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

In today's unexpected NUM find, a magazine featuring the launch of Mr Kipling in 1967 through "Shock Troops" "in the Van of the Cake Revolution" (or six blokes in branded suits brandishing platters of cake) ...

Page with the headline 'In the van of the great cake revolution' and part of a photograph showing grinning men in corporately striped suits brandishing a tray of Mr Kipling cakes.

The other half of the page, showing more of a photograph showing grinning men in corporately striped suits brandishing a tray of Mr Kipling cakes.

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