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Barbara Elsmore

Britain’s Post War Homes

Posted on 3rd February 2018

Did you enjoy the recent BBC2 programme 'A House Through Time' In the last episode Deborah Sugg Ryan showed the Book of Britain's Post-War Homes and this sent me scurrying upstairs as I have a copy of this book tucked away I found it in my grandfather's house when it had to be cleared in 1974 and I think my father, who was associated with the building trade, probably gave it to my grandfather when he was involved with the building of Nether Compton's first council houses in the late... more

The Greenwood Tree, September 2017

Posted on 23rd August 2017

The September issue of The Greenwood Tree will be appearing shortly, and SDFHS members can already download the PDF from the Members' Area of our website We have again preserved the colour content in the digital version, so it’s well worth having a look on-line, while you wait for your print copy to arrive I am pleased to introduce our prospective new Editor, Paul Radford (page 63), who will be editing the The Greenwood Tree from 2018 Paul is a retired journalist who spent more than 30 years... more

The Pageant’s Progress

Posted on 16th August 2017

It has been very pleasing to receive contact from others who have discovered that someone they may have further knowledge about, or who might have been a family member, took part in the Sherborne Pageant of 1905 Any discoveries, however small, are often met with wonder or surprise as a little chink of light is thrown onto someone from long ago and a photo is often the key Many of the old photos can be seen in the Sherborne School Archive Flickr collection There is absolutely nothing like a... more

Recent Update to Family Tree Maker

Posted on 27th July 2017

Well I have finally done it - I have downloaded Family Tree Maker 2017 and I am very happy about it Why did this become such a big deal for FTM long term users like me As I described in my previous post, it was because all our hard work over many years of painstaking research together with some of the easy to use features of FTM were being affected by changing technology No longer could we buy ourselves a disk, for a fairly modest price, download it onto our computers and go about the... more

Intriguing Photographs (1) – Some Answers

Posted on 4th July 2017

My thanks to Gareth for coming up with an answer to my query so promptly and pointing out that the castle in question is on Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour, and known as Branksome Castle The two photographs above are taken from the same angle Brownsea Island is now owned by the National Trust and Branksome Castle is leased to the John Lewis partnership and is used as 'a corporate hotel by their employees' Brownsea Island has a very interesting history and more can be found on the National... more

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