08 March

I enjoyed my visit to the Glamorgan Family History Society this evening. I spoke to a large and interested group for about 90 minutes. I gave them the background to my work and then looked in detail at two stories from Volume One, Margaret Williams and Sarah Jacob.

06 March

First of all I need to tell you that our grandson has a name - he is Samuel Evan Bridge and we are off to see him next weekend for the first time.

Secondly I have posted a new blog called Victorian Cemeteries which explains briefly their origins and some of the problems they face today. Click here and you will go directly to the Blog page, though of course you can also use the navigation links at the top of every page.

And last but not least, happy birthday to our son David. 22 today!

01 March

There are a number of things to report here today. Firstly I have posted a new blog on this website. It is about one of the legends connected with Owain Glyndwr. This is the story of Hywel Sele, his cousin, who, they say, was killed and hidden in the trunk of an ancient oak tree - the Demon Oak - or, in Welsh, Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyll. The fifteenth century certainly wasn't much of a time for Happy Families...

Click here to go straight to the Blog Page.

The story in this month's edition of Welsh Country Magazine is another story from the distant past, this time the thirteenth century. It is all about Siwan and her marriage to Llewelyn the Great, a story of betrayal and forgiveness. Siwan's tomb, once used as a horse trough can now be found in the porch of the church of St Mary and St Nicholas in Beaumaris in Anglesey.

Click here to go to the Welsh Country Website.

February was an excellent month on the website, with our highest ever number of visitors, depite the fact that it was a short month. We welcomed 295 visitors which is quite an achievement. I hope they all found something of interest.

25 February

I have put another Wordle design on the Index page. But far more importantly, our daughter Catherine and her husband Dave have had another child! A brother at 8lb 4 oz for Bethan. Born tonight at 10.20 pm. Mother and baby are fine. No name as yet but clearly I shall keep you updated.

18 February

I have been playing with an excellent website which enables you to make very impressive designs from text. The website is called Wordle (www.wordle.net) and I have pasted an example here of what it will do. This is a wordle based on the inscription on Jane Lewis Gravestone in Tonyrefail. The frequency of the word determines its size in the design. Click on the design below and you will be taken straight to a short extract from my book.

08 February

I have put a new story on the website. It is in the Shorter Tales section and it is about the pioneer Welsh aviator Ernest T. Willows who died in 1926 and is buried in Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff. I shall also post the story on the Americymru website.

Click here to be taken straight to the page about Ernest Willows.

01 February

At the end of January the statistics show that we had 205 visitors in the month, who made 255 visits between them and looked at 549 pages. It is quite an encouraging figure for January which has been a cold and miserable month.

16 January

I have added a new blog to the site today. It is about a memorial called The Coachman's Cautionary that you wil find in a lay-by on the A40 between Llandovery and Brecon. It commemorates a coaching accident in 1835.

If you click here you will be taken to my blog page

This piece has already appeared in Welsh Country Magazine. I will also put it on Sagazone, My Space and of course Americymru.
I have also moved a few blogs into the Blog Archive where you will now find the additional information I was given about the death of Eleanor Williams in 1832 who features on page 84 of my book.

Click here to be taken to the Blog Archive.

15 January

It has ben a busy couple of weeks since I last came on the site. I have been finishing off the study guide I was asked to write about a selection of poems for York Notes, ready for the new examination specification which starts later this year. I have enjoyed writing it very much and managed to submit it before my deadline! In this I was helped considerably by two days of heavy snow that gave me a bit of extra time away from school.
When the book is to finally appear on the shelves I cannot be sure but I imagine it will be in the summer. I shall keep you posted!
The fact that the book is finished means I shall now be able to give a little more time to the website.
It has been a good month too for pieces of mine published in the Times Education Supplement. I have had three pieces in three editions so far this year. I am sure it can't go on.

11 January

My talk to the Glamorgam Family History Society planned for this evening has been cancelled due to the poor road conditions brought about by snow and ice. It has been re-scheduled for Monday 08 February 2010 at 7.00 pm.

01 January

A Happy New Year to everyone who arrives on this page! Let us all hope for peace and happiness in 2010.
December 2009 was not a bad month on the website when you stop and consider how busy people are at this time of the year. We had 182 visitors who made 255 visits between them and looked at 660 pages. I hope they found them interesting.

31 December

The new edition of Welsh Country Magazine is now available. My story in this edition is about six mysterious medieval graves that can be found in the beauntiful abandoned churchyard at Llanfihangel Abercowyn.
This article provided an important landmark for me in other ways too. It is the 200th newspaper or magazine article that I have had publlished.
I am also pleased to report that Welsh Country Magazine is now stocked in all branches of Marks and Spencer in Wales.

