What have I started?

A question I have asked myself multiple times in recent days. Although I rely on sites like Patreon and Ko-fi for financial support (donations and magazine sales are literally my only income now!) neither site is really set up for the kind of archive I am creating. They allow me to share updates, post our new podcast and YouTube content, and give me a platform from which people can download my digital offerings, but layout and browsability is largely out of my control. So, I decided I needed my own website, and one which could grow along with the project.

This project, as I casually call it, is life's work kinda stuff. The scale of what I want to achieve will probably take me the rest of my days. Since inheriting the Jeevar Archive of photographs from my Grandfather, I've become very aware how quickly our heritage is lost. I'm not talking about country houses and castles, I'm talking about our local history. The pillboxes or dovecotes that aren't 'listed', the airfields that are sold off for development, the railways that are made obsolete and closed. I can't do anything to preserve them in any physical way, but I can record them at this point in time and remind people why they played a role in our development as a society. At the same time, telling the stories of our war dead, and preserving their memory is something that could occupy the whole of my time if I allowed it.

Although I will be keeping a physical archive of notes and photographs (I do have printed copies of all the images I take!) I want to make this accessible to everyone and that's where the website comes in. This is where I go when I'm off socials for periods of time, because uploading everything I already have is a monumental amount of hours work. Every time I leave the house I come back with more photos to add and more research to do. I currently have around 3500 images waiting to be added, each of which needs a write up and location details. It all takes time. So, while I am excited to share links to allow my followers to visit my website, please understand this is a work in progress! I'm giving it all she's got, Capt'n...

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The way it works is that out main website www.normaexplores.com is our hub. From there visitors can access the gazetteer pages via England, Scotland, or Wales.

Each country is broken down into its historical counties. As I visit each new place the county will go 'live' with a clickable link. That will take the visitor to the county blog. From there its possible to browse or search content.

I'm sure lots of people will offer ideas for how this could be done differently, or how I could farm out this website build to third parties. I'll just put this out here... I'm not looking for advice. This is how it works best for me and I haven't come at any of this without due thought or consideration.

So, I hope with some understanding of what I'm trying to do, you'll take a few moments to have a look at the website and get a feel for its layout. So far I have only started adding the places I've visited in person. If you visit the England Gazetteer you'll see that Cambridgeshire, Huntindonshire, Dorset, and Norfolk are now clickable links. Please take a look and see what it's all about.

I also hope that you'll understand why I periodically ask for support on Patreon and Ko-fi, to help cover the costs of existing while I give over my life to this 'thing' I have created.

You can also get Norma Explores merch via our Redbubble Site HERE.