I have been gearing up for our CCAN groups mass upload of pictures to History Pin and the big task of adding the hundreds more items- from, photos, scrapbooks, podcasts, memories etc. - to both CCAN and History Pin. Whilst doing this I thought I might as well sort out my own archives and my own thousands of photos - and it is a real task I can tell you! But it is proving good fun too, as I'm getting to see some great old archives and re-discovering some of my old pictures too. I have been using Google's Picasa to store my own family pics but have decided that as I have so many and many are from archaeology sites, history trips etc. I might as well share them online too. So to save my already packed website from getting too overloaded with family holiday pics ;) I have created a public web album on Picasa which I have generally listed by placename. You are more than welcome to check out my pics on there and add your comments - just bare in mind I have only just started and there are thousands more to come!!!
I now have a great deposit scheme for all our groups and Cambs Archives with the lovely Mr Chris Jakes at the Cambridgeshire Collection, where we now make monthly deposits of all our collected material :) If you have any memories of pictures etc. that you would like to be added to our CCAN groups or for me to help you with then please feel free to get in touch. Contact Me!
To Visit my Picasa web albums just follow this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/michbullivant

War Ditches is being printed off as I write! The background research of this Iron Age Hillfort site has taken me about a year to do, as with any research I feel there is still lots and lots more that can be done but alas, time and money have long since run out and above all that my family would like their home back and their mum! The house has truely turned into a tip over this last week of finishing off the writing, editing and proof reading - this is due partly to it being summer holidays and the need to try and amuse my 8 year old in a way that meant I could still get the work done, I simply adopted a policy of 'sod the housework' and I will be dealing with the consequences of that in the morning!!!
However, I am very pleased with the work I have done and will be opening a little bottle of champagne when I get home from handing it in :)
I will continue the remaining research in my own time and hope to have the book about the site out by next summer but the pressure will now be off and I can relax to some degree. We have lots of fantastic plans coming up over the next few months and you'll see a great deal added to both CCAN and to History Pin, so watch out for news here!

I am finally on the last bit of writing up the background history for the War Ditches site. I will spend the rest of the week (& prob some of next week!) getting it ready to hand over to Oxford Archaeology East, who'll then hand it over to the Wildlife Trust. I'm not going to say too much about it all yet as when it is finished I'll be adding some great stuff about it all on here, so watch this space!
I have mountains of great stuff to to add to History Pin and to Cambridgeshire Community Archives Network, literally thousands of photos, stories and clips! So I've a lot to do there as well. Everything I add to those two site is also added on this website under Michelle's Archives so you can make comment and I can add more detail to the item when I get the chance. My main priority now, is to just get the pictures etc. uploaded to the websites. All of the information I add gets copied to the Cambridgeshire Collection for archive and so the public can access the hard material too. Let me know if you would like to add anything yourself and I'll give you a hand :)

I had a great day training on Active Citizenship at Cintra House in Cambridge with the WEA yesterday. We learnt a lot about how to include this into the courses we teach but actually anyone can get involved in being an 'Active Citizen', one simple way to do this yourself is to get involved with Cambridgeshire Community Archives or History Pin! It's a really worthwhile and simple way to enhance your community history, if you need a hand, I'm more than happy to help. It doesn't have to be time consuming and you may have just one old picture you could share or just one story but put all together, these things really help create a sense of community and belonging, so why not get in touch :)

I am pleased to announce that Cambridge Community Archives will be working in association with History Pin with archived material being uploaded over the next couple of months. This will mean you can benefit from seeing many of our pictures in Google Street View and you'll be able to add comments to our various archive pictures and stories. If you have anything you wish to add to eitherCambridge Community Archives or History Pin and would like some help, please feel free to get in touch with us or use the 'contact me' page of this website :)
I am also pleased to formally announce our association with the Cambridgeshire Collection, who have been involved with the CCAN project from the start. All of our pictures, stories, audio, video etc. will be shared with the Cambridgeshire Collection as a long term archive availble to the public.

We had a lovely group meeting last week for Cherry Hinton Community Archives and I am pleased to announce that Cherry Hinton Archives will be working in association with History Pin with archived material being uploaded over the next couple of months. This will mean you can benefit from seeing many of our pictures in Google Street View and you'll be able to add comments to our various archive pictures and stories. If you have anything you wish to add to either Cherry Hinton Community Archives or History Pin and would like some help, please feel free to get in touch with us or use the 'contact me' page of this website :)
I am also pleased to formally announce our association with the Cambridgeshire Collection, who have been involved with the CCAN project from the start. All of our pictures, stories, audio, video etc. will be shared with the Cambridgeshire Collection as a long term archive availble to the public.

