After a really busy and intense week working hard on finishing off War Ditches history, fiting in makeovers and coping with lots of family stuff, especially my lovely granny who is still in hospital I managed to get a llittle break at the weekend. I went to London on saturday afternoon with Russ, we stayed in a hotel right next to the Tower of London and in the evening we went to Somerset House on The Strand to see one of my favorite musicians - Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy doing a solo Divine Comedy live show. It was fantastic, the music and performance was just brilliant topped off by the lovely surroundings of the great courtyard of Somerset house which was all lit up pretty :) We drunk Pimms and took some nice pictures. The next day we got buses down to Knightsbridge and went to Harrods where we looked at the little puppies in Pet Kingdom and I brought some Hello Kitty things for my girls from the Toy Land. We then walked round all of the food halls and brought some chocolates to bring home for the kids - We only got 8 single truffles and I won't tell you just how much they cost!!! I nearly fell over! ;) We stopped off at Trafalgar Square on the way back to the train station and got some lunch, it was such a nice warm summers day, I really, really needed that :)
Last weekend I had a great time finally getting the bike out and heading off into Cambridge with Russ, we biked to Parkers Piece and spent some time walking around the great stalls that were out for the 'Big Weekend', we went on the French Market and got to visit the Doctor Who exhibits in the Radio Cambs tent. We then biked down Hills Road to St Paul's Church where we did some exploring of 'New Town', we took some fantastic photos which will be appearing in Michelle's Archive and CCAN with attached stories shortly. We had a look down Russell Street where my granny lived and went to school, I have some great audio clips of her describing her childhood there, one of which I have already added to Michelle's Archives for you to listen to :) It was strange as just as we were walking about this area where my granny was born I had a phone call from my aunt to tell me that granny had had a heart attack and was back in Addenbrookes :( So the whole family has been up and down the hospital every day since to visit her, it's been really hard as she has been quite ill and it has been horrible to see but she may now be allowed to come home - it's been just over a week - even though it seems longer. After that phone call me and Russ stopped off on our bike ride home to Cherry Hinton at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens and had a pleasant walk around and took more nice pictures. We then biked back to Cherry Hinton along the length of Cherry Hinton Road. Once home I found I had the most amazing T-Shirt tan and a bright red sunburnt face! Luckily it wasn't too bad and didn't get too sore. I have been so busy this last week with finishing the big research project about the War Ditches Hill Fort and with family stuff that I haven't updated much on here but School Summer Holidays start in 3 days time and I will have finished any outstanding jobs ready to spend quality time with my kids and to be able to start adding my thousands of great archives to Michelle's Archives and CCAN :) I then had another phone call later that day to say that my sister, Lynsey, had had her baby at the Rosie Hospital at Addenbrookes!!! So I have another little neice! Later that week granny was strong enough to be wheeled to the family room in the ward she is on to see her new little great grandchild - another one of many :) It was a very moving time, granny didn't think she would get to see the baby so it was so lovely, granny has always loved babies.
Nominet Internet Awards 2010 I am so proud to reveal that our very own amazing Cambridgeshire Community Archives Network (CCAN) was shortlisted out of many applicants for the prestigious Nominet Internet Awards 2010!!!! It was well deserved and I am so pleased that we have got recognition for our wonderful network. Thanks are due to all of you who have been involved in helping promote, use and contribute to Cambridgeshire’s biggest and best community archives website. Last night I attended the Nominet Internet Awards ceremony at One Whitehall, London along with our partners from Cambridgeshire County Council, represented by Steve Capes and Matthew Hall. The shortlisted applicants were requested by special invitation to attend the awards ceremony which was a spectacular evening of fine wine, champagne, incredible food and exclusive company. Well done for all your hard work with the Cambridgeshire Community Archives! If you would like to know more about CCAN and take part or get a group going in your village/area please do get in touch!
cross-searchable network of digital archives. Staff from Cambridgeshire’s Library Learning Services team have assisted towns, villages and organisations in learning IT skills and recording and developing their own online
community histories.
CCAN is built around a specially created web site www.ccan.co.uk and now consists of 50 active groups. In just over two years, the site has grown to contain over 14,000 records that include photographs, stories, oral history recordings and videoed memories.
