Medal Index Cards

[bernardmcilwaine]

PALS

This is great WELL DONE W.F.A.. tO RAISE ANOTHER POINT.I think its about time that the government organisations that look after documents ,FOR US,looked after them properly.THEY BELONG TO THE NATION ,or ,inthis case,THE NATIONS.

WHY  do we have to pay to access our own documents??This is not the case with CANADIAN OR AUSTRALIAN,OR NEWZEALAND DOCUMENTS.mOST OF THEM ARE FREELY AVALIABLE ON LINE.This is a left-over from the days when the rulling elete were responsible for every bit of our lives.Let us say QUEEN VICTORIA IS DEAD.This is the 21 century.We must have access to OUR  documents.We know that they have to be payed for but that is the function of central and local government.These records should not be held just for those who can aford them.THEY BELONG TO ALL OF US RICH AND POOR,and not just to those IN AUTHORITY.

You may think that I am over the top.BUT REMEMBER they tried to make us pay to go into OUR MUSEUMS.We are gradually loosing our freedoms.Let us try to do something about this.OUR BGOYS DIED THAT WE MIGHT BE FREE.WE OWE IT TO THEM TO MAKE SURE THEIR SACRIFICES WERE NOT IN VAIN.

Sorry pals but this does anoy me.

cheers.

JOHN.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hiya john,reinforcements have arrived,fully agree,word for word,bernard

[John_Hartley]

You may think that I am over the top.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmmm.

[Jock Bruce]

Nothing governments do is ever 'free', it is paid for by taxes. It is, of course, perfectly possible to digitise the TNA's entire holdings and make them available on-line for free. But someone in government would have to decide - do I raise taxes to fund this, or do I take money from elsewhere?. Intersting one to sell to the voters.

_________________

But never mind that, let's close down a couple of hospitals, pay off a warship and cut police numbers - it's all worthwhile if MIC downloads are 'free'.

Vote Jock Bruce, Vote Archive Party

(Our manifesto is basically that of my fellow Highlander Charlie Kennedy i.e. 'a large dram in one hand, a fag in the other' but we also guarantee a war diary on every PC.

Archive Party - you know it makes sense.)

PALS

This is great WELL DONE W.F.A.. tO RAISE ANOTHER POINT.I think its about time that the government organisations that look after documents ,FOR US,looked after them properly.THEY BELONG TO THE NATION ,or ,inthis case,THE NATIONS.

WHY  do we have to pay to access our own documents??This is not the case with CANADIAN OR AUSTRALIAN,OR NEWZEALAND DOCUMENTS.mOST OF THEM ARE FREELY AVALIABLE ON LINE.This is a left-over from the days when the rulling elete were responsible for every bit of our lives.Let us say QUEEN VICTORIA IS DEAD.This is the 21 century.We must have access to OUR  documents.We know that they have to be payed for but that is the function of central and local government.These records should not be held just for those who can aford them.THEY BELONG TO ALL OF US RICH AND POOR,and not just to those IN AUTHORITY.

You may think that I am over the top.BUT REMEMBER they tried to make us pay to go into OUR MUSEUMS.We are gradually loosing our freedoms.Let us try to do something about this.OUR BGOYS DIED THAT WE MIGHT BE FREE.WE OWE IT TO THEM TO MAKE SURE THEIR SACRIFICES WERE NOT IN VAIN.

Sorry pals but this does anoy me.

cheers.

JOHN.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Sue Light]

I think it’s a mistake to have such a blinkered view of our records. WW1 records are just a tiny fraction of our national archives that stretch back for more than a thousand years. They are simply vast, indescribable and magnificent, and we should consider ourselves a lucky nation to have so much made available to us. There are [to name but a few] Manorial records; State papers; Wills; censuses; Poor Law records; land records; divorce and death duty records; apprenticeship records - and just for fun go to the NA catalogue and search using the words ‘Jack the Ripper.’ The results give you an outstanding idea of what you might find once you start looking. And these are just national documents; searching and absorbing local records would take another lifetime – and all being cared for and preserved for future generations.

