Dorset Family History Society is hosting an Online Zoom Meeting on Tuesday 24th June 2025 with Log in from 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start.
The speaker is Janet Few with a talk entitled 'Barefoot on the Cobbles - from family fact to family fiction''.
Janet is an experienced and qualified family, social and community historian who lectures regularly on these subjects throughout the UK and overseas. She has spoken at many national and international genealogical events and is also a well known author. Her particular interests include women’s history, the history of the marginalised and seventeenth century social history.
Barefoot on the Cobbles is a based-on-fact historical novel set between 1880 and 1920. This presentation explains the research that underpins the creation of this story, some of the family and social history sources used and the problems of combining fact and fiction. Growing up, barefoot on the cobbles, in a village on the rugged North Devon coast, Daisy was aware of the perils of the uncertain sea. Her family were also exposed to the dangers of disease and of the First World War but for Daisy, it was her own mother who posed the greatest threat of all. What was it about her mother’s origins, in an isolated rural community, that drove an ordinary fisherman’s wife to take such desperate measures in order to preserve her sanity? Vividly recreating life at the dawning of the twentieth century, this story is based on a real scandal that lay hidden for nearly a century. Rooted in its unique and beautiful geographical setting, here is the unfolding of a past that reverberates unhappily through the decades and of raw emotions that are surprisingly modern in character.
The story of pioneer aviator Wing Commander Harold Blackburn MC AFC comes to life after a century buried under scandal and shame.
Society Members who have consented to receive information by e-mail will find a meeting invitation link in the latest E-News, usually sent on the last Friday each month. If that has not been received, it is also available in the password protected Members’ Area.
Those who do not receive E-News, or who are not Society Members, are welcome to join this meeting and should email liaison@dorsetfhs.org.uk with a request for an invitation link. This request should reach us at least 6 hours before the meeting is due to start, and the link will be sent about 2 hours before the meeting starts.
We welcome a £3.00 donation from each person after they have attended a meeting, payable on the Society's website www.dorsetfhs.org.uk
