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Somerset & Dorset
Family History Society

The SDFHS Blog

A Merry Christmas Miscellany

Now what do you think of this magnificent Christmas spread found amongst the festive displays at the local garden centre here in Sherborne While all the smaller kids, having first fought their way through rows of ‘fur’ coats - the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe style - were viewing the little festive trains chugging around a snowy Christmas village, some of us bigger kids were enjoying the skill and ingenuity that went into this ‘knit your own Christmas Dinner’ I laughed as two 30+...
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The Greenwood Tree – December 2019

The Eureka moments that produce sudden and unexpected breakthroughs in your family history research provide the theme for the December edition of The Greenwood Tree Editor Paul Radford previews the edition which will be mailed to members shortly and which SDFHS members can already view or download from the Members Area of the Society’s website The front cover harks back to the Greek inventor Archimedes who is said to have exclaimed ‘Eureka’, an ancient Greek word meaning ‘I...
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Lost Dorset – The Villages & Countryside

Lost Dorset - The Villages and Countryside is the title of David Burnett's latest book and also of his recent talk given in Sherborne David founded the Dovecote Press in 1974 in the small hamlet of Stanbridge near Wimborne to initially publish the first of three illustrated books about Dorset All three went on to become best sellers I had a very personal reason for wanting to meet David as I had found, quite by chance while flipping through his first book - A Dorset Camera 1855-1914 - a...
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Provoking memories via Yeovil Library window display

Congratulations to Anne Warr and John Damon for producing such an eye-catching display to promote our society in the window of Yeovil Library This is the second time we have been featured in this window; on the earlier occasion it was to introduce ourselves to Yeovil, shortly after we moved into our Broadway House headquarters The current display contains our new banners which are now pictorial so cannot get out of date in the foreseeable future, which can so easily happen if we use...
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The Greenwood Tree – September 2019

The September issue of The Greenwood Tree focuses on agricultural labourers, the ‘ag labs' that so many of us have in our family trees, with stories on farming folk sent in by members Editor Paul Radford previews the edition which will be mailed to members at the end of August and which SDFHS members can already view or download from the Members' Area of the Society’s website The front cover shows a scene from the filming on the Mapperton Estate of the 2015 version of Far From...
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