The Greenwood Tree – June 2025
Posted on 31st May 2025
The June issue of The Greenwood Tree is a Special Anniversary Edition to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of the SDFHS. Editor Paul Radford previews the magazine which will be mailed to members at the end of May and which SDFHS members can already view or download from the Members’ Area of the Society’s website.
The Special Anniversary Edition is almost entirely given over to members’ recollections of the early days of our Society, which was founded in 1975, and in some cases their early forays into their own family history at a time when ready access to documents was not available on the internet.
More than 40 members sent in contributions, easily a record since I became editor eight years ago, with the result that this edition contains a bumper 48 pages. Delia HORSFALL, a former Secretary of the Society and a long-serving volunteer recalls the early days of setting up a HQ in Sherborne, outgrowing the premises and having to move again.
Regular columnists Teresa WILLIAMS, who compiles What The Papers Said, and Mike WHITAKER, who pens the Somerset and Dorset Spotlight series, both recount how they got involved with The Greenwood Tree and how they go about their work.
Author Elizabeth GALE gives a detailed account of the early days of the Society’s West Dorset group and Robin ANSELL provides an amusing anecdote told by our founder Sir Mervyn MEDLYCOTT about being apprehended by the police for suspicious activity in a churchyard.
Peter MEECH writes light-heartedly about discovering pilch knickers, of all things, Susan WICKS reveals the secret of the shock DNA test which blew her family history research apart and Bob CHAMPION writes movingly about his start in life as an orphan.
There are far too many other stories to mention individually – though I should mention one I put together myself in an effort to provide a reasonably comprehensive history of our Society from 1975 to the current day. Beyond mere stories, there are also lists of those who have served the Society in an official capacity back to the very start and photos of our current volunteers at Yeovil HQ.
In our continuing interview series, The Greenwood Tree editor meets our president David HAWKINGS, a founder member and author of several highly rated books on family history.. Regular features include Somerset Spotlight, this time on South Petherton, the Dorset History Centre Roundup and Letters to the Editor.
Paul Radford