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The SDFHS Blog

SDFHS events Autumn 2018

Posted on 9th September 2018

We have now started to arrange our Autumn events to be held in Yeovil or Sherborne, with the following already confirmed Full details can be found on our website Secure the Shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939 Friday 28 September (200-400pm) Yeovil The official book launch in Yeovil Library of our latest publication about Somerset Photographers There will be a short talk by one of the authors and then the opportunity to buy copies of the book, which the authors will be happy to sign, and... more

The Greenwood Tree – September 2018

Posted on 26th August 2018

The September edition of The Greenwood Tree is a Special Edition focusing on World War One to mark the upcoming centenary of the Armistice It contains eight extra pages and will be mailed to members early in September The Editor, Paul Radford, previews this Special Edition, which SDFHS members can already download from the Members' Area of the Society’s website To mark the centenary of the Armistice, we invited members to tell their stories of the ancestors who went to war, the families... more

Historic Migration from the West Country

Posted on 14th July 2018

I must preface this article by stating that I am no expert on migration – this post is merely a transcript of my notes on the recent seminar, held to mark the 20th anniversary of a similar event held in Lyme Regis in June 1998 I hope I have done the talks justice The seminar was a full-day seminar and gave an excellent over-view of migration from the West Country Examples from all West Country counties were mentioned, as were all the main destinations – America, Canada, Australia and New... more

Somerset Photographers 1839-1939

Posted on 25th June 2018

On 31 August 1844, an advertisement in the Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser announced that, during the following week at the Bowling Green, Warwick “Master Augustus Gyngell, only eight years of age, the child with the iron nerve, will make his daring and astonishing flight across the Green, from an immense altitude, surrounded with fireworks, as the Spirit Ariel, travelling at the rate of 200 miles an hour” We’ve not found a report which might have verified the height or the speed of... more

Milborne Port and the local area in WWII

Posted on 23rd June 2018

Our next Sherborne event is on Saturday 30 June - 230pm in the Raleigh Hall on Digby Rd - when Richard Duckworth will be presenting old film footage of the area around Milborne Port/Sherborne during World War II The film, which Richard has compiled, shows what was happening in our area during WWII, including footage of Home Guard training, events just before D Day in 1944 and the celebrations in Sherborne at the end of the War We hope that the film will revive memories for those who lived... more