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We can heartily recommend the following sites. Click the underlined links when you're ready to go straight on to these sites. EVERY LINK OPENS IN A NEW BROWSER WINDOW FOR YOU Just close each window when you've finished with it. (Keeps the draught out !) And we hope you come back to us someday. If you do leave us and can't find your way back, type Rob & Val Haywood into a search engine Google will do the trick. And there's always the 'history' button on your browser toolbar. Below these are several other useful sites; three for the disabled, blind, etc; plus one for kiddies; and links to sites as diverse as - Shakespeare and Tom Jones, all three of HM Armed Services and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, plus an unashamed plug for two of Britain's Loveliest Magazines, "THIS ENGLAND" and "EVERGREEN", beloved of ex-pats everywhere, and like us - all RECOMMENDED! And if you want a good belly laugh like you've not had in a long while do visit HELL'S GERIATRICS. Sit down first though! There's even the phone numbers of a couple of Advertising Standards Watchdogs. For Leicester folk; if you still mourn the loss of Lewis', did your courting under Lea's Clock, bought your tights at Marshall & Snelgrove and your cheese and flowers at Simpkins & James and bought stamps at Bishop St Post office, the chances are that at some time, you walked down Every Street in Leicester. And if you did frequent Simpkins, the chances are that one of us two served you - Rob with cheeses, and Val with flowers! And in the five years I worked there, I'm sure many of you have had a ride on my bus, and perhaps still have the mental scars to show for it. White knuckle rides down Aikman Avenue or Tennis Court Drive were my speciality! |
This page was updated 1 Aug 2011
EVERY LINK OPENS IN A NEW BROWSER WINDOW
@UK This is a UK Tourism guide, but you can use this site for more purposes than just tourism! Arranged by county, from the first page, just click where you want to go. Doing genealogical research on any area, or just looking for general info? Here is a mass of information at your fingertips. A bit like an online directory where you can tumble on those little snippets of local info you didn't see elsewhere.
GENEALOGY INFOSEEKER: This is a superb Australian site by Roy Andrews, with many links to research sites and addresses in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK, and Europe in general. Extremely useful for UK families looking for relatives down-under, and a good starting point for Australians and New Zealanders thinking of commencing research in the UK. Roy also runs a sister site dedicated to the heritage and history of the name DRAKE - from the times of Sir Francis, with many links in Devon, right down to modern Drakes and their variations worldwide. All in all, two superb sites here will keep you occupied for days, let alone hours! Just what the Web is for!!
UK Business Directory . . . an on-line directory of thousands of UK business'; a sort of A to Z of business; manufacturing, retail, and service; registration with them is free if you give a reciprocal link. Brilliant idea!
LEICESTER Auto-Valet
An unashamed plug for our nephew, Jeffrey Haywood, who has his own mobile Car Valeting Service in Leicester & County. Ladies, are you too busy to clean the car as well as the dog, the kids, the house, AND the old man! Want to spend more time browsing the Internet? Then ar' Jeffrey is the man for you; e-mail him for his price list, and he'll be round with his van like a shot. He's offering to wax bodies! That sounds like ar' Jeff ! He's the original Man-with-a-Van! Does a good, honest job too - and fast! A well-valeted car puts a good £100 on it's value. He does caravans too!
EVERY LINK OPENS IN A NEW BROWSER WINDOW
Given Rob's bus and transport interests, here are a couple of sites for those interested.
ex-Leicester City Transport buses A list of ex-LCT buses still in existence, both in the UK and some in the US! Rob has driven many of them, well, the early ones before the Scanias, and probably conducted all of them barring 329, the six-wheel AEC of 1939, now in the museum at Snibston Pit. But he was intimate with many of the rest. There's a couple of nice photos as well that will stir memories.
