Dear Nicholas,
Congratulations for putting your most interesting comments and information about the Coddington diary online.Congratulations also for succeeding to actually read and transcribe her scrawl which seemed to me rather undecipherable.
As you can see my name is Phil Hellin, I’m a semi-retired teacher living in Montgomery, Powys. I came to your site via the listings I acquired online via the N.C.A. My interest in your transcriptions and research of the Coddington diary is in connection to my general interest in cycling diaries around the turn of the 19th century.
Although a very active cyclist in my younger days I think my cycling days may be in the past since my hip operations. Although now I am back to ‘normal’ i could seek advice on riding again. However, apart from the odd bit of teaching and my prolonged interest in children’s book writing I seem to have recently (as of 2 weeks ago) taken an interest in late Victorian/Edwardian cycle diaries.
The reason for this being down to my reading a book by Fletcher Moss (Alderman Moss) of Didsbury near Manchester. His book Pilgrimages into Cheshire and Shropshire(1901) proved to be compulsive reading.Not only from a social history point of view but because I had cycled to almost every place in the book when a callow youth. As a result of my newly acquired interest I thought it would be interesting to discover more about Fletcher Moss and his travelling companion(photographer). Apparently they were sending back their tour reports to various Manchester papers and satisfying a hungry audience. Fletcher Moss died in his 70’s in 1919 and left his house and large estate to the people of Didsbury. I subsequently discovered from the chair of the Fletcher Moss Trust, that all Fletcher’s diaries, books etc will be displayed in a purpose built museum in what was his former house.
With all that info. in mind you can now see what led me to seeking out your site. I was interested in comparing his diary entries to those of others. As one might expect of a professional journalist/historian his reports were very accurate although entertainingly whimsical.
I have looked at various excerpts of diaries ranging from w.m.Robinson , to William Wray and a few others and although they are equally as effective as Fletcher’s work they all have different and varying approaches to their reportage.
I want to visit the archives in the N.C.A. in Warwick sometime and also make a special visit to Didsbury where the F.M. museum will be shortly opened.
I don’t have the time to expand my interest in cycling diaries but I do think that Andrew Millward’s ideas to digitize the records in the archives would be very helpful in the future for people like ourselves.
Once again congratulations on your research and hopefully we might meet up somewhere in time to come,
Best Wishes,
Phil
Hi Phil, it’s nice to be mistaken for Nicholas Oddy as he is a legend. Thanks for your comments and stories. I’ve also written about the Coddington Diary and I agree with your points about digitising the library archive. Hope to hear more about your interest and work around Victorian cycle diaries.
Dear Nicholas,
Congratulations for putting your most interesting comments and information about the Coddington diary online.Congratulations also for succeeding to actually read and transcribe her scrawl which seemed to me rather undecipherable.
As you can see my name is Phil Hellin, I’m a semi-retired teacher living in Montgomery, Powys. I came to your site via the listings I acquired online via the N.C.A. My interest in your transcriptions and research of the Coddington diary is in connection to my general interest in cycling diaries around the turn of the 19th century.
Although a very active cyclist in my younger days I think my cycling days may be in the past since my hip operations. Although now I am back to ‘normal’ i could seek advice on riding again. However, apart from the odd bit of teaching and my prolonged interest in children’s book writing I seem to have recently (as of 2 weeks ago) taken an interest in late Victorian/Edwardian cycle diaries.
The reason for this being down to my reading a book by Fletcher Moss (Alderman Moss) of Didsbury near Manchester. His book Pilgrimages into Cheshire and Shropshire(1901) proved to be compulsive reading.Not only from a social history point of view but because I had cycled to almost every place in the book when a callow youth. As a result of my newly acquired interest I thought it would be interesting to discover more about Fletcher Moss and his travelling companion(photographer). Apparently they were sending back their tour reports to various Manchester papers and satisfying a hungry audience. Fletcher Moss died in his 70’s in 1919 and left his house and large estate to the people of Didsbury. I subsequently discovered from the chair of the Fletcher Moss Trust, that all Fletcher’s diaries, books etc will be displayed in a purpose built museum in what was his former house.
With all that info. in mind you can now see what led me to seeking out your site. I was interested in comparing his diary entries to those of others. As one might expect of a professional journalist/historian his reports were very accurate although entertainingly whimsical.
I have looked at various excerpts of diaries ranging from w.m.Robinson , to William Wray and a few others and although they are equally as effective as Fletcher’s work they all have different and varying approaches to their reportage.
I want to visit the archives in the N.C.A. in Warwick sometime and also make a special visit to Didsbury where the F.M. museum will be shortly opened.
I don’t have the time to expand my interest in cycling diaries but I do think that Andrew Millward’s ideas to digitize the records in the archives would be very helpful in the future for people like ourselves.
Once again congratulations on your research and hopefully we might meet up somewhere in time to come,
Best Wishes,
Phil
Hi Phil, it’s nice to be mistaken for Nicholas Oddy as he is a legend. Thanks for your comments and stories. I’ve also written about the Coddington Diary and I agree with your points about digitising the library archive. Hope to hear more about your interest and work around Victorian cycle diaries.