Things are going really well with the newly launched History Pin. I  will created an individual page, on this website, for it later, that way you can keep up to date with news about the project, find out how to use it and see some info on some of the entries I have made to the site. What is fantastic about History Pin is that is is completely FREE, you don't have to join any group to be a part of it, you can just log onto the site and add your own pictures or stories. Even better why not get talking to someone from another generation and get their pictures and stories added.
But you needn't feel alone whilst getting involved in History Pin because we have a fantastic group in Cambs which you can go to for advice, help and support in adding you items to History Pin. Cambridgeshire Association for Local History is the umbrella group for history groups, village societies and likeminded groups covering the whole of Cambridgeshire. We are working in association with History Pin and we are more than happy to help get you started and to support you will your contributions to History Pin. We have some great plans for Cambridgeshire and I'll update you on all this as it happens.

It's been a busy week so far. I've been busy working on History Pin, promotion and the amazing plans we have for Cambridgeshire and History Pin. I will keep you posted here on developments. Monday kids went back to school after the half term break, so I have been using most of the time during the day to write up the background history for the War Ditches (Iron Age Hillfort site), still a bit more to do but I'm almost done, there be a good bit about that project on here when I've finished the write up. Monday night I had the Cambridge Antiquarian Council meeting to go to, which was at the Sedgewick site at the Backs in Cambridge. Closely followed by the lecture there on 'War Ditches' given by my collegues Richard Mortimer & Alex Pickstone. Then I went for a nice drink with Proff. Nick James at The Granta by the Cambridge mill pond.
Tuesday morning I chaired the Cherry Hinton Local History Society committee meeting, we got lots of great stuff sorted out. Again a lovely committee to work with and all so supportive and friendly which always makes the difference because I hear some dreadful tales about some committees! One of my friends says she will write a book on committee's one day!
In between that I have popped up to see my granny in the hospital - she's getting along ok and may well be out of hospital today x
Tuesday night it was the Cherry Hinton Community Archives group meeting at Jon's house - another lovely set of people - Jon always produces a cake he has made! We had a lot to discuss as we are now all working in conjunction with History Pin and there's a lot in the pipeline.
Yesterday I went to a lovely village near Huntingdon called Hilton to do a  bridal makeup trial. This morning I am going to get on with finishing War Ditches and I am really looking forward to tomorrow as it's my birthday :) I haven't any plans yet, my son is coming down from Shrewsbury for the weekend and my sister is coming over in the afternoon, I'm just gonna chill out and not work for a day! ;)  m x

Those clever people at History Pin have now created a You Tube page so that you can go and see the brilliant short advert for History Pin and you can also see 2 videos filmed on the day of the launch in the Faraday Theatre which I attended. The first film is great as it takes you step-by-step on how to use and add things to History Pin - so why not take a look and then have a go at adding some of your old photos or add a story?
The second film tells you all about how History Pin began and gives you more information about Google's relationship which We Are What We Do and the future of the project. Click here:
Amazing History Pin You Tube page

On Thursday 3rd June I attended the official launch of the amazing new HISTORY PIN project. The launch was held at The Royal Institute of Great Britain (where the Christmas lectures take place). I was joined there by my colleague Andrew Westwood-Bate from the Cambridgeshire Association for Local History - who are taking a lead in promoting and supporting this project in Cambridgeshire.
It was a fantastic day and a superb launch, we met with lots of other people involved with the History Pin project, we learnt a lot more about the plans for the project in the future as it grows and becomes world wide. The building we were in was a wonderful location and we all enjoyed the event. There is a lot to report and a lot to take in to account with this new project. It will have a bearing on all community archives, and other smaller website based archives. The plans for the extras to come are amazing too.
Have a look at the (now public) History Pin website:
History Pin
They've just added a great video introduction on the site, so why not take a look :)
Get yourself involved and start adding you stories and pictures (it's really easy to use) And don't forget, if you need a hand with using the site, collecting memories/old pics/scanning/making video or audio files etc. please do get in touch either with me or Cambridgeshire Association for Local History and we will help you :)
I'll be back with more information and news on this fanatstic new project soon x