This project has enabled rurally isolated communities to join together in a common bond, to preserve their history, customs and heritage in a unique online format. This has
in turn enabled them to share their gathered history and culture internationally.
The Nominet Internet Awards Promoting UK Internet Best PracticeThe Nominet Internet Awards is an annual competition which is aimed at UK individuals and organisations who are helping to make the Internet a secure, open, accessible or diverse experience for everyone who uses it. These awards promote UK best practice and celebrate achievement and innovation on the Internet.
This year's winners include a variety of world-class projects from SignTranslate, a small organisation that has created communication tools that enable medical professionals to communicate with non-English speakers, to the British Library, which has developed an interactive timeline allowing users to explore history.
When we launched the Awards in February we set out to recognise and reward the organisations, groups and individuals whose work is helping to ensure that the Internet offers a secure, open, accessible and diverse experience for all. Nominet went looking for examples of British creativity and innovation in the use of the Internet and discovered a wide spectrum of people and organisations that have tackled a diverse set of challenges for the benefit of Internet users in the UK and beyond. This year we were delighted to receive a huge number of high quality entries, across all five categories. Narrowing these down to a shortlist, and subsequently selecting the winners was a big challenge. Indeed I want to congratulate all the shortlisted applicants. In a very real sense you are all worthy winners. Now, I am proud to be celebrating so many examples of best practice within the UK Internet industry and look forward to highlighting their good work at the Internet Governance Forum in Vilnius, Lithuania in November. The winning entries are sure to spark lively discussions and add substance to the international policy debate.
Rt Hon Alun Michael MP,
Chair of Judges,
Nominet Internet Awards 2010Read more at:
Winners Brochure There is an eminent and independent panel of judges Chaired by the Rt Hon Alun Michael MP.
Why does Nominet run an Internet Awards competition?
To promote and develop industry best practice
To learn from others and share our knowledge to help shape the future of the Internet
To reward UK organisations or individuals who work to ensure the Internet offers a secure, open, accessible and diverse experience for all
To recognise UK creativity and innovation in the use of the Internet and showcase these to the international community in the United Nations Internet Governance Forum
Nominet is the Internet registry for.uk domain names.We operate at the heart of e-commerce in the UK, running one of the world's largest Internet registries and managing over eight million domain names.We maintain the register of .uk domain names. We run the technology which locates a computer on the Internet hosting the web site or email system you're looking for when you type in a web address or send an email to an address that ends in .uk.
I've been editing my final draft of the historical background for War Ditches and am very pleased with it, I will be even more pleased when I have actually handed it in and I can take a break from it to concentrate on some other exciting work and spending time with my lovely family and friends for the summer break :) We now have a new addition to the family! We got a dear little cocker spaniel puppy last week, she is brown and tan and we've called her Willow :) so as I sit here doing some work I have a dear little, soft, furry puppy nuzzled against my arm :D This week has been busy as always but I am pleased to finally get some closure on a nasty bit of business caused by someone who has harassed, tried to bully and tried to publicly humiliate me since last October. Everything has been dealt with so professionally by my brilliant colleagues who have also had to put up with trouble from this person and I would just like to thank all my friends and family who have supported me and helped me through it all. I am so glad it seems to be at an end now. The Police and the Hate Crime Group and my solicitor have been fantastic and I am confident in how to deal with anything like this again (which I hope I never have to!). I would encourage anyone who ever feels threatened, bullied or harassed in any way to always speak out. Bullies want to frighten and intimidate you, you must not stay silent and hope it goes away. Tell someone! Your true friends and family will support you and there is a fantastic network of professional organisations out there to help you too. I went out on Friday night for a little 'new start' celebration with my lovely crowd of sisters and friends. We had a lovely evening finishing off with everyone coming back here to see and cuddle puppy at about 12.30am. On Saturday it was Charlotte's 8th birthday, so we had another nice day. Sunday we spent decorating Charlotte's bedroom which now looks really nice. The next room to tackle is my office; I actually have a whole room inside the house (rather than the outhouse/store) to have just for my office! I can't wait, it will make such a difference to have all my work stuff in one room, where I can also go to work rather than sitting in the front room on the computer where I am really having to fight the temptation to watch Neighbours and Murder She Wrote in the afternoon ;) Exciting event to go to on Wednesday in London, more on that soon!
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