Name: Mike Strange
Location: Biggleswade, Bedfordshire
Historypin Channels:
Biggleswade History Society
Your Total Event
How have you been involved with Historypin?
By making available for all a number of the images of Biggleswade in the custodianship of the Biggleswade History Society. In order to make them interesting and relevant I have always included the date and, where time permits, a story to go with them. I have also added a few of my own images of a few places and events that interest me and hopefully others.
How did you hear about the project?
Approached by Ella Wiggans from Historypin asking if I would like to take part way before it went live.
What do you do when you are not pinning?
Genealogical and local history research, web site development, digital photography and computer processing, playing blues guitar (for me only!), DIY (plenty of that to do so no offers of help I am afraid!), seeing the occasional film, hardly any TV, model-making, design and development of electronic projects …. you see I am retired!!!
Why did you decide to share Biggleswade History Society’s collection on Historypin?
It is inappropriate for 6,500 images to all be locked away in an archive where few people ever get to see them; Historypin has proved to be an ideal way of sharing and hopefully to get something back from people who view them.
What excites you the most about Historypin?
It is dynamic, you can put in just as much as you want, it is an opportunity for people to share their stories associated with the images and it is boundless – anyone in the world can share their images from any country and in their context of their map.
What is your favourite piece of content that you have pinned?
From the History Society it is this collection of Berkeley Cars:
From my personal pins, this Coronation street party on my road in 1953:
What is your favourite piece of content that you have found on Historypin?
An image of my wife’s uncle aged between 4 and 7 (so the date on the image is wrong!) looking out of the window of the George Hotel, East Dereham, that her grandparents William Charles and Laura Rogers kept.
The surprise was seeing the image we know well that had been pinned by someone else!
Why do you think other people should add their photos, videos & audio clips and stories to Historypin?
Because we all have something that is relevant to other people and they may never have the opportunity of seeing it any other way.
If you could have any person or organization start pinning, who would it be?
ALL local history societies who have not yet joined in!
If you could go back to any place and time, where and when would you go?
Hopefully this is not a question of a one-way ticket!! Roman Britain because they forgot to leave very little information about their stay here – I want to know their stories!
What would you like to see on Historypin in the future?
- Dynamic feedback of comments from viewers.
- Be able to contact Pinners who do not leave a web site or email address.
- More concentration on getting folk to use their photos to tell the stories (the Essex school project was brilliant).
Contact
History Society:
www.BiggleswadeHistory.org.uk
webmaster@biggleswadehistory.org.uk
Personal:
www.YourTotalEvent.com
mike@YourTotalEvent.com