Chris Sefton-Hearn
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Mystery Photo Album
  • Hwb ChrisQuiz
    • Mastodon
    • -----
    • Flickr
    • LinkedIn
    • Pixelfed
    • Twitter Archive
    • YouTube (Stop, Rewind, Eject)
    • Blog RSS
  1. Home
2011 Census logo

Completing the 2011 Census

Details
Published: 27 March 2011
  • government
  • census
  • united kingdom
  • family history

Today is Census Day - the day where, once every ten years, the government takes an official count of its citizens. This year I've been getting annoyed with how people are whining over how many questions there are and how intrusive it is.

Read more: Completing the 2011 Census

Will Ryeish Green breathe again?

Details
Published: 18 July 2010
  • ryeish green school
  • wokingham borough council
  • education
  • development

Ok, by now you are all probably aware of my feelings about Wokingham Borough Council's ludicrous and extremely short-sighted decision to close Ryeish Green Secondary School, my former school, just south of Reading. Ryeish closed its doors for the last time yesterday.

Read more: Will Ryeish Green breathe again?

Self-service till. Photo: The Grocer.

Supermarket Self-Service - is it really that bad?

Details
Published: 12 July 2010
  • retail
  • self-service
  • tesco
  • morrisons
  • co-operative
  • sainsburys
  • somerfield
  • aberystwyth
  • customer service

Earlier today I read an article in The Grocer that highlighted the findings of an online survey saying that 73% of supermarket customers are shunning self-service checkouts.

Really? That many people really don't like them? Why?!

Admittedly, a few years ago when the technology was relatively young, self-service checkouts were temperamental to say the least. Items not recognised by the scanners, scales not registering items in the bagging area, or interfaces that were just too difficult for customers to use.

Read more: Supermarket Self-Service - is it really that bad?

Ryeish Green School - celebrations and sadness

Details
Published: 04 May 2010

One hundred years ago, in April 1910, the Shinfield Three Mile Cross Council School opened in the hamlet of Ryeish Green just outside Reading. Over the years this school developed, changed roles, and eventually became Ryeish Green School, a comprehensive secondary school.

I consider myself lucky enough to have gone to Ryeish and enjoyed practically every day there and come rain or shine I'd be trudging my way up the Hyde End Lane hill to school.

I gained some good friends and have many great memories of my seven years there. It was through working in the school's library that I went on to study in the field of librarianship at Aberystwyth University. It was also because of those happy memories that I was excited about going to an open day there last Sunday to celebrate the school's centenary - the first time I'd been back in almost 10 years.

However it wasn't a complete day for celebrating as the local authority, Wokingham Borough Council, has made the decision to close the school.

Read more: Ryeish Green School - celebrations and sadness

Aberystwyth has a heart

Details
Published: 14 October 2009
  • retail
  • aberystwyth
  • development
  • towns
"But Aberystwyth needs a development. What's the point of having all these new houses (in the town), along with a new assembly government building, if the town has no heart?"

This is what Meirion Jones, the developer behind Aberystwyth's highly controversial shopping centre plans, says about Aberystwyth.

Read more: Aberystwyth has a heart

Koha logo

Developments in the online systems at work

Details
Published: 23 April 2009
  • aberguild
  • computers
  • koha
  • libraries

At work I'm responsible for two online systems - the Shop's website and Koha, the library software we use to manage our DVD rentals service.

Over the past week I've been tweaking bits here and there, hacking away (rather crudely in some cases, but hey - it works!), and adding some functions to the systems that have until now been lacking.

The main developments were based in Koha and getting it publicly accessible to allow our customers to find out which DVDs we had available.

Read more: Developments in the online systems at work

  1. Death by DIY
  2. Amazing discovery
  3. Oh my god, I've killed Karl Beattie!
  4. Cheese

Page 8 of 9

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9

Blog Tags

family history 52ancestors history holiday cornwall social media photographs retail aberystwyth games twitter diy libraries television self-service customer service ryeish green school wokingham borough council education development

Most Read

  • Will Ryeish Green breathe again?
  • Becoming part of the Borg Collective
  • Ryeish Green School - celebrations and sadness
  • Completing the 2011 Census
  • Supermarket Self-Service - is it really that bad?

Search

Latest Toots

 

I could previously be found on the mastodon.org.uk instance.

Jack & Mary's Photos

Photos from my great-uncle and aunt's archives brought to the Fediverse! Find out more or visit the Pixelfed account.

 

Change The Look

  • Page Views 434139
Copyright © 2009-2025 Chris Sefton-Hearn. All rights reserved, unless otherwise stated.
Privacy and cookies policy. Blog RSS. Blog Atom.

Floppy disk image credit: Dead Media Society: 5 1/4" floppy disk by Theo Curmudgeon, used under CC BY 2.0. Background removed and label edited from the original.