20th Century
Crisis Journey, 1947 – Part One
“The record of what one man saw and heard and felt on a journey through Britain in October 1947, by John Alldridge” Uncle John’s record of his trip round Britain, to assess the extent to [more…]
Mining
20th Century
Postcard From Kiruna
Having been presented with the key to the door, my wilful 21-year-old self used the opportunity to close the lock tightly behind him and allow the trade winds to billow his sails north, all the [more…]
Business
A View (A Few Miles) From The Greenhouse; Enemies At The Gates…..
Autumn’s been wet but mild up here in the north western wastelands, leading to an explosion of colour in the flora of the area which has lasted well into November. I took a walk in [more…]
Arts
Elementary, my dear Watson – Co Cobalt
We are working our way through each of the eighteen Groups of the Periodic Table (a.k.a. the Periodic Table of the Elements), with the general idea behind this series being to ensure that at least [more…]
20th Century
Mystery Album, Part Eight
There are pleasures even the most adventurous of lives can deny a gentleman. Despite the tales of derring-do from his previous life more interesting (occasionally mildly exaggerated), there are places your author has rarely visited [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Narvik, Part Two
Riding the Stambanan to the Malmbanan In part one of our Postcard from Narvik your humble author, his wife, children and a niece struck out for the Artic to celebrate his late October fiftieth birthday. Having [more…]
Biography
The Real Goldfinger?
Whilst doing some research for a future article in the ‘Going for Gold’ series I came across an interesting story which I thought would make for a separate article in its own right. Charles W. [more…]
20th Century
The Story of a Watch
This is the story of a watch. A plain, simple, pocket watch. Probably bought in the early 1940’s for three Half-Crowns (7/6, or in “New Money”, 37.5p) from a Woolworth or a High Street Jewellers. [more…]