Author Archives: Margo
Ralph Leftwich the Emigrant by Derek Whitfield
Using the New Website
The new website is up, and we want you to visit it often for news and information.
There are two sections of the site, one is the public view and one is the member view. Please go to MEMBER LOGIN to open into more information that is reserved for members, for example: more pictures, group information, and a blog, which will contain more details about family lines.
Without logging in, a quick check of NEWS on the public view will take you to the latest information. If there’s anything we don’t want public, it’ll direct you to the member part of the site.
So, now our site is secure, the cart is secure, and we hope that your experience will be more pleasant.
I will be continually adding to the site, and re-arranging the presentation of materials to make it interesting and readable, although there are constraints with the WordPress design.
Once logged in, you may renew by clicking the cart in the upper right corner of the screen, and go to Paypal.
There are two shades of blue for the Navigation Bar. The bright blue is the public view, and you’re logged in when you see the more drab blue.
To keep your information secure, please don’t forget to go to LOG OUT on the right.
Go to CONTACT US for any questions, and I will attempt to direct those to the person who can best answer.
Let us know if you have LOGIN problems; so far things have been working fine.
I’m grateful to Mike Starr for staying on to be the tech guy on the site; we’ve had to be right-hand/left-hand on the project, when the people who started it with me said it was more involved than most they do for the price-point – that must mean the group got a good deal🤩
Margo Linder, Communications
Leftwich ice house found under London Street
Aside
Edward Leftwich recently commented on our Facebook page, “The William Leftwich who initiated the ice business was the great grandfather of my grandfather, Charles Leftwich CBE, who was born in London, as was my father, who was born at Clarence Gate, very close to where the ice house was near Regents Canal.”
- Chilling discovery of ice house found under London Street – The Guardian.
- Leftwich, baker and confectioner, and the only ice cellar in the London directories in the 1830s … began to import ice from lakes in the clean Norwegian countryside. This was crystal clear, and soon became very popular. The frozen lakes were ploughed in two directions with narrow cutters to divide the ice into blocks. These were then wrapped and brought by sea to Limehouse and along the Regent’s Canal. Besides ordinary ice, Leftwich advertised Ice Pyramids, large blocks of ice carved to shape and decorated with flowers. These were used as table decorations at banquets and, as they melted, served to keep the air cool.
Pictures courtesy of https://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/ice/iceimport.htm
January Renewals
If you prefer snail mail, mail a $25 check to Leftwich Historical Association to the treasurer: Nancy Jay, 4305 Hyridge Drive, Austin, Texas, 78759 (nnjay@hotmail.com)
Bill Leftwich, centre; Nancy Nation Jay, right
New Website Challenges
25 March 2020
Hi to all of you members who are peeling themselves away from the CoronaVirus news to see the new site, which is like a home, always in the process of renovating and/or decorating!
I was excited to take on this project was to sort and feature all of the wonderful work that has been done over the last 28 years of Leftwich Heritage issues. We have an index, but I hoped to make these articles easier to find and read.
What I didn’t count on was the really really big job to create the new site! It isn’t perfect, but I’m doing what I can. At the end of the day, WordPress is limiting; picture and file sizes have to be much smaller than what we have available, for example, but we’ll keep trying to try to find a way to get this up for the members.
Mike Starr and I, on opposite sides of the North American continent (British Columba and Maryland), are going to be “besties,” even if it kills us (not even funny now)?? Thanks to Nancy Jay and Sherrie Boone who are helping with information. Stay well, Cousins.
News
Hi, and welcome to the new Leftwich Historical Association website! It’ll be under development for some time as I get used to putting piles of information and photographs into it. Steep learning curve here, but if you’ll continue to be patient, I think it’ll work for all of us.
Log into the Members section to see the interesting information!
The public part, due to privacy issues, won’t have a lot of your names or pictures. From there, go to the MEMBER BLOG to keep up on what’s new, especially for members.
The idea is to replace the newsletter/Bulletin and draw people here who prefer it to Facebook.
We’re all facing radical challenges with COVID-19, we wish all of our members and their families and friends safety and good health.
Margo Linder, Communications