Welcome to the Historic Coventry Forum

What a great run of February comments. I`ve only been here a dog watch compared with many of you old hands. I visit at least once a day, often more, and learn something new on every visit and it does keep me in touch with reality - what I mean is, the past is not just my dream - there are sufficient of you telling me it happened - ergo it did happen. I left Coventry in June 1975 and emigrated to Scotland, but I have always had a base in Coventry and old friends keep me up to date, but they haven`t got the information new friends on this site provide. It`s truly a wonderful cornucopia of "goodies"

Hi Rob I registered with the forum earlier today and hope you will excuse my using this short post to introduce myself and to test my account settings etc. Although born in Bedworth (and living in Leicestershire since 1981) I served my engineering apprenticeship and technical education in Coventry - so consider myself very much a Coventrian (becoming a Freeman of the City in January 2008). It is a brilliant forum and I hope to be an active contributor - thank you.

Thank you so much 3Spires, you're very kind. We all look forward to seeing more contributions from you very soon - welcome to the HCF family!

After retiring I got very interested in family history, this involved census records, parish records etc. I then wanted to find out more about the places that my ancestors lived, worked and had their families. This was how I came across your brilliant site. If only other towns/cities had such a wonderful resource. I grew up in Coventry, left over 40 years ago but still image it to be the same as when I left in 1973. I love looking at photos posted both before I was born and after I left. I was born in Styvechale, went to Stivichall Infant and Junior School (previously called Green Lane school) and then on to Lyng Hall comprehensive. After teacher training I taught at Annie Osborne Junior in Woodend. My church was West Orchard congregational where I went to brownies and guides and eventually married there. I have enjoyed reading many of the threads but can someone answer me this. I grew up in the district of Styvechale (it was such a hard word to learn to spell when I was young) but understood that my school Stivichall was spelt differently because it was in Coat of Arms Bridge Road and that was how the Stivichall family spelt their name. Is the old spelling of the district no longer used? I have read many threads, seen maps and even a road sign all using 'Stivichall' for the district. Thanks again for a wonderful forum which I am sure I will use a lot. I may even be able to help with a questions as well.

You're very kind Maya, thank you for such a lovely introduction. The forum part of the site is only as good as its members' contributions, which is why so many people from far and wide think so highly of it. I wish I knew the answer to your Stivichall / Styvechale conundrum - it's an ongoing mystery for our city that I'd love to hear a definitive answer to! Moderator note: This post, together with the previous post, has been copied into this thread where the topic has previously been discussed. Current responses to the above have been moved into that thread

Hi everyone. My name is Paul Broderick and I have just joined your forum. I resided in Hillfields and Foleshill for many years before emigrating to the USA. I work in photoshop specializing in composite imaging. The image below represents a medieval village evening scene. Hope it is liked!

I like the sagginess of some of your buildings. Many are drawn too regular in fantasy art. Oh, and hello

17COV145, hi and welcome. Is your picture from a Flemish painting or a USA picture?

The 'picture' is a composite image 'assembled' in Photoshop. I used five base images: basic background (buildings, cart and yard), pigs, two sets of poultry, and lamps. I added an evening effect and added lighting to the lamps. I obtained the individual images from a variety of sites and created my 'own' image from of them. I have been informed that my images must be placed in the appropriate a 'thread' within HCF, medieval images within Memories and Nostalgia or Local History and Heritage, however, I attach another medieval image for you, titled Town Square. Regards.

17COV145, No wonder that picture looked alien to me, bit of a mish mash. Sorry, not my cup of tea at all.

Good morning everyone, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome Helen as a new addition to our moderating team. For a while now Helen has been most helpful to members in need of guidance, so it was a natural progression for her to join our little crew on a more official basis. Have a great weekend, Rob

It's an honour.

Does the honour to Helen mean that we now address our communications to moderators, 'Dear sir or madam'?

Well done Helen, none deserve it better, your knowledge of Coventry is outstanding.