A Talk For The Family History Society

At very short notice. because another speaker had dropped out with only a few days to go, we were able to step in to cover a Zoom presentation for members of the Folkestone & District Family History Society (F&DFHS).

It was quite an honour to be asked to do this presentation for a group that has its very roots in Folkestone and family history – so even given the timescales were so very short we jumped at the chance.

When putting a ‘walk and talk’ together one has to be very careful that it is physically possible – because not only is the cemetery very long, which means that walking the length of it, from one end to the other, would itself take 15 to 20 minutes, but also one has to take into account that the memorials and headstones are often in very uneven ground due to bunnies and foxes digging amongst the stones. So its not always easy to walk right up to a headstone or memorial.

Still – this particular presentation was a Zoom talk – therefore giving me the opportunity to ‘cherry pick’ from any area in the cemetery – after all, this presentation would be viewed from the armchair – what a luxury for me to have so much freedom.

I talked about: The Resting House/Mortuary, CWGs & VCs, Charlie Joy, Stephen Warman, Charlie ‘Cookie’ Cook, John Anderson, William Salkeld, Gwendolin de Chassiron, Rajabhai Sherbhai, Frederick Lemual Wale, Phyllis Annie Neale, the Grosser Kurfurst, Annie & Rosie Beer and the air raid, and finally Mary Edith Pechey.

After the presentation, there were some great questions – and all in all I hope the lovely audience enjoyed the presentation as much as I did.

MORE WALK AND TALKS TO COME: We have some more ‘walk and talks’ of the more conventional type lined up and ready to go (although we are always happy to do Zoom presentations for interested groups) – including: ‘Duty, Destiny & Disaster’, ‘From Fleets to Fliers’, ‘Magic, Mystery and Mayhem’ as well as ‘Murder, Mystery and Misfortune’ plus more. So do keep an eye open for notices about a walk and talk’ – you may be surprised how many interesting characters have made Folkestone their home.

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