30 December

Well as you can see I haven't added much to the site at all in December. As always it has been especially busy and my tasks have taken my attention elsewhere. This is likely to continue for a while longer too. There is always lots to do in school during December and I also had my oversea examination marking to complete. Then there was David to collect from university and a whole load of catering absorbed all our Christmas time, since our daughters all came home at various times.
Of course we had a lovely time and we were sorry to see them all go home and reality slowly take its grip again.
I have though found time to sell somef books via the website. One was to an old colleague, Richard Jones, with whom I taught some years ago. He is a poet who has released a beautiful collection of poems all inspired by the work of the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. Click here to go straight to his website.
Amanda Whiteland in Lampeter bought one after seeing it at Llanerchaeron.
I have also sold another book to America, this time to Tony Lewis, a belated Christmas present to his wife Beth.
I have now started writing my next book for Balberry Press. It is an edition of York Notes for GCSE to support the new AQA Poetry Selection called Character and Voice. I have a tight deadline for submission so that will keep me busy for the next couple of weeks.
However I have found a moment this morning to post a new blog. It is all about the Story of Gelert and you can find it, naturally enough, on the blog page. Of course it is a grave story but with a difference, for the story is about the alleged grave of a dog called Gelert.
Click here to be taken to the page or follow the link at the top of the page. This blog has also been posted on MySpace, Sagazone and Americymru.

Oh and a belated Happy Christmas to all my readers!

01 December

November was another good month on the website. We had 233 visitors who made 321 visits between them and looked at 743 pages. We also sold some books via the Paypal link, including one to Howard Evans in America.

21 November

I was very pleased to receive the message I have copied below from Helen Blake in Australia. She has been able to clarify some confusion I have had about Robert Everett, the Grand National winner and fighter pilot who is buried on Anglesey. His story appears in the Shorter Tales section. If you click here you will go straight to his page.

I was never very confident about the information I have about Everett. There are too many gaps. One of the purposes of this website is to gather together the information we have and to preserve these stories accurately. So I am very grateful for the information Helen has sent me.
Have a look at her website by clicking on the link above. It is excellent.

12 November

I was tidying up the website today because I start marking my overseas English Language examination papers next week and I won't have as much time for writing. I wanted to add another blog and remembered an odd little story I had found in Robert Chamber's Book of the Days published in 1869. It is all about what happens to you if you bury a priest alive and then kick a horse whilst wearing soft shoes on the Isle of Sheppey. So if you click on the link here you will be taken straight to the page. The entry you are looking for is the most recent and is called Why you should never kick a horse. I am sure that this is advice that you don't need to be honest, but there may be others out there who do....

10 November

I had a letter today inviting me to join the Friends of Cathay's Cemetery. They sent me a copy of their fine book published on the 150th anniversary of its opening in July 1859. The book is an excellent review of the cemetery and its history. The book covers very much the sort of material that has become my work, although it obviously concentrates on one cemetery alone.
The ISBN number of their book is 978 0 9562786 09 and I recommend it without reservation.

I have been invited by Mike O'Callaghan to speak to the Friends of Cathays cemetery at 7.00pm 13 April 2010 and I am looking forward to it.

05 November

I went to Newport in South Wales today to give an illustrated talk in the library in John Frost Square. There was a good audience of about 25 people who seemed interested in what I had to say about the book. I spoke about the stories in the book and about local graves, including that of John Byrne, the VC winner who is buried in St Woolos Cemetery. Here is a picture of me in action!

01 November

October has been an excellent month on the website, our best ever. We had 245 separate visitors who made 358 visits between them and looked at 1125 pages.

I have added some new pages to the website today. If you click on the two titles underlined here you will go straight to the new page.
One is called "The Resurrectionists" and is all about body snatchers in the early nineteenth century. It is based upon a fascinating piece I came across written by Robert Chambers in his Book of Days in 1869.
I have also included a very short story by one of my favourite - and sometimes overlooked - American writers, Ambrose Bierce. It too is about body snatching and is called "One Summer Night"

It is certainly appropriate that Bierce, in his "Devil's Dictionary", a collection of dark and twisted definitions, described the grave as a place in which the dead are laid to await the coming of the medical student.

I have also included a piece about the poet Hedd Wyn in the ShorterTales Section. His name means "White Peace" but he was also known as The Black Bard. He was killed in 1917 in the Third Battle of Ypres.The article was first published in Welsh Country Magazine in November 2005 and is featured here with permission.
Click here to go straight to the story of Ellis Evans, also known as Hedd Wyn.

