tehmina.org

Wiltshire County Council and Swindon Borough Council are currently in the middle of moving various heritage services from around the county (mainly Trowbridge) topurpose-built facilities in Chippenham which will open some time after October 2007 as Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. These services include the record office (archives), archaeology, museums service conservation (moved from Salisbury) and local studies library.

It is claimed that the new facilities will increase access to heritage collections and services for members of the public. However, have the planners thought about transport issues? To try and reach Chippenham from most of Wiltshire is a trial. There are few adequate bus services and a woeful, mistimed rail service on the TransWilts line which means that you have to add almost an hour to your journey to travel, say, from Salisbury to Chippenham (change at Bath) on the train (previously it was direct to Trowbridge). This is the letter I wrote to Salisbury Journal in response to the story of the new History Centre: (more…)

I wanted to find out more about people and organisations who have declared UDI (unilateral declaration of independence) against something or someone. On my travels I came across the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM). It is extremely pleasing to read that unequivocal socialism still exists in the politicking of the United Kingdom. The SRSM don’t just want Scottish independence but want to ensure that any independence is not accompanied multi-national corporate domination short-term capitalist gain for the few (for example like that which we are witnessing now in the ever-growing gap between the rich and poorer). Their principles are very much based in Wallace-esque rhetioric but if you scratch through this and excuse the sometimes overly-polemical content, there is an organisation and a solidarity that is refreshingly reassuring. (more…)

I have been involved for a while, to a lesser or greater degree, in family history research but this is usually facilitating it for others. I have not really explored my own to any great depth. My blood family’s history (the Bhotes, originally from near Poona in India) has been transmitted to me in legend and story rather than through documentary sources. The trail ends up in undergrowth just beyond the boundaries of living memory.

My oldest remembered ancestor was a teacher and we have a portrait of him (not older than the latter quarter of the 19th century). When I reflect on the fragility of memory I feel needled. I need to talk to my grandmothers and remember what they tell me or it will be ‘lost’ - or rather the memories will never be created. I am now married and my adoptive family are the Goskars. There are not many left in the world and there are only two, my husband and his sister, who keep the (more…)

This week’s Global Museum highlights a story about a new museum that has opened in Nagoya, Japan in memory of Shoichi Yokoi, a former soldier in the Japanese army who returned to Japan in 1972 having spent over 26 years in the jungles of Guam without realising World War II had ended. (more…)

I’ve just added this image and a story to Cornwall Culture, a campaign to find out what Cornwall means to you, us, them. In the section ‘What does Cornwall mean to you‘ there is a virtual pin-board of images each with stories, keywords and comments made by various people who have joined the campaign. You can also agree or disagree with whether a particular keywords or add your own. Browsing around what some people had to say was compelling. (more…)

On Boundaries is a new blog created by my friends gesta and reivers, a medievalist and a mathematical scientist, approaching life, people and the universe from their divers perspectives. If they don’t mind me saying, this will blog will challenge all sorts of rubbish that is believed by lots of unthinking or otherwise ignorant people. They are compassionate intellectuals, highly defined by their own life experiences in learning, knowledge acquisition and wisdom sharing.

History repeats itself. Governments / politicians / we never learn from history. We ignore history at our peril. Some of the things commonly said about the consequences of not engaging with history when decisions like going to war are made. Countless people pointed this out in relation to the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq and continue to do so. However, the planning and justifications for this particular invasion have never been countenanced by history. How could they? Who, in the Bush and Blair regimes have ever engaged with history truthfully, recent or distant, to make it influence their decision making? The only use of historical legitimacy that I noted was in that feeble declaration of support penned by Tony Blair and some of his European counterparts to make a statement of solidarity for George Bush and the US government: (more…)