It's all too easy to overlook what's available in the British Library

Considering since 1990 I've worked at the British Library, I've rarely requested or consulted materials held in their rich and extensive collections.

In 1991, visited their Map Library at their old site co-existing with the British Museum, in Bloomsbury, to access old large-scale Ordnance Survey maps in order to assist Acton-based Western Model Railway Society's project to build a model of Cheltenham's Lansdown Road station.

In 2001, travelled from Yorkshire to the former newspaper library in Colindale to access copies of The News for 1977 in order to track down my only photographic appearance in the paper, because I never kept a copy of it at the time.

In 2002, accessed old electoral registers held at St Pancras in order to trace individuals who attended Westfield Junior School so I could draw up a list of ex-pupils to contact.

Today (31st July) I've requested four bound volumes from store of The News and Sports Mail, from 1 April-30 September 1984, in order to identify the sole athletics event I attended that year at the Mountbatten Centre. I may also find other personal and photographic material of interest.
As they're stored under special conditions, I have to wait 48 hours for delivery to the reading room on the same site at Boston Spa, Yorkshire.
(If anyone wants me to identify and locate any news items or photos around that time in 1984, please contact me)

News and photos I want to see again in The News (Portsmouth)

I'm very fortunate that my employer holds copies of British and Irish newspapers, collected as a result of legal deposit, the originals of which can be retrieved from special storage at Boston Spa where I work, or microfilmed copies from St Pancras.

According to Explore the British Library's catalogue:
Until the end of 1985, The News and its Saturday supplement, Sports Mail, are available only in print, located at Boston Spa, but can be requested through the reading rooms at St Pancras.
Today (18 September 2018) I checked the catalogue and found the April-May 1977 and November-December 1977 issues are now microfilmed, with the originals on restricted access.

However, all issues beginning from 1 January 1986 are microfilmed.
(The Library prefers readers to consult microfilm or digital versions if print copies are available in order to conserve the originals)
On the other hand, users consulting identical back issues at Portsmouth Central Library only have them on microfilm.

The following photos and news articles and reports I would like to see again (if available):

Between January-July 1977: a photo was taken of the clear-up after a flood at Westfield Junior School. I remember secreting away a copy of the press cutting, but destroyed it a few years later.

Autumn 1977-autumn 1979?: Reports of Donna Hillyer's (ex-Westfield) and Tracey Goodall's (ex-Priory) cross-country running;

June or July 1978, 1979: Whether Priory School's summer 1978 and 1979 sports days at the then Alexandra Park (later Mountbatten Centre) were reported - in 1978, I was involved in the 200m and in the 2nd or 3rd legs of the 4 x 100m;

June 1981: If Priory School's art exhibition at the Mountbatten Gallery was reported in The News, I had a lino print displayed in the outside case next to the entrance as well as another work of art inside the gallery proper;

1981?: A bright multi-coloured sculpture created from scrap metal appeared in Priory School's outdoor communal area in the garden between the main lower school and sixth form blocks.
Many pupils and staff weren't impressed by the artwork; John Lightly was one of the few pupils I knew who had a positive view of it!

1984, 1985: Combing through the sports pages to identify the athletics events that I attended at the Mountbatten Centre, because I didn't keep any notes.
I remember the sole 1984 event I attended definitely took place on a sunny Saturday afternoon and heard the name of a well-reported competitor over the public address whilst watching it briefly for about an hour and a half through the perimeter fence - could it be the Hampshire county championships?
Two events in 1985 - I believe I attended both of them on Sunday afternoons - once I've identified key competitors, it'll all come back to me! I now remember one event included an informal tug-of-war competition.

[Revised 26 July to include information which I subsequently remembered, particularly Priory School's sculpture and athletics event attended in 1984]
[Revised 27 July to clarify information on print and microfilm versions of The News and their availability at the British Library]
[Revised 7 August to include 1985 event featuring a tug-of-war competition]
[Revised 18 September 2018 to include microfilmed copies covering selected issues of 1977]

My definitive list of athletics events I've attended

Here's my list of athletics events I've attended from 1984 to 2002.
I'm also including some events at the end of this list which I considered attending but for various reasons unable to go.
No programmes were obtained for the events attended in 1984 and 1985; subsequently, for every event I attended, I bought a programme, except for some unknown reason, the Southern Counties AAA Championships, 16-17 June 1989.