30 October 2009

There hasn't been a great deal of activity on the website for the last week or so because we have been away to France. It was half term and we were able to make the most of the lovely and unseasonable weather in the Pas de Calais. It was very nice indeed and we enjoyed ourselves staggering between meals in three lovely hotels. I have included some details and web links below.
We started off our journey to France by going to Chester to see Laura and family. And we haven't even got a sat-nav to blame. Then we made it worse by crossing the Pennines to Sheffield to see Jennie and Dan (who designed this website) so we could see the venue where they are to be married in March 2011. It is called Aston Hall. Click here and you will be taken straight to their website. We also met Dan's parents, Sylvia and Steve, which must have represented a huge trauma for the poorsouls.
We crossed the Channel on Monday and stayed at a farm called Ferme du Vert in the village of Wierre Effroy near Boulogne. Click here to visit their website. It is an excellent and peaceful place.
On Tuesday 27 October 2009 we went to Belgium to visit battlefields and cemeteries around Ypres. We had a tight schedule but managed to see all the graves I had identified, which means I now have plenty of pictures for some new writing. I am particularly interested in those poor soldiers who were executed, generally for desertion. I also took some digital pictures in Artillery Wood Cemetery of Hedd Wyn's grave (Ellis Evans, the poet) about whom there has been some increased interest on the internet recently. There is a picture of his grave below.

We then returned to France to stay at Mollingem, a suburb of Isbergues to stay at an interesting restuarant with rooms called Le Buffet. You can visit their website if you click on this link - click here for Le Buffet. The name is significant. It indicates that the place was once the buffet, or canteen, for the local railway station across the road. Trains may have thundered past during the night but the food was excellent.
On Wednesday we returned to what was once one of our favourite hotels - Le Wast. We stopped going there after it had been taken over by a new family and we had such an unfortunate time there that it became comical. However the original owners, the Feutry family, have returned and old standards have been restored. We were there last in October 2006 and we thought then that we would never return. But we did and it was fabulous. Certainly a place to be recommended.Click here to visit their new website.

16 October 2009

I have tidied up my blog and moved two pieces to the archive. One is called How to deal with Magistrates and the other Cnapan. They were both put on the blog in May. I have also posted a new blog. You can go straight to the blog by clicking on the title. It is called Halloween
The blog looks at some Welsh traditions associated with the date which to the Celts represented the end of the apple harvest and the end of the year.
This blog has also been posted on Americymru, Sagazone and My Space.

10 October 2009

I have just spoken to Guy Boursot who is very helpful and knowledgeable wine merchant who operates from Ardres in Northern France. We are going to visit him at the end of the month to pick up some wines for our family wine raffle that creates such tension every Christmas Day after lunch. He will put a mixed case together of the sort of wines everyone will fight over. Ardres is a very pleasant place to visit and his shop is just off the main square next to the church. It is a place I can certainly recommend.
Click below to go straight to his excellent website, full of fascinating information - and bargains!

http://www.boursot.co.uk/index.html

07 October 2009

Well I don't know if my talk last night had any impact, but I do know that we had the largest number of visitors ever yesterday - 23 in one day. I hope thay found something of interest here.

06 October 2009

I am making a presentation this evening to local deputy heads and their familiars about the progress we have made in introducing vocational subjects at Key Stage 4. In a shameless act of self-promotion I will promote this website and direct here any who wish to contact me.
So if you did listen to me rambling on this evening I am very pleased to welcome you.
You can contact me at this address. Click here and your email program should open in a new window - geoff@storiesinwelshstone.co.uk

05 October 2009

I will be visiting my friends Ian and Kath at the Welsh Country Magazine offices in Aberbanc near Llandysul after schoo,l in order to collect more books.I need to replenish my stocks prior to my presentation in Newport in November.

04 October 2009

I have finally completed a piece I have been working on for a while. It has been quite dificult to write because the details I have are sadly incomplete. However it is such a fascinating story I had to put it on the website, no matter how incomplete it is. It is the story of the Grand National Winner and fighter pilot Robert Everett who died in January 1942 when his Hurricane crashed on the beach at Llanddona in Anglesey.
It is for his part in the Catapult Aircraft Merchantman system, designed to protect Allied Shipping in the Atlantic that he was awarded the DSO by George VI in September 1941.
Click here to go to the Shorter Tales section and follow the link from there.

Alternatively, click on this photograph of his grave below to go straight to his story.

02 October 2009

I have been invited to speak to The Glamorgan Family History Society on Monday 11 January 2010. Their meeting is at 7.00pm in the Library at the Civic Centre on Oystermouth Road in Swansea. I shall be making a presentation about my current work and about Volume One of Stories in Welsh Stone. I will be giving a particular emphasis to Swansea related material.

