Chris Swan
@chrisswan.bsky.social
Teacher of teachers, geek, computer scientist, family historian, traveller of trains. Cat lady. Views are entirely personal and not those of my employers. Blog link: https://awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/
Thomas Mallyon was an agricultural labourer from Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire and also my 3x great grandfather: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/02/07/t...
Thomas Mallyon – Agricultural labourer
By Christine Swan All Saints Church, Castle Camps By mym, CC BY-SA 2.0, I have previously written about my familial links with the small village of Castle Camps in Cambridgeshire. My terrifying gre…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
February 7, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Thomas Mallyon was an agricultural labourer from Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire and also my 3x great grandfather: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/02/07/t...
These are a few of my favourite things ... awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/30/t...
These are a few of my favourite things
By Christine Swan A week ago on Monday was, allegedly, the most depressing day of the year. Christmas and New Year are now distant memories, and summer days are a long way into the future. It’…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
January 31, 2026 at 3:15 PM
These are a few of my favourite things ... awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/30/t...
This week's blog post: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/24/s...
Six months of theatre trips – July to December
By Christine Swan I love the theatre. Apart from my hobby of Kung Fu, visiting theatres comes a very close second. In 2025, I managed to squeeze in twenty nine theatre visits. I have already review…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:05 PM
This week's blog post: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/24/s...
Final piece of my review of 2025 - awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/16/2...
2025 in review – the finale
By Christine Swan I had booked a theatre weekend not realising that I was due to be teaching all day. This necessitated a rush to Birmingham New Street station to hot foot it down to London Euston …
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
January 18, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Final piece of my review of 2025 - awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/16/2...
Still at it - this week's blog post awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/09/2...
2025 in review – part 3
By Christine Swan The summer of 2025 was glorious. I had booked two outdoor theatre visits, and the weather was wonderful for both of them. The summer seemed to be filled with blue skies and warm t…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Still at it - this week's blog post awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/09/2...
My review of 2025 part 2: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/02/2...
2025 in review part 2
By Christine Swan In April 2025, I decided to explore one branch of my Huguenot and Walloon ancestors by travelling to Lille in Northern France. This is a very easy journey from London St Pancras, …
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
January 3, 2026 at 8:22 PM
My review of 2025 part 2: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2026/01/02/2...
My review of 2025 starts here- awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/12/26/2...
2025 in review – part one
By Christine Swan As has become my custom every year, I end it by reviewing my travels and significant events. January is usually a month of unpredictable weather so I tend not to stray far. It is …
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM
My review of 2025 starts here- awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/12/26/2...
This week's blog is a visit to Christmases past: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/12/19/c...
Christmas in Rosebery Avenue revisited
By Christine Swan When I was very small, I lived with my family in Whitecross St, in the heart of the City of London. At some point my dad acquired an elevated position in the Metropolitan Water Bo…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
December 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM
This week's blog is a visit to Christmases past: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/12/19/c...
I'm getting fed up with this platform. The app seems to log me out every other day, and the content seems more X like every day.
December 19, 2025 at 8:38 AM
I'm getting fed up with this platform. The app seems to log me out every other day, and the content seems more X like every day.
This week's blog is here awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/12/12/l...
Looking over my shoulder
By Christine Swan Next week I will be another year older. This is always a time of reflection but one conversation this week made me consider all of the incredible achievements that I have witnesse…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
December 13, 2025 at 4:18 PM
This week's blog is here awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/12/12/l...
This week's blog makes for a fascinating read. My 3x grand uncle was a career criminal and was arrested over twenty times during his life. Together with his wife, Elizabeth Passingham, they were a prolific Victorian criminal couple. Read on: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/29/i...
Isaac Crudgington -Desperate ruffian
By Christine Swan Sometimes, it is hard to know where to begin. During my family history research, which has extended over twenty years, a name leaps out from the page, and conjures an image. In th…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:24 AM
This week's blog makes for a fascinating read. My 3x grand uncle was a career criminal and was arrested over twenty times during his life. Together with his wife, Elizabeth Passingham, they were a prolific Victorian criminal couple. Read on: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/29/i...
In this week's blog, I explore the life of Henry Welch Apthorp, butcher of St Ives, Cambridgeshire awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/22/h...
Henry Welch Apthorp – butcher
By Christine Swan As I have discovered with other families, my Londoner roots did not begin there. On my maternal side, the name Apthorp has a long history. Up until a few years ago, the Apthorp So…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:19 PM
In this week's blog, I explore the life of Henry Welch Apthorp, butcher of St Ives, Cambridgeshire awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/22/h...
