The recording of Emrhys Coate, (b.1912), deals with the details of willow growing. In the 1920s women would strip the withies ready for basket-makers, growers would drop bundles of willow at the cottages and pick them up the next day, paying the women per bundle. The income generated by women was a crucial contribution to the pot, especially in the 1920s and 30s when Somerset – like the rest of Britain – was in the grip of an agricultural depression.
Somerset Voices: Emrhys Coate
January 21, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, History, Podcast)
Tags: Coate, North Curry, Stoke St Gregory
Formation of a Temperance Organisation in Frome.
January 20, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy, History)
Tags: Frome, Somerset, Temperance
Steve Chapman has transcribed an account of the Formation of a temperance organisation in Frome, Somerset England by Joseph Chapman of Portway, Frome, written in about 1882
Child Emigration to Canada
January 19, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy, History)
Tags: National Archives
In this podcast from the National Archives find out about the British child emigration schemes from 1618 to 1967 as Roger Kershaw examines the reasons and the records behind the schemes to Canada, Australia, South Africa and beyond.
Somerset Voices: Robert Chambers
January 18, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, History, Podcast)
Tags: Chambers, Crewkerne, Taunton
Robert Chambers, owner of Millichamp and Hall, cricket bat makers, describes how a cricket bat is made. The company was started in 1987 and run from a garage in Crewkerne. Now they are based at the county ground in Taunton. Robert took over the company when he was just twenty years old in 2000. He was the sole director and owner of the company when this recording was made in 2002.
1911 census launched online
January 17, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy, History)
Tags: Census
Records from the 1911 census are now available online at 1911census.co.uk, after an ambitious project undertaken by findmypast.com owned by brightsolid, in association with The National Archives.
True Blue
January 16, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Blue Vinney, Cheese, Dirset
In this article from thr Dorset Life magazine, Jo Draper tells the story of Blue Vinney, from its beginnings as a by-product of butter-making to the present day.
Somerset Voices: John Brunsdon
January 15, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Brunsdon, Fletcher, Glastonbury
Veterinary surgeon John Brunsdon, (b.1929), joined the Glastonbury practice of Bryan Fletcher as an assistant in 1952, after attending the Royal Veterinary College in London from 1947 until 1952.
Start Charting Your Family Tree
January 14, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Charting, Family Tree
Genealogy is a popular hobby. Who doesn’t want to know a little bit about their family’s past? It’s also a hobby that can be intimidating for newcomers, who might hear about census records, research logs, and microfiche and want to run for cover. While some of the more advanced genealogy techniques might scare off the newcomer, beginning the genealogy journey is pretty easy, and begins at home.
The land behind the Chesil Beach
January 13, 2009 at 4:00 am (Location)
Tags: Abbotsbury, Chesil Beach, Dorset, Treves
In this article from the Dorset Life Magazine Steve White and Clive Hannay look at how Abbotsbury and the surrounding area have changed since Sir Frederick Treves’s visit more than a hundred years ago.
Somerset Voices: Marwood Brown
January 12, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, History, Podcast)
Tags: Brown, Keinton Mandeville, Street
Marwood Brown was born in Keinton Mandeville (1924). At the age of fourteen he attended the Strode Continuation School in Street, where the pupils went to school for half a day, and worked in Clark’s or Morland’s shoe factories for the other half. Marwood’s father was a shoemaker in Keinton Mandeville, taking over the family business, which was started by Marwood’s grandfather in the 1900s.