The BMMO - aka the Midland Red A very interesting history of the Midland Red, the ubiquitous red buses of the English midlands. They had an operating area that stretched from Worcester in the SW, to Grantham in the NE, and into Staffordshire and Oxfordshire at their more northern and southern extremes. At their peak, this was the largest single bus company in the world, with over 3,000 buses, I believe. Rob's memories are of the 669 - and Val's are of the L8 and L10. Now, where did they go?
A most excellent Fuchsia site from the Swedish Fuchsia Society . . . run by Kenneth Nillson, this site is beyond belief! Five Gold Stars! All you ever wanted to know, and more, and the most fantastic photo library of varieties you could want. Be warned, if you have a penchant for fuchsias, this site is addictive - we go back again and again. And such links!
Back to our Home Page || Introductory Page
OTHER USEFUL NON-RETAIL WEBSITES
Most of you would probably find these sites for yourselves eventually,
but we had lots of help when we started, so we like to pass it on.
If you know of any that you think we should add, please forward them on to us
First of all, here are three first-rate websites for the Disabled
1.The Leonard Cheshire International Foundation - is one of the most worthwhile organisations ever established, and also one of the most widely known. The story of Group Captain Cheshire VC, and how his experiences in WWII influenced his ideas for the foundation that bears his name, is also one of the best books I have ever read. They badly need donated computers - can you help?
2.AbilityNet - is an all-embracing site giving masses of advice on all disabilities, including the British Deaf Association. AbilityNet is a good starting place for information especially to do with computers and disabled access to the Internet, etc, whatever the individual disability.
3.The Royal National Institute for the Blind This deals, as you would expect, with advice for, and help with, coping with sight difficulties. A terrific site, well worth a visit if you have a relative or friend with a sight impairment.
And, LEST WE FORGET, the following sites are to do with our Armed Forces.
Valerie's late father was a Royal Marine, and Rob's late father was in the RAF. Over the years, they both knew many servicemen and women who gave of their best years to serve in the forces, whether as volunteers or by conscription. Some of their friends lost their lives in so doing. We young 'uns who came along in the 1950s have probably enjoyed the very best that Britain has ever been able to offer, thanks to the peace and security that those hundreds of thousands of men and women gave us.
This is the only way we can help, to say thank you to those who came home, and give thanks for those who couldn't. Remembrance isn't just about November 11th.
So, here is a potentially very useful link straight to the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
They have records on graves and memorials for all our Armed Forces . .
including Royal Navy and Merchant Service personnel, and RAF aircrew,
who have no grave but the sea. I found an uncle here -
We hope it helps you too.
MESOTHELIOMA UK . . or . . MESOTHELIOMASYMPTOMS (USA)
For many that served and were lucky enough to survive, 'luck' is a relative term. Many were injured by their experiences and service, and some of those injuries took many years to manifest themselves. One condition that seems common to all servicemen of all arms is asbestosis, the irreparable damage to lungs caused by exposure to industrial grade asbestos products, used for insulation of boiler pipes and a host of other military uses, once found everywhere in barracks and dockyards, aboard ship or ashore, even on some aircraft. Men and women who served even as late as the 1950s and 60s are still presenting with this condition as an unwanted momento of their time serving their country, so there is still a great deal of suffering. These links are first to the Mesothelioma UK website, helping UK veterans, and secondly to another excellent site predominantly for the USA. Thousands that served in the US forces are in the same sorry condition, with this crippling lung disease caused simply by their service. So for our American veteran visitors to this site, you too have an excellent web page you can go to in the first instance for more information and advice, legal as well as medical. Click the link above to go there, and I think many British viewers who are just starting with these symptoms will also find a great deal of useful information on the American site too.
Here's three links for those who would like to see what goes on in HM Armed Forces today:
The Royal Navy & Royal Marines : The British Army : The Royal Air Force huge
Army Regimental Site.
There must be hundreds of links on there, from info on the modern British Army, to histories of various regiments, uniforms, campaigns in every theatre of war since the Jacobite Rebellion, and a full listing of all the holders of the Victoria Cross. Stunning!