1984
9 June: Hampshire Schools Championships, Mountbatten Centre, Portsmouth

1985
5 May: Hampshire County AAA Young Athletes' League, Mountbatten Centre
18-19 May: Hampshire County Championships, Mountbatten Centre [only attended Sunday 19 May]

1986
8 March: Kodak Classic, England v USA, Cosford, Shropshire
10 May: GRE/British Athletics League, Division 1, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham
6-7 June: Southern Counties AAA Championships, Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London [only attended Saturday 7 June]
15 June: GRE/British Athletics League, Division 1, Copthall Stadium, Barnet, London
20-21 June: AAA Championships, Crystal Palace [only attended Saturday 21 June]

1987
20 June: Dairy Crest International, England v Czechoslovakia v Italy (men), England v Czechoslovakia v Bulgaria (women), Mountbatten Centre
21 August: Whitbread Wessex Grand Prix, final meeting, Mountbatten Centre

1988
22-23 January: Pearl Assurance National Indoor Championships, Cosford [only attended Saturday 23 January]
12 March: Kodak Classic, England v USA, Cosford
19 June: Pearl Assurance International, GB & NI v France v USSR, Mountbatten Centre
8 July: Peugeot Games, Crystal Palace
31 July: GRE Gold Cup Final/GRE Jubilee Cup semi-finals, Mountbatten Centre
5-7 August: Kodak AAA Championships & TSB WAAA Championships, incorporating the Olympic Trials, Alexander Stadium [only attended Saturday 6 August]
20 August: GRE/British Athletics League Gold Cup Final, New River Stadium, Wood Green, London
10 September: International Athletics: Hampshire v Army v Basse Normandie v British Fire Brigades, Mountbatten Centre

1989
28 January: Dairy Crest Games, GB & NI v Federal Republic of Germany, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow
13 May: GRE/British Athletics League, Division 1, Alexander Stadium
11 June: Pearl Assurance International, GB v Hungary v International Select, Mountbatten Centre
16-17 June: Southern Counties AAA Championships, Crystal Palace [only attended Saturday 17 June]
5 August: GRE/British Athletics League, Division 1, Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Enfield, London
11-13 August: Kodak AAA 100th Championships & WAAA Championships incorporating the Commonwealth Games Trials, Alexander Stadium [only attended Sunday 13 August]

1990
12 May: GRE/British Athletics League, Division 1, Copthall Stadium

1991
19 June: Dairy Crest International, GB v Germany, Crystal Palace
12 July: Parcelforce Games, Crystal Palace
26-27 July: Panasonic AAA/WAAA Championships, incorporating the World Championships Trials, Alexander Stadium [only attended Saturday 27 July]

1992
5 June: Pearl International, incorporating the European relays and a jumps and throws match, GB v Italy v Hungary, Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield
6-7 June: Pearl UK Championships, Don Valley Stadium [only attended Sunday 7 June]

1993
16-17 July: Panasonic AAA Championships/1993 World Championship Trials, Alexander Stadium [only attended Saturday 17 July]
30 July: Vauxhall Invitation, Gateshead International Stadium
10 September: IAAF Mobil Grand Prix Final, Crystal Palace

1994
29 January: Pearl International Games, GB v Russia, Kelvin Hall
11-12 June: KP National Championships (AAA National Championships, Commonwealth & European Championships Trials), Don Valley Stadium [attended both days]

1999
23-25 July: CGU World Trials and AAA's Championships, Alexander Stadium [only attended Saturday 24 July]

2000
11-13 August: Norwich Union Olympic Trials & AAA Championships, Alexander Stadium [only attended Sunday 13 August]
15 September-1 October: XXVII Olympic Games, Sydney [only attended Friday 22 September, Monday 25 September, Saturday 30 September]

2002
25 July-4 August: XVII Commonwealth Games, Manchester [only attended Thursday 25 July - opening ceremony, Monday 29 July, Tuesday 30 July]

Other events that I seriously considered but unable to attend:

1986
14 June: Loughborough Students v AAA U23s, Loughborough University
[I was keen on attending this for novelty, variety and the possibility of combining this with a steam train ride on the Great Central Railway at Loughborough, on Saturday. This was in addition to my confirmed plans to attend the GRE British Athletics League Division 1 fixture at Copthall, London, on Sunday 15 June. I was still living in London at the time, however after seeing former schoolmate Ashton Keiditsch who was studying photography in Salisbury that week, I had to pull the plug on going to Loughborough because as a student on limited means, had to conserve expenditure for a day trip to France on 20 June, the AAA Championships at Crystal Palace the following day and my 21st birthday party on 26 June. In the end I only went to Copthall on 15 June because it was a "home banker" at Shaftesbury Harriers]
1987
13 March: Kodak Classic, England v USA, Cosford
[I was keen to go that year, because I enjoyed going to the same event the year before. Our year group had a compulsory management studies seminar on Friday afternoon which finished around 4.30, meaning I would have been unable to get to London Euston in time to board a train with a decent connection at Wolverhampton for Cosford. The return journey would have arrived at 2.32am, London Euston, Saturday morning]
1988
12 June: GRE British Athletics League, Division 1, New River Stadium
[I got the event date wrong, arrived there on Saturday 11 June and found it closed. My mum arrived on 12 June to collect my belongings at the end of the academic year to bring me back home, I felt unable to change the arrangement, so never attended]

[21 July 2018 - added full names and locations for venues when first mentioned on the list, also other minor typo corrections]
[30 August 2018 - added 1984, 1985 events and 1986 event considered for attendance]
[1 September 2018 - corrected first 1985 event date due to slip-up]

Just an observation on Blogger stats ...

