Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Beards, mud & a bit of community

Helen Wagga Wagga 1997

in retaliation to eldest for her comment on my hair and bald spot (A bearded Belshaw) this photo from cousin Jamie shows H. (far right) at Wagga Wagga in 1997.

I don't think that H has quite adjusted to the mud of inland swimming. Mind you, they all went into the deepest mud they could find.

In a comment on a bearded Belshaw, Neil pointed to the body fitting shirt. Indeed, that does date me! It's all very different from the clean cut picture that graces my blog.

Just finished my weekly Express column. This one is a follow up from a post I did on my New England Australia blog, Bob Neville & Tingha Community Regeneration win new award. At a time when there is just so much negativity around, it is nice to do a positive story.

Community regeneration has been an interest of mine for a very long time. Bob's story is quite inspirational, so you can expect more from time to time.

In case you hadn't worked it out already, my references to our blogging village are a dead give away, I really am a community person. It's one of my problems in Sydney that I don't have that feeling of connect with the people around me. The village isn't there.

Much of my historical writing is connected with community. I just like it, but I also think that it's important.

You see, at a time when so many think that they are powerless, much of my work shows the power of individuals. Not power in the grand sense, but power in the way that individual acts have long term effects beyond the imagination and knowledge of those involved.

History is in part the story of accidents and incidents. Say you introduce two friends and they marry. Then all subsequent generations actually owe their existence to you! That may be an incident, it may seem trivial, but you have put your own small mark on the future, and on the history that is the future in retrospect.

I think that that's kind of nice! 

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