Do you want to see some of my projects and get to know a little about me such as my liking for chocolate? Do you want to see how I work and what I am capable of doing?

...updates to my blog will be posted here regularly so please bookmark and visit this page regularly. You will be able to see what I get up to.

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15 November 2008
This week I have been sorting images in preparation for online exhibitions for the Golden Jubilee of the PSPS. I have been lucky to find around 240 items such as handbills, photographs and ephemera. I was particularly lucky to find a number of rare audio cassettes in the collection of the late Patrick Taylor that were recorded aboard Waverley, Kingswear Castle and Balmoral
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1 December 2008
The first online gallery is now on the website. It looks really good and has achieved all that I had hoped it would. I managed to find some great material including some special film of Waverley's first visit to London in 1978. These online galleries show what can be achieved to make collections accessible to a global audience. See the latest online gallery pages at http://www.heritagesteamers.co.uk



7 January 2009
This week I have been looking at my familiy history again and undertaking some research. It was prompted by an email from a distant relative in Canada who has been doing a lot of her own research over recent years. As always with family history, a number of gaps were filled and a few other avenues have been opened! It has been particularly good to find a link to my family in Canada where my great aunt emmigrated just after the First World War.



15 January 2009
I would love to find out more from people with the surname of Gladwell. I have some basic information on the origins of the name as well as knowing the fact that the family seems to have strong origins in East Anglia but, unfortunately, I have had no contact with people having the same surname. I am planning to have my own Gladwell family name website in the near future to show all of my family history research as well as putting all of my photographs and documents online.




1 March 2009
I have managed to do some research recently in preparation for my forthcoming book on the Thames and Medway pleasure steamers; Royal Daffodil, Royal Sovereign and Queen of the Channel. A great deal of material has appeared recently and l am constantly surprised by the variety of it. It also seems that these ships are still fondly remembered over forty years since their demise. It is going to be tight getting everything together by October but it will be worthwhile as the book promises to be great with rare photographs and items of ephemera!



24 March 2009
l have just started to re-design my website - l hope that you like the changes! Many more featues will be added over the coming months including details of my new books. It has also been very gratifying to see the Heritagesteamers website being used widely by the media eager to find out more about the heritage of paddle steamers. The BBC for example contacted me about an article that they were producing on the Golden Jubilee of the PSPS to be broadcast on BBC1. It is great to see the PSPS Collection being used and publicised!



26 March 2009
Over recent months l have been getting new ideas for my website. l want to give it a heritage travel/seaside theme from the 1930s using the type of material used on old posters in trains and railway stations etc.

Whilst a great deal of my work over recent years has been connected with heritage transport, l want to develop a website to show that l have extensive experience of working with other types of collections such as social history ones.

14 June 2009
During my enforced rest over recent months after breaking my wrist and later surgery, l have gained a lot of pleasure from a number of relaxing cruises aboard the Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle.

Kingswear Castle is a real gem and dates back to 1924. She is based at Chatham Historic Dockyard on the River Medway in Kent. l cannot think of a more relaxing thing than sitting on the deck in the sun listening to the bubbling wake. Kingswear Castle may not have helped my wrist repair, but it certainly has relaxed me and made me less frustrasted over my disability! Book a cruise and discover Kingswear Castle yourself!

20 January 2010
It was good to get back top one of my favourite places - Deal in Kent recently. Deal is always a great place to visit and I especially love it in the winter and spring. The pier is a great attraction and I enjoy walking along it and then resting at the end. A new addition is the cafe. It replaces the previous 1950s cafe that had a great deal of character. The replacement is really quite poor and dull compared with the original restaurant. Unfortunately, the weather has drained the timber of its colour and combined with the concrete of the pier structure, it looks incredibly dull.



18 February 2010
I have managed to sort many items in the store this week. The heaviest item to move was the engine room console of the paddle steamer Ryde. This huge piece of brass was made by the famous firm Denny of Dumbarton. The quality of manufacture is wonderful and its good that we managed to save yet another important piece of maritime heritage that will one day be placed in a proper heritage centre. So often, large objects such as this are lost or stolen and therefore lose their provenance. It was particularly gratifying therefore to be able to save this item from an old steamer that has now reached the end of its days. It will be good that future generations will be able to remember the Ryde.



13 March 2010
What terrible news! Cadbury's have been taken over. It looks like I will have to change my website now if the new owners change the recipe.

Its great to look at some of the old Cadbury advertisements. You rarely see old examples of chocolate wrappers and tins. I always love seeing the Robert Opie Collection as I love ephemera. I has always been one of my favourite types of material to work with in museums. Its also one of the items that I always accept as a donation without hesitation into a museum collection. I hope that Cadbury's will stay the same!

28 April 2010
I have just returned from a few days in the Lakes and Dales. It was good to get up to the Eden Valley again. I went to visit Wetheriggs Country Pottery. It was started during the 1850s and in its isolated and beautiful location produced beautiful hand-thrown pottery for over 150 years. I have been a keen collector of Wetheriggs ware for around 30 years. I'm a great lover of slip ware. This is where liquid clay is trailed over the un-fired clay pot using a traditional horn. Beautiful and unique trailed dots, wavy lines and marbled designs adorn each pot and of course every pot is different. Sadly, the pottery has now closed which is truly tragic.