In September 2022, I gave a talk at my local library about the research behind my novel Cold Blows the Wind and the reason I decided to tell Ellen Thompson and Harry Woods’s story as fiction rather than non-fiction. I am sharing the PowerPoint I used for the talk with narration added so those who were unable to attend can hear it too. I have included answers to several questions I was asked at the end of the talk. The talk takes about 40 minutes and should be viewed more as an exercise in enthusiasm than a polished professional performance.
Catherine Meyrick 
An interesting talk, Catherine. The story of Henry Woods still makes me smile and then him turning out to be a local character, gives it a heart warming ending. Though it seems you have other characters in your family, that can give him a bit of a run for his money.
Making a novel of the fragments of information you have is a good way of making sense of it all, without a drive like that, it is easy for things to get overlooked and forgotten. There are events in my family’s history that have left me pondering, but I have noone to help me dig into the antecedents and reasoning. Perhaps I should make some scenarios up and see what fits best.
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Thank you Graham. My father certainly has quite a few characters in his family tree and with the number of transported convicts a great deal of information on them. It’s not always easy to work out why they did what they did though. A workmate once suggested that many of the young men might have had what is now called ADHD. It sounds like Henry Woods the elder might have had a touch of it with his thieving spree in Cheltenham. I have found it harder to get a strong sense of the personalities of the law abiding, or what they were doing other than marrying, having children and dying.
I think it is definitely worth having a look at the stories in your family. It helps provide us with an understanding of the past as well as where we came from. I’m not sure about how it works in England, but here some of the public libraries provide introductions to genealogy for those starting out. The state genealogical society also runs courses, some by zoom for those who can’t get to their rooms. If you take it up, you need to be careful though, it can easily become an obsession. I think I have it under control at present.
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Thanks for the advice, Catherine. I can see how easily it can get a grip on you.
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