And now for the Best of the Rest
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FIRST, A SITE FOR WRINKLY WEBBERS - Like us!!
UK SILVER SURFERS!
Empowering Oldies Online - if you're looking for a practical links page, no gimmicks, easy text, with the world at your feet, look no further. It's here! Who says the web is full of rubbish!
If you don't find something to interest you here, then you must be hibernating!
And if you are asleep, this will soon wake you up! Visit "Besom & Curmudgeon" and
"Grow Old Disgracefully at HELL'S GERIATRICS - a site for Seniors with Attitide."
It's the only thing on these pages that may possibly shock you - when you've stopped laughing, come back to us to calm down.
The Oldie Magazine is a terrific magazine for the Over 50s,
and a lovely Website here with a distribution list for the UK to tell you exactly where to get your copies. And you'll be made to feel really wanted, important, and most welcome. As us Old Codgers should be! There are competitions to enter, a penfriend section, and articles of importance and interest that's just too good to miss!
For the Over 50s? At last! A paper that understands us.
The Citizens Advice Bureau now have an excellent Website and should be consulted on all manner of legal questions in the first instance. Before you lay out expensive charges for a solicitor, check this site out. You may well get your questions answered here - or at least pointed in the right direction.
William Shakespeare It's true! The bard has his own website! Though what he would have made of it is anyone's guess. Composed a sonnet, perhaps. This site is provided straight from Stratford-upon-Avon by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and gives a stunning amount of information on our most celebrated playwight.
Tom Jones All mature ladies must surely want to know the site address of that great Welsh voice, Tom Jones. Yes? Valerie's First Choice any day! So all you ever dreamed of is here on this great site, with Concert Tour Dates, fan club details, and much more. Keep it swinging, Tom. And don't take your hat off.
The Gerald Finzi Trust - is a link to the website dedicated to Rob's current favourite composer, Gerald Finzi, a much under-rated Englishman, who sadly died in 1956. If you like Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, etc, you'll like this man's music. Try his "Cello Concerto" for 40 minutes of sheer delight - or his "Dies Natalis" (Day of Birth), a baby's-eye view of the new world he's born into, with settings of poems by Thomas Traherne. Unbelievably lovely! English to the core! He was taken from us far too early.
Sergei Rachmaninoff It is really a terrific site, and if you are - or ever have been - a Rachmaninoff devotee, this is well worth a look. There are onward links to others of his works for a start, as well as a discography of Rachmaninoff's own recordings as a pianist.
Mainly Morris Dancing is enjoying something of a renaissance in England right now, and rightly so. These are the real roots of our folk and dance culture. See this site for International information on how to learn - or simply where to watch.
http://www.192.com Need to find an elusive Phone Number in the UK or abroad? Or find a lost friend or relative? Need to get in touch. Here's the answer to a prayer, a free search service, no less; just click the link to this site.
Ordnance Survey Maps . . online!
We love maps, and especially maps that are easy to come by. Your very own reference atlas of the UK is available on this site, for free. Highly detailed maps of Britain, you can access them by typing in a place name, or a postcode. With the latter, up pops your map, with the area of the post-code arrowed. These maps are adjustable on-screen, and are so are easy on your eyes. Zoom in for a detailed street map, even with street names. Amazing! Whatever will they think of next?
Well, try this. OLD Ordnance Survey maps - of every village in Britain! This should bring up a Counties Gazetteer - choose your county, then your village. Maps through the decades, from the mid-1800s through to post-Second World War. Some of the Edwardian era maps at 1:2,500 scale are real works of art. Tramlines, and even avenues of trees are clearly shown. These maps are huge, often two or three times the size of the screen. They recommend a screen size of 1024x768 to view them, but you can manage with 800x600. You just scroll around a bit more. Fascinating!
For lovers of chocolate, here's a site to die for -
Thorntons is so well known here it needs no introduction in the UK, but those abroad who feel deprived of English chocolate will be able to smell it on this site!
