A Voice from the Past

We’ve shared many fascinating journals with you since the community blog started.  We’re always marvelling at the infinite variety of stories being told.  So it was particularly interesting to be made aware of a new journal that has just started.  While it is still in its early days, we already believe it could become something of a go-to journal - and all from a person who was living 80 years ago.  
 
LornaL’s journal is not of the present, but a story that starts on the eve of the Second World War.  They are the words of a young woman, just 25 years old, living with her parents in Malvern after completing her undergraduate studies at Cambridge University.  It is set against the background of one of the most momentous periods of the 20th Century.  This story will unfold day by day, synchronised to the date, but offset by those 80 years.  Because the journal’s owner has had access to Lorna's hand-written diary, we have Lorna’s own words about life during the war, her fear of the unknown, a commentary of the time. It will be an ordinary person’s view of life in extraordinary times.  
 
Now, here on Blipfoto we’re used to recording in this way.  It is one of the reasons that our site was chosen by the British Library as part of their 100 websites which it judges will be essential reading for future generations researching our life and times.  Now we are being used to not only record the present through our journals, but also to be the vehicle for a remarkable story from the last century. 
 
We’ve been in touch with the contributor, who is married to one of Lorna’s descendants. She is delighted that so many blippers have been fascinated by the diary entries posted so far.  The family has recently donated the diary to the local museum in Malvern, which for those of you that live further afield is a small spa town in Worcestershire in England’s Midlands.  It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the town of Great Malvern is a historic conservation area.   
 
We’ve also spoken to the curator at the museum and she is delighted that the diary is being chronicled on Blipfoto.  She intends to put the diary on display in the museum when it reopens in March 2020, so if you’re in the area you'll be able to pop along and see it. 
 
We’re sure that you’ll want to have a look at the journal so why not follow the link provided. We recommend you start reading from 1st September?