Gillian Long
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gillianmlong.bsky.social
Gillian Long
@gillianmlong.bsky.social
34 followers 86 following 16 posts
Library manager, family history addict, would-be photographer.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Gillian Long
uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social
It's never too late to return that overdue library book... 😊
September 10, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by Gillian Long
number10cat.bsky.social
Since its foundation in 1824 the bravery of Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers has saved more than 146,700 lives at sea.
Hundreds of those volunteers have died attempting to save others. They are the best of us.
September 8, 2026 at 1:56 PM
gillianmlong.bsky.social
The latest Ancestry update is in, and I'm officially 2% more Cornish than I was before. Splann! 🙂🎉
September 2, 2026 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
pastpostcard.bsky.social
Now I just have to find my way home.
July 16, 2026 at 7:24 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
johnfreeman.bsky.social
downthetubes readers of a certain age who grew up in Britain’s South West may remember the stranger TV antics of Westward TV’s Gus Honeybun puppet mascot, while celebrating birthdays between their TV shows…
Who Remembers Westward TV mascot Gus Honeybun? He’s Back!
Who remembers the popular puppet and his catchy theme tune? He’s baaaaack!
downthetubes.net
June 6, 2026 at 5:42 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
orkneylibrary.bsky.social
Today is #WorldEnvironmentDay so we're taking back all the books that people have read, putting them onto shelves for people to look at, then giving them out again to other people who haven't read them yet. For free.

What a system. ❤️

#LoveLibraries #GreenLibraries ♻️
A library book with a date label showing return dates from 2015 to 2026
June 5, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
guywrites.bsky.social
I love the work of Stanhope Forbes. This piece, especially, very poignant tonight. The way he captures the light, the weariness of the adults, and the wonder on the faces of the children. I think it is rather beautiful. 🖼️

#Art #StanhopeForbes #Newlyn #Cornwall #Christmas
December 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Gillian Long
paintingsoflondon.bsky.social
'View from Senate House Library' (2014) by Melissa Scott-Miller
chrisbeetles.com/artwork/44604/view-from-senate-house-library
October 15, 2025 at 7:11 AM
gillianmlong.bsky.social
So, the Ancestry update is in, and my Cornish ancestry now stands at 44% - more or less what I would expect. (Should be listed under Celtic, though! )
Not too sure about some of the other allocations - unless half of my Devon ancestors hailed from the West Midlands. (I don't think so! 😂)
A table showing a person's ancestry by region. Under the heading "England", it reads Cornwall 44%, South-Eastern England & North-Western Europe 16%, Devon & Somerset 15%, West Midlands 15%. Under the heading "Celtic & Gaelic", it reads Southern Wales 4%, Munster, Ireland 3%, North East Scotland 3%.
October 9, 2025 at 9:41 PM
gillianmlong.bsky.social
I still have ten of these books - and I'm pretty sure I had all of them as a child. 📚😊
lbflyawayhome.bsky.social Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · Oct 9
Ladybird cover stories.
The fairy tales illustrated by artist Robert Lumley.
(Books published between 1965 - 1974)
Collection of 13 books, laid out in an approximate grid, showing the front covers of Robert Lumley‘s original fairytale books, including the enormous turnip and the elves and the Shoemaker
October 9, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Gillian Long
saltern.bsky.social
Yn hwir!!!