01 October

The visitor figures on this website in September were very similar to those in July. We had 154 visitors who came 212 times and looked at 568 pages.
These figures must be important to someone.
Liz believes that the reduction on August numbers shows that many of our visitors are either teachers who are depressed about going back to school or are retired teachers who just love to go away in September in order to gloat. I could not possibly comment.

I have discovered how to add an email link to the website. If you click here your email program will open in a new window and you can email me directly.

I have also started a Special Christmas Offer for anyone who is interested in buying a copy of the book. After all, it is the ideal Christmas present for all history fans. Click on the link and you will be taken directly to the offer page.
Offer ends on 31 December 2009.

25 September 2009

I shall be presenting my next illustrated talk in Newport Central Library at 2.30 pm on Thursday 5 November 2009.  I will give an overview of my book Stories in Welsh Stone and then look at some chapters in detail. I will then end by talking about some examples  of my more recent work with a specific Newport focus.  The address is
Lending Library
John Frost Square
Newport
NP20 1PA

21 September 2009

I have added another blog to this website. It is about Strata Florida and three graves of interest there. One commemorates the burial of Henry Hughes' left leg and another is possibly the final resting place of one of Wales' finest poets - Dafydd ap Gwilym. The third is the grave of an unknown tramp who once fought in the Afghan Wars of the nineteenth century.
The piece is called Returning from the Afghan Wars. Click here and you will be taken straight to the blog.

17 September 2009

I have been working on a piece for the magazine over recent days. It is virtually finished and will appear, I think, in March 2010. It is the story of the twelfth century Lady of Wales Siwan and her turbulent marriage to Llywelyn Fawr.

Here is her tomb in Beaumaris, Anglesey.

06 September 2009

I have added a new blog to this website about our visit to the very peculiar abandoned village of Perillos in the South of France, a place of considerable mystery. I have sub-titled the piece "In Search of The Big One." Read it and you will understand why.
This is the second and last of the blogs I intend to write which have emerged from our summer holiday.
I also intend to put this blog on My Space too.

Traffic on the website remains slow and hasn't yet recovered from the interruption to the service which we experienced earlier this week.

I have also submitted a piece for the January 2010 magazine about the strange medieval graves in Llanfihangel Abercowen, possibly belonging to pilgrims on their way to St David's.

01 September 2009

Today reality returned. Back to school after the summer break. In keeping with the weather of the last few weeks it has been blustery and extremely wet, with heavy rain.
Statistics for this website are very good pleasing, with our best ever month. Perhaps I should abandon the website to its own devices more often and disappear to France. It seems to manage perfectly well without me. That is the website by the way, not France. The country suffers from my absence. The income of French wine producers goes into sharp decline when I am not there.
Google tells me that in August we had a 20% increase in visitors when compared with July. There were227 visitors who managed to look at 266 pages between them.
September has a lot to live up to. However things have not got off to a good start. The server is down.
In this month's edition of Welsh Country Magazine you will find my story about the wreck of the steam clipper "The Royal Charter" off the coast of Anglesey in 1859. This October marks the 150th anniverary of the disaster, when over 430 people died.

20 August 2009

I have added the first of my holiday blogs to this website. It is called "Serrabone." It is about a Priory high in the Pyrenees.

18 August 2009

Well we have returned safely as you can see, from Languedoc Roussillon in the south of France. We had a wonderful time. The weather was excellent and our campsite very good indeed. We toured around and saw some beautiful places, some of which I will write aboouit in some blogs soon. We ate wonderful food and tasted some excellent wine - well it is what you would expect down in the Corbieres. And the scenery was wonderful. Here is a picture of me sitting on the ruins of the Cathar castle at Aguilar.

Like all such castles it is perched high on a remote rocky out-crop, hot and timeless amongst a sea of vines. If you are planning to go down there at all then if you contact me I can give you some recommendations for quality wine producers - like Chateau Planeres near Perpignan - and good places to eat. We particularly enjoyed a meal in the courtyard of El Castell Embruixat in St. Hippolyte (www.elcastellembruixat.com) where I had excellent rascasse and Liz had lovely duck. And the salad starters were wonderful.The page on their website called "Visite Guidee" gives a fine impression of a lovely place.

Whilst we were away of course the website did not stand still. In July we had 155 visitors which made it a successful month, our second best month ever. We also sold a book using Paypal for the first time which we dispatched as soon as we got home (thank you Val Magee!). This month looks even better with a discernable increase in traffic.
The stories in the "Shorter Tales" section have proved popular and I plan to add a couple more in the next few months. In passing I also need to mention that some poor soul was plonked on to the website after searching for "Cefn Hengoed Re-furbishment Plans." I hope they weren't too disappointed. I might work there but that is not what the website is about! I can't imagine there will be much Welsh Stone (or any stone come to that) involved in the building work.
So we have returned refreshed and ready, and over the coming weeks we will add more reflections to the site based on our travels, because as you can imagine I just couldn't stay out of cemeteries.