Very few countries in the world have archives even vaguely approaching the size of our own, and of those even fewer have free public access to so many. And our access to the records is, in most cases, free, although you may have to travel to view them. Over the last ten years more and more records have become available online, and yes, a lot have to be paid for, but why not? We’re not being denied some vital right of life by the inability to pay – for the majority of us it’s a hobby, and I, for one, don’t expect someone else [the taxpayer] to foot the bill for my hobby. When I have the money I do it. If I don’t, then I don’t. I just give thanks for the pleasure that I derive from what’s available – the breathtaking array of documents that are being preserved for me to examine, and for the fact that I’m British.

Sue

[John_Hartley]

(Our manifesto is basically that of my fellow Highlander Charlie Kennedy i.e. 'a large dram in one hand, a fag in the other' but we also guarantee a war diary on every PC.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do I get a choice of war diary? Or is this some sort of sanitised namby-pamby "nanny state" sort of election promise? The sort where one expects a full 10th Cheshire (with battle reports) but only gets a 3rd Field Butchery, ASC.

And just by way of clarification, mainly for our North American pals, I presume you refer to a British fag, not the American sort.

John

[shinglma]

Do I get a choice of war diary?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No - its the Seaforths

Mike

[spike10764]

Well done the WFA- whether they should be free or not is another argument- but someone had to save them.

Oh- and I'm voting for the Archive Party-apathy wing (but only if I can vote by txt or online- or even better by default)

[j.r.f]

PALS

I am not sure that you are taking me seriously.Sue I think ALL records should be freely avaliable for all.These records are equally important as hospitals or the army.They should be fully paid for by central or local government.All of the records are the heritage of ALL of us and should be avaliable to all of us.In some cases the originals SHOULD be protected but then there should be digital copies avaliable for us to use.If you can get to LONDON easily then many of these records are readily avaliable.If they were as far as posible on line then they would be avaliable for all.If this is not posible then there is a network of county record offices where they could be accessed.This should not be a difficult task.Given the will to make it work.

I will now step of my soap box.BUT REMEMBER THAT FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS OF LITTLE USE WITHOUT FREEDOM OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION.

CHEERS.

JOHN.

[Max]

These records are equally important as hospitals or the army.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Surely you can't be serious??

[ianw]

Currently , I am just pleased the cards have been saved. Let's wait to see the access situation developing. As has been said, there is no such thing as "free' access to these and other records. If I referred to them , I would be happy to make a reasonable contribution to their up keep.

Personally I don't see that there is a great conspiracy to generally deny us access to our heritage but simply a desire to minimise expenditure of public money - sometimes taken too far. (I would agree that money saved in one area is often profligately wasted in others , though !)

[John_Hartley]

John

I was taking you seriously (although it was you that suggested you might have been "over the top").

Whether records are digitised or not is another matter, but what I think you are saying is that there shouldnt be a charge to access them.

I have some sympathy with that point of view, and I well remember similar discussions when I was studing economics and public sector finance, over 30 years ago.

Government provides a range of services and recoups the cost of them from the public via taxes. Sometimes the taxes are direct ones (like income tax or national insurance). Many others are indirect taxes on consumption (like VAT or the tax on petrol). Other "consumption taxes" are hidden away as "charges" - like the prescription charge or accessing MICs.

But they are all taxes. The debate about the percentage of government "tax take" from direct or indirect taxes is one of those long-standing issues which divide political parties.

[Jock Bruce]

And just by way of clarification, mainly for our North American pals, I presume you refer to a British fag, not the American sort. 

John

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

John,

like any politician, in the quest for power I'm content for the electorate to read into my manifesto whatever gets their vote.

Access to archives, charging, etc is a fascinating subject and probably worth a thread to itself. But getting back to the subject in hand. Well done the WFA, look forwards to the happy day when the data is available - it will be invaluable for those researching units as well as those researching indivduals.

Jock

[j.r.f]

PALS

I agree I have said enough.Indeed it is all power to the W.F.A..They sorted it out and all I can say is THANKYOU for a job well done. Can I also add as a W.F.A. member.If there is anything I can do PLEASE ask me and ,if posible,I will be there.

PLEASE can we now consider my in-apropiate moan tyo be finished.

CHEERS.

JOHN.