An unashamed plug for the super, joint-website of
two truly worthwhile sister publications -
THIS ENGLAND and EVERGREEN
These are our favourite magazines, on sale quarterly all over the world
wherever English is spoken, and read by well over two million patriots and anglophiles !
They can also be easily contacted; by phone on 01242 - 577775 or by fax on 01242 - 222034
(For callers from outside the UK, prefix with 044,
then drop the 0 of the area code, ie 1242, then 577775).
For informative articles on history and heritage, nostalgia galore,
lovely photos, real poetry and verse, and minimal advertising!
And what advertising there is, is classy, informative and good to read.
Makes a change!
EVERGREEN, the little sister mag, is small enough to put in your pocket!
It is packed with delight.
For All Who Love Our Green And Pleasant Land . . .
Once you start reading either of these quality magazines, you'll never be able to stop.
As they say themselves, "Britain's Loveliest Magazine."
Addictive isn't the half of it . . . . . . .
And that's No Bull !!
AND FINALLY -
two useful addresses if you have comments or complaints about any advertisements -
and that includes ours on this website -
or anything you see that may be blatantly untrue, misleading or offensive in the British press;
The Advertising Standards Authority is to be found at:
Halton House, 20/23 Holborn, London, EC1N 2JD;
telephone direct on: 020 7492 2222
ASA Home Page
The Press Complaints Commission is at 1 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 3AE;
telephone 020 7831 0022 E-mail: complaints@pcc.org.uk
END OF LINKS PAGE
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EVERY LINK OPENS IN A NEW BROWSER WINDOW @UK This is a UK Tourism guide, but you can use this site for more purposes than just tourism! Arranged by county, from the first page, just click where you want to go. Doing genealogical research on any area, or just looking for general info? Here is a mass of information at your fingertips. A bit like an online directory where you can tumble on those little snippets of local info you didn't see elsewhere.
GENEALOGY INFOSEEKER: This is a superb Australian site by Roy Andrews, with many links to research sites and addresses in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK, and Europe in general. Extremely useful for UK families looking for relatives down-under, and a good starting point for Australians and New Zealanders thinking of commencing research in the UK. Roy also runs a sister site dedicated to the heritage and history of the name DRAKE - from the times of Sir Francis, with many links in Devon, right down to modern Drakes and their variations worldwide. All in all, two superb sites here will keep you occupied for days, let alone hours! Just what the Web is for!! UK Business Directory . . . an on-line directory of thousands of UK business'; a sort of A to Z of business; manufacturing, retail, and service; registration with them is free if you give a reciprocal link. Brilliant idea!
LEICESTER Auto-Valet An unashamed plug for our nephew, Jeffrey Haywood, who has his own mobile Car Valeting Service in Leicester & County. Ladies, are you too busy to clean the car as well as the dog, the kids, the house, AND the old man! Want to spend more time browsing the Internet? Then ar' Jeffrey is the man for you; e-mail him for his price list, and he'll be round with his van like a shot. He's offering to wax bodies! That sounds like ar' Jeff ! He's the original Man-with-a-Van! Does a good, honest job too - and fast! A well-valeted car puts a good £100 on it's value. He does caravans too! EVERY LINK OPENS IN A NEW BROWSER WINDOW Given Rob's bus and transport interests, here are a couple of sites for those interested. ex-Leicester City Transport buses A list of ex-LCT buses still in existence, both in the UK and some in the US! Rob has driven many of them, well, the early ones before the Scanias, and probably conducted all of them barring 329, the six-wheel AEC of 1939, now in the museum at Snibston Pit. But he