23 July 2009

I have added a new blog to this website - "The Channel Tunnel" - in anticipation of our holiday in the South of France. Our journey begins on Sunday and we will be away for three weeks.
As a result there will be no new activity on the website until the middle of August.
If you need to make contact then the contacts page has an email address which directs all mail to my personal account and I hope that I will be able to access that whilst I am away.
Alternatively, contact Ian Mole at Welsh Country Magazine - ian @welshcountry.co.uk.

22 July 2009

I have added a new page to the website. It is another in the "Shorter Tales" section. This one is about he sinking of a merchant navy vessel by a Uboat in 1945. The story comes from Holyhead in Anglesey and is called "Lie Ah Teng and the MV Maja." I would also like to acknowledge the help I have had from Marilyn Jones and Gwilym Games at Swansea Central Library who have directed me to source material for the stories about The Polaria and The Maja.

Today was the last day of the school year. It has been another very busy year which ended with the excellent news that the Welsh Assembly Government are going to make a considerable investment in the school. The refurbishing our decaying buildings should begin in April 2010 and it will take two years.
The school year seems to pass so quickly and yet I had not set up this website when it began and I feel as if I have been doing this forever!

20 July 2009

Today I added a new page to the website. I came across a very interesting piece from 1882 which I really wanted to write about. It hasn't got a grave in it, or even a death. Instead it has two births.
It was inspired by a long piece reporting the docking of a ship, SS Polaria, in Swansea in July 1882. It was carrying German and East European migrants to America and for three days became a considerable attraction in Swansea. I didn't want to lose the material so I decided to put it in the Shorter Tales section.For me it is a fascinating insight into nineteenth century attitudes and journalism. It is a fuller version of the piece that I have posted on the Americymru website.

If you click here you will be taken straight to the page - SS Polaria.

13 July 2009

I have added a new blog to this website. It is called "Wedding Gifts." I have also sent this piece to Welsh Country Magazine for their blog. I do like to submit different pieces whenever I can but as a result of both my marking and the imminent end of the school year, I just haven't had time. Mind you I might find it a lot easier if I actually wrote shorter pieces for all these different blogs I try to maintain!

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Happy birthday Jennie - and congratulations on your engagement!

10 July 2009

I have added a new blog to the Americymru website. It is called "Taking the Waters." I wrote it following a visit to Llandrindod Wells in Mid-Wales and it gives a brief outline of the history of the spa and the medicinal spring.

06 July 2009

I have finally managed to do some work on this website! I have finished the first of my Shorter Tales, the story of James Williams. If you click here you can go straight to the page. Alternatively you can follow the link above to the page Shorter Tales.

The intention is to draw together the material I have which I can't at the moment turn into a full length article. The first of these stories deals with the death of a seaman which briefly became an international incident in 1857.

05 July 2009

We had a busy time this weekend. We travelled to Reading for our son David's graduation. He was awarded an upper Second Class Honours Degree (LLB) in Law and we are extremely proud of him. He is returning to Reading in September to study for a Master's degree. It was an excellent occasion and then we moved on to spend Saturday night with our daughter Catherine and her family in Sutton in London. We have left David there where he is on a work experience placement with Continuum Press who have published some of my books.

01 July 2009

Last month was our busiest month so far on this website. We had 166 different visitors who made 231 visit. Some visitors continue to arrive from the Americymru website but we have also had a significant response from a family history website called Rootsweb
You can visit the website by clicking on this link here Rootsweb which will take you to the page about the book.
There are other reasons for celebration today too. It is the wedding anniversary of Liz and myself - 37 years - so we shall be exploring the contents of our champagne collection when she comes home from work. And I have finished my examination marking so I will be able to do some more work on the website.

In this month's edition of Welsh Country Magazine you will find my story about Louisa Maud Evans, otherwise known as Albertina, who died in a parachute accident over Cardiff in 1896. Interestingly in the newspapers that carry the reports of the accident you can also find the news of the death of Arthur Linton, the world champion cyclist from Aberdare, who is the final story in Volume 1.

26 June 2009

My birthday, and I spent a large part of the day on the M4 having collected our son David from Reading University at the end of term. We did have a pleasant drive along the A4 on the way home and stopped off to see the mysterious Silbury Hill near Marlborough but the M4 was extremely busy. Had to have a glass of champagne when we finally arrived home to revive us. Champagne from Chasseney D'Arce has such fine medicinal qualities.

