Yesterday, I suddenly realised it must be close to another anniversary for Western District Families. How right I was. It’s today, and it’s a milestone anniversary of 15 years.

If it had been 14 or 16 years, I would have let it go, but for 15 years, I thought I should post something, which is something of a rarity these days. Having said that, I did post a new page two days ago…the Hamilton Wesley Methodist Church Honour Roll in the Hamilton’s WWI section of the site. So things haven’t come to a complete standstill.

The past year has been very busy with work, talks, a monthly article for the Hamilton Spectator, and my involvement with the HIRL Commemorative Wall in Hamilton. I’ve also been working on a personal project researching all the women buried at the Hamilton General Cemetery. In addition, on 27 March last year, I broke both my wrists, with one requiring an operation on 1 April (it wasn’t lost on me that it was April Fool’s Day) to insert a plate, and then a further operation in October to remove said plate.

Despite all the other things going on, Western District Families will continue. It remains a valuable source for those researching their Western District families, and the associated Facebook page is nearing 19,000 followers. I will continue to potter along in the background, updating old posts and adding information to Hamilton’s WWI. I won’t make any promises about new posts, as I often do, but I would love to do some more Passing of the Pioneers posts, and I have a draft post about my 4 x great-grandfather, Joseph Harman, that I would love to publish.

Western District Families is very dear to me, and I’m proud of what it has become. It has provided me with many opportunities and given me an outlet to do what I love doing…sharing stories from the Western District’s past. Thank you to everyone who has read my posts, subscribed to the site, or followed my Facebook page. I truly appreciate it. It’s great to meet followers of Western District Families, something that has happened over the past year while giving talks. Perhaps I’ll meet you at one of my talks, or you might find me wandering a Western District cemetery. Wherever it may be, be sure to say “Hello”.