was intimate with many of the rest. There's a couple of nice photos as well that will stir memories. The BMMO - aka the Midland Red A very interesting history of the Midland Red, the ubiquitous red buses of the English midlands. They had an operating area that stretched from Worcester in the SW, to Grantham in the NE, and into Staffordshire and Oxfordshire at their more northern and southern extremes. At their peak, this was the largest single bus company in the world, with over 3,000 buses, I believe. Rob's memories are of the 669 - and Val's are of the L8 and L10. Now, where did they go? A most excellent Fuchsia site from the Swedish Fuchsia Society . . . run by Kenneth Nillson, this site is beyond belief! Five Gold Stars! All you ever wanted to know, and more, and the most fantastic photo library of varieties you could want. Be warned, if you have a penchant for fuchsias, this site is addictive - we go back again and again. And such links! Most of you would probably find these sites for yourselves eventually, but we had lots of help when we started, so we like to pass it on. If you know of any that you think we should add, please forward them on to us First of all, here are three first-rate websites for the Disabled1.The Leonard Cheshire International Foundation - is one of the most worthwhile organisations ever established, and also one of the most widely known. The story of Group Captain Cheshire VC, and how his experiences in WWII influenced his ideas for the foundation that bears his name, is also one of the best books I have ever read. They badly need donated computers - can you help? 2.AbilityNet - is an all-embracing site giving masses of advice on all disabilities, including the British Deaf Association. AbilityNet is a good starting place for information especially to do with computers and disabled access to the Internet, etc, whatever the individual disability. 3.The Royal National Institute for the Blind This deals, as you would expect, with advice for, and help with, coping with sight difficulties. A terrific site, well worth a visit if you have a relative or friend with a sight impairment. And, LEST WE FORGET, the following sites are to do with our Armed Forces. Valerie's late father was a Royal Marine, and Rob's late father was in the RAF. Over the years, they both knew many servicemen and women who gave of their best years to serve in the forces, whether as volunteers or by conscription. Some of their friends lost their lives in so doing. We young 'uns who came along in the 1950s have probably enjoyed the very best that Britain has ever been able to offer, thanks to the peace and security that those hundreds of thousands of men and women gave us. This is the only way we can help, to say thank you to those who came home, and give thanks for those who couldn't. Remembrance isn't just about November 11th. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. They have records on graves and memorials for all our Armed Forces . . including Royal Navy and Merchant Service personnel, and RAF aircrew, who have no grave but the sea. I found an uncle here - We hope it helps you too.
MESOTHELIOMA UK . . or . . MESOTHELIOMASYMPTOMS (USA) Here's three links for those who would like to see what goes on in HM Armed Forces today: The Royal Navy & Royal Marines : The British Army : The Royal Air Force huge Army Regimental Site. There must be hundreds of links on there, from info on the modern British Army, to histories of various regiments, uniforms, campaigns in every theatre of war since the Jacobite Rebellion, and a full listing of all the holders of the Victoria Cross. Stunning! And now for the Best of the RestEVERY LINK OPENS IN A NEW BROWSER WINDOW FIRST, A SITE FOR WRINKLY WEBBERS - Like us!! UK SILVER SURFERS! Empowering Oldies Online - if you're looking for a practical links page, no gimmicks, easy text, with the world at your feet, look no further. It's here! Who says the web is full of rubbish! If you don't find something to interest you here, then you must be hibernating!
