June 2024 meeting: Sue Paul – My ancestor was a pirate (or Pirates of the Caribbean – the sequel)
I’m sure we can all visualise the stereotypical pirate (peg-leg, eye-patch and parrot 😊) and probably think we don’t have any in our ancestry. However, Sue told it is not too far-fetched to find that there may be one or more in your family tree. If one of your ancestors disappeared off the records, it […]
May 2024 meeting: Back to the flood – Diane Calton Smith
Diane gave us another of her wonderful talks bringing history to life. Her talk was based on her next Fenland Mystery book ‘Back to the Flood’, due to be published later this year. She took us on a walk through Wisbech with the Bishop’s Seneschal, Roger of Abynton. The names and places seemed so real, […]
April 2024 meeting: Alan Johnson – Hereward and the Wake Family
Many people know Hereward as Hereward the Wake, taken from the novel by Charles Kingsley. Alan came along to try and dispel some of the myths but add to the story of this Freedom Fighter of the Fens. The main sources for Herward’s life are the Gesta Herewardi, the Peterborough Chronicle (the version of the […]
February 2024 meeting: Susanah Farmer – The Littleport Riots
February Meeting Unfortunately, our original speaker for this meeting, Grenville Goodson from the Littleport Society, was unable to attend for health reasons. We wished him a speedy recovery and Susanah Farmer offered to continue with the same subject and give a presentation. The Littleport Riots To outsiders, it may be that the riots in Littleport […]