Preamble
Over the years, I've slowly changed my mind as to what this website is about and what it is intended to do. - I've removed parts that I planned, as and when I realised that I couldn't achieve what I thought I could - there being not enough time in the world! It's the same with the INTRODUCTIONS - these are no longer static introductions; once read, that's it, no need to read them again. Rather, they have become for me, firstly, a means to describe what a section is all about, but, now, more than that I am using them as Blogs, in which I can explain any changes made and give reasons why - or at least that's my intention at the moment!
Moving on to the website navigation, this is done by making certain words or dates, within a title or a paragraph, into hyperlinks and changing the on-screen, text colour to blue. If the mouse is hovered over such a blue link, the text will turn black and return to blue when the mouse is moved away - if it doesn't turn to black, then it's not a link! I've, deliberately, not used underlining or colour changing links because I believe that these can look very ugly - just a personal preference.
This website began, purely, as a vehicle for my history of Hooe, and my grandfather's books that he had written on the village and its church. I've changed it to include my family history, information on the village of Herne, in Kent (from where my great-great grandparents lived, and my great grandfather was born). and to include reminicsenses on my early years and life, in Ironbridge Shropshire.
As I have, previously, said, I want this to be the best and most comprehensive Village Website, ever - from a historical point of view, that is; leave the modern ones to someone else! Let someone else advise where the best pub or restaurant is, which film is showing on which theatre or which houses are for sale, in Hooe, and by which esate agents - I'm only interested in what happenend in the village, and to the villagers, many years ago. Anyone reading the articles that follow and has knowledge of something that I, obviously, don't will be very welcome to contact me so that I can up-date or correct the item in question; I have added a form [Steven Newport Due to chaning code standards this form no longer works. Please email me at the contact email address given] for this purpose and no one needs to register or give details about themselves other than how I can contact them, should I need to.
I volunteered for the position of On-line Parish Clerk, for the villages of Hooe and Herne, in a fit of utter madness but, then, at my age, that's acceptable - even expected! So, I've had to re-arrange my previous website (for those who ever saw my previous website, that is!) because, at the moment, there's really nothing on here about Herne, other than in my Family History; section, but I need to make allowance for what I hope to add in the coming months.
There is still a great deal to do for my family history, my grandfather's story, and for Hooe, but, with the help of others, I hope to add more and more over the next fifty years, or so - but then I'm going nowhere! Strangely enough I seem to remember my headmaster telling me that the day, I left school!
So, up goes the sign, please be patient - man at work!
For the Future
As I've said, this website is only partly complete and may never be, really, finished so each section, as I've, also, said, has its own Introduction, which allows me to talk about where I've got to, what I've written, why it is not complete, what is missing and, hopefully, what I have corrected or added. So, it's important to me that, at least occasionally, you read each Introduction, because you may be able to help by adding or correcting details.
To avoid having to pass through the Introduction each time a section is visited, I've made it so that this is accessible, only when required, by way of a separate hyperlink.
There is, also, an Up-Date Page where I will, simply, list additions, deletions, and corrections, giving a date and a small amount of detail. This is so that anyone can see, quickly and simply, if there have been any changes since their last visit. [Steven Newport I will be retaining this original feature but, because of the large amount of work being done, will not update it (at least at the moment).]