20 June 2009

My talk to a local history group at the Library in Swansea Civic Centre seemed to go well today. I had a small but appreciative audience of 10 people, which included an ex-teaching colleague, Lew Bowyer. I also met a couple of other people from the Americymru website! At the end of the talk, during which I spoke about Margaret Williams and Sarah Jacob from Volume One, I sold 5 copies. Certainly more productive than a book signing!

14 June 2009

I have put a new blog on this website about my visit to London.
It is called "All Souls - Langham Place."

There will be less activity on the website from me for a couple of weeks now. This is a consequence of my examination work.

13 June 2009

We have made some slight modifications to the website, especially to the Blog page where an archive for older blogs has now been established. The Contents bar has also been changed.
A new page has been created called "Shorter Tales" which is currently under construction.
A Paypal link has also been installed on the "How to Buy" page to enable sales to be made directly from this website.

11 June 2009

The GCSE marking season has begun! I have 400 English examination papers to mark for AQA and today had to attend an examiners meeting in London. Naturally this inspired a blog which I will put up on the website soon.

06 June 2009

I have posted a new blog on My Space and Sagazone, and sent a copy to Welsh Country Magazine for their website too. Again it uses material from The Cambrian newspaper. It is called "The Lure of Gowerland," and again it features an actress.

05 June 2009

I have posted a new blog on this website, with material I have found whilst searching through old editions of The Cambrian newspaper. The piece is called "Mr Melville and the Actress."

I have also had an article published in today's edition of The Times Education Supplement, called "The naked truth about sweating it out with students."

02 June 2009

A new blog has been posted on the Americymru website, called "Getting Elected in West Virginia."

01 June 2009

May was our busiest month so far on this website. We had 146 different visitors who made 210 visits between them. Many of the new visitors came via the Americymru website.

27 May 2009

On Saturday 20 June 2009 I shall be presenting an illustrated talk about Stories in Welsh Stone to a local history group in Swansea.
It will be on the first floor of the Central Library in the Civic Centre in Swansea at 2.00pm. Admission is free.
I will be talking about stories from Volume One with particular emphasis on Margaret Williams, Sarah Jacob and Ellizabeth Jones

26 May 2009

The question we came up with for the radio quiz was something along the lines of "In which village will you find the Cadoxton Murder Stone?" No additional comment is necessary I think.

I have written a new blog called "Living Stories." It came about because I was given additional information today about the murder of Eleanor Williams, who appears on page 84 of Volume 1. Because of this information I have posted the same blog (roughly) on both Welsh Country and Americymru websites.

20 May 2009

I have been invited to appear on Swansea Sound, our local radio station! I will be interviewed on the Leighton Jones programme at approximately 11.45 am on Tuesday 26 May 2009. I believe that we are going to announce a competition to win a signed copy of the book. I had better think of a question!

Happy birthday Catherine!

17 May 2009

On Wednesday 3 June 2009 I shall be presenting an illustrated talk about Stories in Welsh Stone for the Chepstow Bookshop.
It will be in the Chepstow Drill Hall at 7.15 pm. Tickets are £2.
As well as talking about stories from Volume One I will also be featuring two “local stories” – Henry Marten from Chepstow and John Renie from Monmouth.

16 May 2009

I have posted two new blogs. They are both called "Cnapan," though there are slight differences between them.Both of them refer to a beautiful sunset at Parrog. Here is a photo.

One blog is on this website and the other is on Americymru.

15 May 2009

Book signing completed in Waterstone's Aberystwyth.

13 May 2009

I have been interviewed about the book via email on the Americymru website.

Click here to read the interview.

09 May 2009

I have had a busy day maintaining my various blogs on different websites.

One about my current work about the sinking of The Royal Charter in 1859 has been posted on the Welsh Country Magazine website, My Space and Sagazone.

A blog about the lost village of St Ishmaels has been posed on Americymru.

A blog called "How to deal with Magistrates" has been posted on this website.

05 May 2009

I have another book signing arranged. This time in Waterstone's Bookshop on Great Darkgate Street in Aberystwyth at 12.00 pm on Saturday 16 May 2009.

03 May 2009

The book is being offered as a prize, together with a subscription to Welsh Country Magazine, on the Americymru Social Network site.

Click here to visit the competition page.

There has been increased interest in the book from both North and South America, along with Canada and South Africa. This has resulted in an increase in overseas visitors to the website. Welsh Country Magazine has reminded me that they have the facility to manage overseas sales efficiently and securely.

I have also posted a new bolg on this website, called "Book or Car?". A version of this blog will also appear on the Americymru site and on My Space

01 May 2009

The story in this month's edition of "Welsh Country Magazine" is about Sara Hughes from Brithdir near Dolgellau who was murdered in 1877 when she was a 36 year old mother. Her dismembered body was thrown into the river Arran and it was found floating through the town early on an July morning...