I really need this weekend away in London. Work stress just melts away the further I am from it. I still have PGCE trainees to place, with some trainees having had several schools withdraw the offer of a school placement. They are so upset and I really feel for them.
November 16, 2025 at 9:31 AM
I really need this weekend away in London. Work stress just melts away the further I am from it. I still have PGCE trainees to place, with some trainees having had several schools withdraw the offer of a school placement. They are so upset and I really feel for them.
My visit to Delft: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/14/a...
A visit to Delft
By Christine Swan During the recent half term break, I visited the Netherlands as another of my flight-free, European forays. I had wanted to visit Delft because I had discovered an ancestral link …
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:53 PM
My visit to Delft: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/14/a...
My recent trip to Rotterdam: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/07/a...
A trip to Rotterdam
By Christine Swan During the half term break, I had planned another trip to the Netherlands for a break, but also to visit Delft, where the Blanchet family lived four hundred years ago. I set off o…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:59 PM
My recent trip to Rotterdam: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/07/a...
Reposted by Chris Swan
Food banks provide help when people need it most. But real change means ending the need for them altogether.
Repost if you agree 💚
Repost if you agree 💚
November 3, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Food banks provide help when people need it most. But real change means ending the need for them altogether.
Repost if you agree 💚
Repost if you agree 💚
In this week's blog: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/01/w...
William Nelson Sloper – World War I soldier
By Christine Swan It is at this time of year that we remember those who served their country during various conflicts, including, the supposed war to end all wars, The First World War. My father ha…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
November 1, 2025 at 5:20 PM
In this week's blog: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/11/01/w...
Forgot to post this yesterday - my latest blog post. It's a bit of a filler as my fireplace project isn't finished yet. And it's not the one in the photo below ( I wish!) awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/10/24/t...
The hearth is where the heart is
By Christine Swan As a small child, we had one coal fire in our rented house, and no central heating. I remember my bedroom being freezing during the wintertime, and I disliked walking across the l…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
October 26, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Forgot to post this yesterday - my latest blog post. It's a bit of a filler as my fireplace project isn't finished yet. And it's not the one in the photo below ( I wish!) awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/10/24/t...
I'm in the Netherlands currently, and visited beautiful Delft yesterday. I'll write about it in a future blog post. This photo was taken between the rain showers, which were pretty relentless.
October 26, 2025 at 6:01 AM
I'm in the Netherlands currently, and visited beautiful Delft yesterday. I'll write about it in a future blog post. This photo was taken between the rain showers, which were pretty relentless.
A wander around Hammersmith and Chiswick awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/10/17/a...
A wander around Hammersmith and Chiswick
By Christine Swan When I was studying biology at the University of London, our electron microscopes were located in a mundane office building in King Street, Hammersmith. We took the Tube, and trud…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
October 18, 2025 at 3:53 PM
A wander around Hammersmith and Chiswick awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/10/17/a...
This week's blog post #DennisSeversHouse awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/10/10/s...
Simon Pettet – ceramicist
By Christine Swan In May 2023. Dennis Severs’ House was transformed for a few weeks for an exhibition of Simon Pettet’s beautiful reproduction Delftware ceramics. It was a sad time in m…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
October 11, 2025 at 9:54 AM
This week's blog post #DennisSeversHouse awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/10/10/s...
Flattened by 'flu but I never miss a blog post: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/10/03/a...
At Tessa Hunkin’s Hackney Mosaic Project book launch
By Christine Swan For thirteen years, The Hackney Mosaic Project has engaged its volunteer artists in numerous projects, some of which are on a considerable scale. Tessa Hunkin’s community of…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
October 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Flattened by 'flu but I never miss a blog post: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/10/03/a...
#RIPJaneGoodall I was very sad to hear of the passing of this giant of primate biology, ecology and conservation. As a young student, I studied her work as part of a module on Mammalian Ethology. Jane Goodall was also hugely compassionate and humble. 1/2
October 2, 2025 at 7:16 AM
#RIPJaneGoodall I was very sad to hear of the passing of this giant of primate biology, ecology and conservation. As a young student, I studied her work as part of a module on Mammalian Ethology. Jane Goodall was also hugely compassionate and humble. 1/2
Last week I spent a worthwhile Saturday at the #OpenCity #OpenHouseFestivalLondon2025 Here's my report: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/09/27/a...
A trip to the Open House Festival 2025
By Christine Swan I have travelled to London for the last three years to take part in Open City’s annual Open House Festival. Each year, I optimistically take part in ballots to tour rarely s…
awfulrigourswretchedpay.com
September 27, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Last week I spent a worthwhile Saturday at the #OpenCity #OpenHouseFestivalLondon2025 Here's my report: awfulrigourswretchedpay.com/2025/09/27/a...