Ten Years After

On 27th November 2010 I posted this single photograph of Spanbroekmolen British Cemetery, with just three words, ‘In Flanders Fields’, typed beneath it. 

It was the very first post on theBigNote, since when this website has featured a further 1,077 posts, containing upwards of 30,000 images, maps & documents, and heaven knows how many words.  Nor do I know the exact number of Western Front cemeteries we have so far visited – somewhere between 150 & 200, I would think, with well over double that amount in the Back in Blighty section – but there are still many that we have yet to see (such as Gwalia Cemetery, pictured in the shot above), and, with a fair wind and a following sea, we shall be so doing over the next few years.  Thanks for all your support folks, and here’s to the next ten, maybe……

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26 Responses to Ten Years After

  1. sendergreen says:

    Is there any simple way for you to find out when your regular viewers first came aboard ?

    A few key taps simple I mean. I’ve tried to think which of your posts I saw first …

    A history major who can’t remember dates …. : (

    • sendergreen says:

      Your site has been a gift of knowledge and sentiment unmatched anywhere else.

      I thank you. I tell my wee one Nicole often that when she get’s to heaven her great great uncles James, and Arthur, and her Granpa Jack will thank her for remembering them. I would think they will find you next.

  2. Filip Jacques says:

    Congratulations!

  3. Baldrick says:

    Happy Birthday TBN! And I know another one is coming up soon… 😉

    • Magicfingers says:

      Balders – I MISS YOU! – thanks mate. You are right about another one – let’s all sing that Beatles song tomorrow……

  4. nicholas Kilner says:

    A truly Herculean effort! Monumental one might say, if you’ll pardon the pun. A fabulous and really quite incredible repository of knowledge, which I only wish I had discovered sooner. Thank you for the vast amount of time and effort you have given in order to share these cemeteries with us. Heres to another ten years!

  5. Epsom Girl says:

    Happy Birthday! Looking forward to another ten years!

  6. Magicfingers says:

    Fingers crossed. Thank you Epsom Girl!

  7. Morag Lindsay Sutherland says:

    well I own the little list of CWGC book of cemeteries on the western front – when we visit I put a wee dot beside the cemetery number……….that way I remember where I have been -there is also an alphabetical index and maps too

    and as for yourself enjoy many more years of travelling – if such a thing becomes possible again – thank you for the 10 years in which you have already covered so many miles

    • Magicfingers says:

      And thank you Morag for your support. I too have a list of the cemeteries I have been to – I believe I have visited 221 different British military cemeteries on the Western Front. But there are quite a few I have yet to publish posts about – probably thirty or forty – which will keep us going here on the website for the foreseeable future whilst travel is impossible. Thus, whilst I do know how many I have visited, I don’t know how many have been published because I haven’t worked it out.

  8. Stephen moore says:

    Thankyou for sharing your enthusiasm and passion. Your site is a wealth of knowledge that always maintains a focus on the extraordinary circumstances of the 1st WW and the lives of the combatants. I found your site invaluable when I was researching a visit to the battlefields where my great uncles fought and died. The quality of your information , the maps and depth of your research is of the highest quality . To your enormous credit you share all of it freely . Your passion and your care shines through . Thankyou for your research and most of all thank you for sharing . With every best wish.

  9. Phil Stevens says:

    Well done.
    Really enjoy your posts, informative & respectful just as it should be.

  10. Margaret Draycott says:

    I think all of the above cover what i would say, i to have found the site so informative your research is astonishing you leave no stone unturned in your quest to provide factual and personal details and information. Some of the cemeteries i have visited myself, your research has answered so many of my questions that i had when visiting, long may you continue and thankyou

  11. Gordon Plimmer says:

    Ten years well spent. We are all much wiser for your efforts and information sharing. I endorse all the above remarks. Please keep up the good work and best wishes to you.

  12. Jon T says:

    This site is just excellent in every way and a fantastic achievement over the ten years. I only discovered it a couple of years ago but have been an avid reader ever since and have learnt so much from doing so.

    It is also a very fitting tribute to those who gave their lives in the conflict as well as those who made it home. We really must never forget.

    Please carry on the good work MF !

    • Magicfingers says:

      Thank you Jon. Your comments are always appreciated. I shall carry on this labour of love as long as I can afford it!! Lol!

  13. Steve Monk says:

    This site is an eye opener and an education, long may you continue Sir, and thank you.

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