Considering I've only started my Blogger account only a few weeks ago, I've looked at my page view stats just now and I'm very surprised that my blog has been viewed FIVE times in Algeria, but only ONCE each in Britain and the USA!

I don't know anyone living in Algeria who I knew at school or college, is there's a secret reader over there who I've never heard of before?

I'm VERY curious what's happening out there ...

My old addresses (prior to living in Leeds)

Yesterday, when rummaging through my stash of athletics programmes, I found correspondence relating to one of my old student addresses.
Tonight I went through my old correspondence and papers to locate details of any of my previous addresses.
Some details have been blanked out to avoid identity fraud.

First of all, here's the letter confirming appointment for my current job at the British Library (with my annotations), addressed to my then home address in Southsea, Portsmouth.
Our family lived there from November 1971 until my mum vacated it in December 2016, it was sold to a first-time buyer in May 2017. I returned there during student vacations and in between jobs.

My first student address was 3 St James's Avenue, West Ealing, from October 1985 until July 1986. The house was demolished shortly afterwards to make way for an access road to Sainsbury's. My landlord was Mr Dhillon who lived in Southall.

I stayed at 23 Regina Road, West Ealing, also owned by Mr Dhillon, during my 2nd (1986-87) and 3rd (1987-88) years of my BA(Hons) Library and Information Studies course at Ealing College of Higher Education.

My first graduate job was a temporary cataloguer's position at Dorset Institute of Higher Education's library at Wallisdown campus, Bournemouth. From November 1988 until about September 1989, I lived at 108 Elmes Road, about 15 minutes walk from the institute, and it was secured through the college's accommodation service.

I had to leave Elmes Road and secured another bedsit through the same accommodation service at 47 Brassey Road, which was owned by Frazer Egby-Edwards, where I remained until the end of my temporary contract in June
1990. It was still within walking distance, about 20 minutes from the library.

Once I received my firm job offer from the British Library, in late August 1990, I returned to West Ealing because I was familiar with the area and got hold of a bedsit from Shashi Dhawan at 74 Felix Road. I moved out in late May/early June 1992 to Leeds; Shashi drove me with my possessions up north.

The feasibility of producing an autobiography

Even though my life history has in many ways been interesting, and probably needs telling, I've never considered producing an autobiography.

If I jotted down everything that I remember, without reference to anyone else, illustrations or other primary sources, it would probably end up being a 30-page volume.
Things would be rather selective, crucial details omitted and almost certainly an unbalanced story.

However many teachers and other specialist staff, e.g. speech therapists, who helped me in my early years up to when I was 12 whilst I was getting over speech/communication difficulties will have died.
Any reports produced by them on my progress - and I imagine a lot were produced - could have been destroyed by now.

I was also in and out of hospitals and clinics especially after my whooping cough jab reaction at the age of 2; I guess my records, if they survive in paper form at all, would form a huge stack.

Due to lack of room at home, I destroyed all my school exercise books up to O level (aged 16) in 1981. I also dumped my unused and dusty sixth form, further education and degree notes in Hampshire Council's recycling bins at Havant in 2014-15 as part of mum's sorting and home clearance prior to her move up to Yorkshire.

This then leads on to oral history and written notes and testimonies. I would need to start soliciting comments (perhaps anonymously) from individuals and possibly appoint coordinators to cover specific periods and aspects of my life.
However I've been out of touch with many ex-pupils, college students and staff for years.

At work, my routines include processing graphic novels published by such companies as DC Comics and Titan Books. I'm not dogmatic about a particular style of publication and wouldn't be averse to include cartoons and illustrations where appropriate. Unfortunately I don't have cartooning skills or ability, or know anyone offhand who might convey my life story in a graphic novel form.

I know someone who's writing a biography of Yorkshire and Somerset cricketer and coach Johnny Lawrence (1911-1988) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Lawrence who's hampered in his work by the death of fellow cricketers who knew him and the lack of surviving records at some clubs he played for, which meant that most of the information obtained has been from relatives or scores/results from old newspapers.

Consequently it might be worthwhile starting work whilst memories are still fresh and documentary evidence still available.