Although we received visitors every day, this has been a quieter month on the website, with 91 different visitors. However there has been an increase in overseas traffic with a number of new visitors from South America, in Argentina and Uruguay.

25 April 2009

Here I am at my latest book signing in Borders Bookshop, Llantrisant on Saturday afternoon. The next one is scheduled for Borders in Cardiff on Saturday 2 May 2009.

24 April 2009

I have posted a new blog on this website. It has my reflections on my recent visit to Disneyland in Paris. It is called "Phantom Manor."This blog will also be featured on the Welsh Country Magazine website shortly.

23 April 2009

I have joined an excellent Welsh Social Networking site based in America called Americymru through which I hope I will be able to bring the book to wider attention across the world. My membership has already inspired visitors to this site from Argentina, Uruguay and Canada. I have also been sent a very interesting photograph of a headstone in Patagonia about which I am keen to find out more.

Click here to go to the Americymru website

20 April 2009

We have returned from our successful visit to France. We had a fine and rustic gite in Verdelot near Chateau Thierry with a lovely garden - thank you Monsieur Bourqui. We had a fantastic day in Paris in the sunshine - including a trip on the river, patisserie in Ladouree and drinks on the Boul' Mich. We tasted excellent champagne in Charly sur Marne at Baron Fuente (Grande Reserve) and of course we had a fine day in Disneyland. I let the others do the Tower of Terror. I went the scariest ride of them all - It's a Small World, with Bethan. My sons in law couldn't face it. But I was brave. After all it is a real man's ride.So now, full of happy memories, it's back to book work.

Click here to visit the Baron Fuente website

A new blog has been posted on this website which gives additional information about Henry Tremble who is featured in the book on page 120. The blog will also appear on the Welsh Country website.

Whilst we were away I had a piece published in the Times Education Supplement (10 April 2009) It was called "Anglesey Graves send a message we should heed today". I used some of the research we carried out into the Clio, the floating workhouse anchored off Bangor, and linked it to the on-going development of new vocational qualifications for sixteen year olds. This was my 126 article in the Times Educational Supplement.

09 April 2009

There will be no additions to the website now for 10 days. We are going to see Monsieur Mickey Mouse with our grandchildren Alex, Will and Bethan (and their parents of course) at Disneyland Paris. A bientot!

08 April 2009

A new blog posted -" Bedside Manners." It will also be posted on My Space, Welsh Country and Sagazone websites.

Email received from Christopher Challoner, a descendant of Henry Tremble, offering additional information about the tragic events in 1876 in Caio which feature in Volume One of Stories in Welsh Stone in the chapter John Johnes.

04 April 2009

Book signing in Border's Bookshop, Fforestfach, Swansea.

03 April

The end of the school term - and eldest daughter Laura's birthday. She is 33 today. Another book signing has been arranged, this time at 12.00 pm in Borders in Cardiff on Saturday 2 May. I have also been booked to speak at an event sponsored by Chepstow Bookshop on Wednesday 3 June 2009. Further details to come.

31 March 2009

New blog posted - "Being Gobby." It will also be posted on My Space.

This month there was an increase in visitors to the website. We welcomed 122 different guests.

28 March 2009

Book signing in Waterstone's Bookshop, Oxford Street, Swansea.

26 March 2009

Find out about my appearance on the Jamie and Louise show by looking at my latest blog on this site - "Down at the BBC". The blog will also be posted on My Space.

23 March 2009

New Blog posted on this website -"Vandalism." This Blog will also be posted on the Welsh Country and Sagazone websites.

19 March 2009

I have been invited to appear on the Jamie and Louise Show on BBC Radio Wales on Wednesday 25 March 2009 at 9.30 am,. to talk about the book and my most recent work.

15 March 2009

New Blog posted on this website - "Wisdom is Better than Rubies." This Blog will also be posted on My Space.

13 March 2009

On an official visit to the school, the Lord Mayor of Swansea was presented with a signed copy of the book by the Headteacher, Mrs. Sue Hollister.

10 March 2009

These book signings have now been arranged

Saturday 28 March 2009 - 12.00pm - 1.00pm Waterstones, Swansea.

Saturday 4 April 2009 - 12.00pm - 2.00 pm Borders, Fforestfach, Swansea.

Saturday 25 April 2009 1.00pm - 3.00 pm Borders, Llantrisant.

06 March 2009

New blog posted about "World Book Day" (see below) This is also posted on My Space. Today is also the birthday of our son David, who is 21 and in the final year of his Law degree at Reading University. Happy birthday David!