And if you are asleep, this will soon wake you up! Visit "Besom & Curmudgeon" and"Grow Old Disgracefully at HELL'S GERIATRICS - a site for Seniors with Attitide." It's the only thing on these pages that may possibly shock you - when you've stopped laughing, come back to us to calm down. The Oldie Magazine is a terrific magazine for the Over 50s, and a lovely Website here with a distribution list for the UK to tell you exactly where to get your copies. And you'll be made to feel really wanted, important, and most welcome. As us Old Codgers should be! There are competitions to enter, a penfriend section, and articles of importance and interest that's just too good to miss! For the Over 50s? At last! A paper that understands us. The Citizens Advice Bureau now have an excellent Website and should be consulted on all manner of legal questions in the first instance. Before you lay out expensive charges for a solicitor, check this site out. You may well get your questions answered here - or at least pointed in the right direction. William Shakespeare It's true! The bard has his own website! Though what he would have made of it is anyone's guess. Composed a sonnet, perhaps. This site is provided straight from Stratford-upon-Avon by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and gives a stunning amount of information on our most celebrated playwight. Tom Jones All mature ladies must surely want to know the site address of that great Welsh voice, Tom Jones. Yes? Valerie's First Choice any day! So all you ever dreamed of is here on this great site, with Concert Tour Dates, fan club details, and much more. Keep it swinging, Tom. And don't take your hat off. The Gerald Finzi Trust - is a link to the website dedicated to Rob's current favourite composer, Gerald Finzi, a much under-rated Englishman, who sadly died in 1956. If you like Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, etc, you'll like this man's music. Try his "Cello Concerto" for 40 minutes of sheer delight - or his "Dies Natalis" (Day of Birth), a baby's-eye view of the new world he's born into, with settings of poems by Thomas Traherne. Unbelievably lovely! English to the core! He was taken from us far too early. Sergei Rachmaninoff It is really a terrific site, and if you are - or ever have been - a Rachmaninoff devotee, this is well worth a look. There are onward links to others of his works for a start, as well as a discography of Rachmaninoff's own recordings as a pianist. Mainly Morris Dancing is enjoying something of a renaissance in England right now, and rightly so. These are the real roots of our folk and dance culture. See this site for International information on how to learn - or simply where to watch. http://www.192.com Need to find an elusive Phone Number in the UK or abroad? Or find a lost friend or relative? Need to get in touch. Here's the answer to a prayer, a free search service, no less; just click the link to this site. Ordnance Survey Maps . . online! We love maps, and especially maps that are easy to come by. Your very own reference atlas of the UK is available on this site, for free. Highly detailed maps of Britain, you can access them by typing in a place name, or a postcode. With the latter, up pops your map, with the area of the post-code arrowed. These maps are adjustable on-screen, and are so are easy on your eyes. Zoom in for a detailed street map, even with street names. Amazing! Whatever will they think of next? Well, try this. OLD Ordnance Survey maps - of every village in Britain! This should bring up a Counties Gazetteer - choose your county, then your village. Maps through the decades, from the mid-1800s through to post-Second World War. Some of the Edwardian era maps at 1:2,500 scale are real works of art. Tramlines, and even avenues of trees are clearly shown. These maps are huge, often two or three times the size of the screen. They recommend a screen size of 1024x768 to view them, but you can manage with 800x600. You just scroll around a bit more. Fascinating! For lovers of chocolate, here's a site to die for - Thorntons is so well known here it needs no introduction in the UK, but those abroad who feel deprived of English chocolate will be able to smell it on this site! two truly worthwhile sister publications - THIS ENGLAND and EVERGREEN These are our favourite magazines, on sale quarterly all over the world wherever English is spoken, and read by well over two million patriots and anglophiles ! They can also be easily contacted; by phone on 01242 - 577775 or by fax on 01242 - 222034 (For callers from outside the UK, prefix with 044, then drop the 0 of the area code, ie 1242, then 577775). For informative articles on history and heritage, nostalgia galore, lovely photos, real poetry and verse, and minimal advertising! And what advertising there is, is classy, informative and good to read. Makes a change! EVERGREEN, the little sister mag, is small enough to put in your pocket! It is packed with delight. For All Who Love Our Green And Pleasant Land . . . Once you start reading either of these quality magazines, you'll never be able to stop. As they say themselves, "Britain's Loveliest Magazine." Addictive isn't the half of it . . . . . . . And that's No Bull !! AND FINALLY - two useful addresses if you have comments or complaints about any advertisements - and that includes ours on this website - or anything you see that may be blatantly untrue, misleading or offensive in the British press; The Advertising Standards Authority is to be found at: Halton House, 20/23 Holborn, London, EC1N 2JD; telephone direct on: 020 7492 2222 ASA Home Page The Press Complaints Commission is at 1 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 3AE; telephone 020 7831 0022 E-mail: complaints@pcc.org.uk END OF LINKS PAGE |