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Cornish clung on as living language beyond Dolly Pentreath, says writer
Author of new book suggests Kernewek continued to be spoken in the 19th century, albeit in ‘tiny numbers’
www.theguardian.com
September 15, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Gillian Long
uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social
Today is a special day for SSEES Library. Exactly 20 years ago today (15th August 2005) we opened at our current location in Taviton Street. The new @uclssees.bsky.social building was not quite finished, but that didn't stop us! 📚🥳🍾🎉🎈
A library counter with a cash till and a computer terminal. There are building works and temporary hoardings in the background. A library reading room with a stack of new chairs in plastic wrapping. In the background there is a stack of blue and yellow book crates. Looking into a library reading room, through a door frame that has no glass or door yet fitted. There are bookshelves full of books in the background, and on the left there is a desk with a printer on it. A library staff office with temporary scaffolding in the background, in front of a window. There are two desks in the foreground and a stack of book crates on the right.
August 15, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
lbwfarchives.bsky.social
Lighthouse Methodist Church, Markhouse Rd, Walthamstow, c1907. Designed by J Williams Dunford, the church opened in 1893, the site given by Capt King of Bullard King Steamers. Echoing King's nautical connections, the design featured a turret & revolving light to shine during services. #LighthouseDay
Lighthouse Methodist Church, Markhouse Road, Walthamstow, c.1907. 📷 From VHM collection, available in our Searchroom.
August 7, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Gillian Long
lbwfarchives.bsky.social
#OTD 25 July 1834 William Morris was baptised at St Mary's Church, Walthamstow. At this time, the Morris family lived at Elm House, Clay Street (now Forest Road), where William was born on 24 March 1834. 📷 Entries from Walthamstow St Mary's baptism register, Jun-Jul 1834.
Entries from Walthamstow St Mary's baptism register, June-July 1834, including the entry for the baptism of William Morris on 25 July 1834.
July 25, 2025 at 5:37 PM
gillianmlong.bsky.social
A very enjoyable afternoon at the British Library 📚😊
Entrance to the British Library - the words "British Library" repeated several times and silhouetted against a blue sky. Front view of the British Library taken from the courtyard on a bright sunny day. The King's Library at the British Library - a collection of books originally assembled by King George III. The image shows multiple rows of bookshelves behind glass. One of the British Library's reading rooms viewed from above - rows of study desks occupied by library customers.
June 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM
gillianmlong.bsky.social
Still more places to go, things to see...
A map of UK counties shaded in different colours to distinguish between places lived in, places stayed in, places visited, places passed through, and places never visited. All counties of England and Wales have at least been passed through. Places never visited include the counties of Northern Ireland and parts of Southern Scotland.
May 31, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
londonist.com
A star is reborn! We're swooning over these pics of this renovated Walthamstow theatre - reopening on Friday 🥰
In Pictures: Walthamstow's Stunning New Soho Theatre
Where's the new theatre in Walthamstow?
londonist.com
May 1, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Gillian Long
lbwfarchives.bsky.social
Reading room at Leyton Reference Library 1950. The collections included a wealth of photographs, documents & printed sources for local history research, now held by us. We still have some of the filing cabinets, but hats & flowers no longer appear on our study tables! #ArchiveBeginnings #Archive30
Photograph of the reading room at Leyton Reference Library, 1950. From VHM photo collection, available in our Searchroom.
April 2, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
rclongauthor.bsky.social
Don’t how long for but the Kindle edition of my book on the St Ives Branch Line is currently just 99p on Amazon!
#StIves #StIvesCornwall #StIvesBranch #StIvesBranchLine
@penandswordbooks.bsky.social

www.amazon.co.uk/St-Ives-Bran...
The St Ives Branch Line A History
March 28, 2025 at 7:53 PM
gillianmlong.bsky.social
A little excitement at work today 😄
uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social UCL SSEES Library @uclsseeslibrary.bsky.social · Mar 28
Spring-cleaning SSEES-style today 🪟🧽🧼🫧😊 @uclssees.bsky.social
A window cleaner abseiling down the lightwell at UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. A man wearing a blue helmet and carrying a bucket. He is suspended from the roof of the building on a rope and is cleaning the windows. The First Floor bookshelves of the UCL SSEES Library is visible in the background.
March 28, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
lbflyawayhome.bsky.social
Ah yes. Monday.

Artist: Eric Winter
Rumpelstiltskin
The king shows the miller’s daughter a huge pile of straw to be spun into gold
March 24, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
susiedentwords.bsky.social
Etymology of the day: ‘book’ comes from an ancient root shared by ‘beech’, a wood that people used for engraving inscriptions. ‘Paper’ comes from ‘papyrus’, and ‘volume’ is from the Latin for a ‘roll’ of parchment.

Happy World Book Day.
March 6, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Gillian Long
ucl.ac.uk
🎉 Happy 199th birthday, UCL! 🎉

We’re just one year away from celebrating 200 years of innovation, discovery, and impact.

UCL has always been a place of firsts. Now, we look ahead to an exciting bicentenary year!

Learn more: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/fe...

#UCL200 #UCLFoundationDay #UCLBirthday
February 11, 2025 at 11:57 AM
gillianmlong.bsky.social
Amazing what you can find in a library! 😁 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Old Crunchie wrapper found in Cambridge University Library
The pre-1971 wrapper is likely to have been there for more than 50 years, says the library.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 11, 2025 at 10:18 AM
gillianmlong.bsky.social
Love this Mabel Lucie Attwell postcard, sent to my grandmother by her friend, Alice. It is dated 1st September 1929. #FamilyHistory #Genealogy
Mabel Lucie Attwell postcard depicting a little girl sitting on a stool, watching a letterbox in eager anticipation of receiving some post. The inscription reads "If you want to do right, do write!".
February 6, 2025 at 7:16 PM