04 March 2009

The author is invited to speak to pupils in Cefn Hengoed Community School in Swansea about his writing as part of World Book Day. Those attending included two girls called Courtney, Chevonne, Shannon, Rebecca, Rachel, Annie, David, Luke, Amy, and Ben.

01 March 2009

The March - April edition of Welsh Country Magazine is published. This edition features a three page article about Harold Lowe who is buried in Llandillo yn Rhos outside Llandudno. He was regarded by many as "The Real Hero of the Titanic." His actions saved many lives and he achieved notoriety for firing his revolver to establish some order amongst the crowd of desperate passengers, all trying to get on the lifeboats. The Titanic was struck by an iceberg 97 years ago, on Sunday 14 April 1912 and sank just over three hours later in the early hours of Monday morning..

28 February

Research visit to Nant y Glo as part of a projected article on Crawshay Bailey, the nineteenth century ironmaster. He fortified a farm to protect his family against an anticipated uprising by his dissatisfied workers. It is regarded by some as the last castle built in Great Britain. Although the remains of the sftructure are in private hands I was very fortunate to be allowed access to the remaining tower and the farm. Instead of wood, the builders used iron, so the window frames, sills, doors, joists were all constructed in the Nant y Glo iron works. The iron door to the tower has holes through which the defenders could push muskets. I was also shown the barns and the coach house.The architecture and structure of the farm buildings is entirely unique.

The research visit also included an excellent lunch at The Walnut Tree Restaurant near Abergavenny.

Click here to visit The Walnut Tree website.

This month the website had 98 visitors, an increase on January's traffic.

24 February

Blog posted - "Visiting Anglesey." The My Space version is called "A Blind Musician."

A Blog called "Amongst the Dead of Cardiff" was posted on Sagazone. This has already appeared on this website on 24 January 2009 when it was called "A Visit to Cathays Cemetery."

21 February

Alf Knight, a member of the Llansamlet Historical Society buys a copy of the book direct from the author. At 90 years of age he is the oldest known purchaser.

19 February

A review appears on the gwales website.

Click on this link to read the review

A copy of the review is also available on the Welsh Country magazine website.

Click here to visit all the reviews on the Welsh Country website

16 - 18 February

Research visit to Anglesey

11 February

Blog posted - "How to Write for Newspapers." This was also posted on My Space with the title "Writing for Newspapers."

7 February

Research visit to Nantyglo and Abergavenny cancelled due to snow!

2 February

Blog posted on the website - "Hanging a Picture." A version of this piece was also posted on My Space with the title "Wade Roo Dee" and on Sagazone with the title "A Cassoulet in Chester."

31 January

During its first month, this website had 95 different visitors.

29 January

A review appears in The County Times in Welshpool

24 January

A new blog posted - A Visit to Cathays Cemetery. A version was also posted on My Space and Sagazone under the title "Searching with Confidence."

18 January

A second book is sold and delivered to St Helens in Swansea as a result of a website enquiry.

17 January

Research visit to Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff

First book sold via a website enquiry and delivered to Fforestfach in Swansea.

15 January

A feature about the book appears in The South Wales Evening Post on pages 28 and 29 in the "Looking Back" section.

"Life tales set in stones of history"

Click here to go to the Evening Post website.

14 January

Another blog posted, called Disgraceful scene at Swansea. A slightly different version was posted on My Space with the title "Relocating Blackpool."

11 January

Today is the birthday of my wife Liz. Happy Birthday!

08 January

New blog posted - A Morbid Interest? This was also posted on My Space

03 January

Blog posted on Sagazone, called "Multi-tasking."

1 January

Website completed and goes on-line.

The January - February edition of Welsh Country Magazine is published. In this edition I write about 2 graves, William Allen in Monmouth and John Fielding in Llantarnam, who both won the Victoria Cross in the engagement at Rorke's Drift in the Zulu Wars in January 1879. This is the 130th anniversary.

30 December

Research visits to Porthcawl, Laleston and Llanblethian

Blog posted - Being a Boy. This was also posted on my pages at My Space. On Sagazone this piece appeared with the title "Male Priorities."

29 December

Research visit to Mumbles

Blog posted on Sagazone, called "In the Fast Lane."

28 December

First Blog posted - A Busy Year

11 December

First radio interview with Radio Ceredigion.

6 December

20 November

The first face-face sales are made in Swansea

19 November

The author attends the magazine offices to sign and dedicate the first 50 copies of the book.

14 November

The book "Stories in Welsh Stone" is finally delivered to the offices of the magazine in Aberbanc.

01 November

Welsh Country Magazine starts to take pre-publication orders for "Stories in Welsh Stone" following a feature in the magazine.

The story featured in this edition is the tale of Martha Nash who may have been murdered by her desperate father in Swansea in 1885.