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Powditch Newsletter - August 2003
No. 4
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Welcome to the August 2003 Newsletter re the www.powditch.plus.com web-site, and to what has
happened during the past month.

First of all a big WELCOME to;-
1.  Elizabeth Powditch (daughter of Max and Yvonne Powditch from Sydney, Australia), and granddaughter of the late Stan and Bessie Powditch (also of Sydney).  Liz had owned the Blue
Goat Cafe in Sydney for 6 years, (which is where I first 'found' her via the internet), although she
has since sold the venture, and is now living in Queensland.  Thanks, Liz for all the info' and I'll be contacting you very soon.
2.  Louise Hutchinson (nee Hayhow).  Louise and I go back many years with joint research into the Powditch/Hayhow families (both of Wells-next-the-Sea, and a marriage there).  Louise very kindly sent me details of an excellent web-site re 'pubs' in Norfolk, which lists Norfolk villages, their pubs
and known licencees (several Powditch ancestors are mentioned on it).  I will be adding the
web-site on my 'Links' page soon, but until then, it's certainly worth taking a look at the site at www.norfolkpubs.co.uk
Thanks Louise for that information, and I will be in touch soon.

Thanks to all who looked at the web-pages relating to Morston, Norfolk, especially in relation to the  
** POWDITCH GET-TOGETHER IN 2004 **
(mentioned in last month's e-Newsletter) under the topic of  IMPORTANT NEWS!

I was pleased to note from several replies I received, that the 'get-together' is an event to look
forward to.  At the moment, I still don't have an actual date, but as soon as I know something
positive, I will be e-mailing and snail-mailing everyone with the details etc.

To recap on the information, the "Friends of Morston Church" had proposed to me that in view of
the Powditch family of yesteryear having given such commitment to their Church (and Village), they
would like to hold a special Thanksgiving Service for them during the late Summer/early Autumn of
next year (2004), the purpose of the special 'Thanksgiving Service' and the 'Get-together',being  
two-fold;
one part being for the "Friends of Morston Church" to present a framed vellum calligraphic 'Memorial' to the Powditch family of Morston (together with 2 framed family trees showing the spread of the family from the 1500s til now) - all of which will be securely fixed on the internal wall of the Church, probably close to the famous Robart Powdich graveslab of 1647,
and secondly, to raise money for the upkeep of the Church (especially for repairing the roof, which is leaking, and which, in turn is in danger of affecting the Powditch memorials, the15th century painted wooden screen, and other internal treasures).

The Morston items I'd originally put onto the www.powditch.plus.com website, have, within the last
couple of weeks, greatly been added to, and now include such items as Rectors of the Church,
"Where to Stay", etc, whilst most of the Morston pages have had their layouts redesigned.  As
before, if you want to go straight to the Morston details on the web-site, please click on to
www.powditch.plus.com/Morston/index.htm  Within the last couple of days I have also added
details onto the 'Famous Connections with Morston' page (although I am still looking for more
connections)

Since the July Newsletter was issued;-
There has been an increase of over 300 visitors during the past month! and we reached the 1400
mark on 31 August !  Thanks once again to everyone for looking at the site, and I hope that
you keep enjoying what you find there, especially the items added each month

Re-designed and/or 'Changed' pages on the web-site, include;-
all of the Morston pages (see above for more info)
"Latest news re the Powditch Family".  The old page has now been replaced.  If you had made www.powditch.plus.com/latest_news_re_the_powditch_family.htm one of your 'favourites' or if you had 'bookmarked' that page, please will you note that that page has been removed.  The replacement page is now available at www.powditch.plus.com/News/latest_news.htm
the Morston page re Robart Powdich (q.v. www.powditch.plus.com/Morston/robart_powdich.htm) has now had a photograph of his graveslab (within Morston Church) added to the page

NEW items added during August, were;-
the Morston pages (see above)
all of the e-Newsletters to date, (i.e. for May, June x 2, and July) are now available on the web-site (as will be future monthly copies of same).  They can either be accessed from the Latest News section at www.powditch.plus.com or they can be accessed (per Month) at www.powditch.plus.com/News/enewsletter__may_2003.htm (for May 2003); or www.powditch.plus.com/News/enewsletter__june_2003.htm (for June 2003), or by substituting the months (shown in the last 2 examples) by july or august etc, dependant upon which month's e-Newsletter you wish to read
East Anglia; Birthplace of the Powditch's.  This is a section which takes in all of the Villages etc where members of the Powditch family have, over the generations, lived within the fascinating Counties of Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Suffolk.   For the moment, I have only provided 'basic' items, although over the coming weeks/months, I will be adding much more information, with especial details to Baptism, Marriage and Burial extracts from Parish Registers, history of the individual villages, churches, people, etc.  Of all of the Villages featured so far, the 2 which will probably be of most interest to you, will probably be those relating to Wells-next-the-Sea, and to North Creake (both accessible by clicking on the following links;-  www.powditch.plus.com/WellsNextTheSea/index.htm   or on the  link  for North Creake , at www.powditch.plus.com/TheCreakes/index.htm

Items due to be added as soon as I've finished them, include;-
more Village details etc for the Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Suffolk pages.
George Allen, alias Powditch, who in 1770 was hanged for stealing !!

-  whilst I promise to add more details re William Powditch (in Australia and New Zealand) in the near
future.

Over the coming weeks and months, you should note that many (and eventually, all) of the web-pages
will be undergoing a layout change .  Hopefully you will find that the changes will be for the better, and
that pages will, in future, open far quicker, and that you will find the 'colour scheme' better to view,
especially when reading text items.  Should you have any ideas or suggestions for improving the
web-site (either overall, or on individual pages) I would be more than glad to receive your comments.
(Please send an e-mail to webmaster@powditch.plus.com re the latter)

Thanks once again for being a Powditch or Powditch-descendant, or for just being interested in
Powditch history.

All the best for now,
John
P.S. Although the Newsletter is a totally free update regarding 'happenings/changes' to the web-site,
if there should be any particular reason you do not wish to continue receiving a copy of it, perhaps you
could e-mail me and let me know? In later issues I am hoping to just provide basic details
(additions, deletions, amendments, welcomes, etc), but I am open to any suggestions, so please keep
them coming........!
P.P.S.  
If you know of any family members who are now 'on-line' and who have an e-mail address, I'd be grateful for details.  Similarly, if you know of any changes of e-mail addresses etc, I'd be pleased to receive details re same (a few e-mails have been returned to me because their 'addresses' have changed or not been recognised)
I'd also be most grateful for any details you may know about re births, marriages, deaths, illnesses, change of addresses, achievements, discovery of family papers/documents on or about the Powditch family etc, or anything else, especially as my 'Latest News' page is looking a little bare at the moment!
Items updated on the web-site are highlighted with ! !
whilst any New items are highlighted by the letters, NEW .