So 2020 has finally ended. The wealth of memes on social media attested to the feeling of “good riddance” to the year due to the problem after problem over the past twelve months, principally coronavirus, the UK leaving the EU, recession, and the overall negative impact on society.

But let’s say “hello” to 2021. A year, as is always the case in early January, that is filled with hope and promise.

I thought it would be a good time to outline my intentions with the blog for the year ahead. This year I’m putting out a wish-list of aims, which will allow me to review them come January 2022.

The wish-list includes:

  1. The completion of my pub history on the Blue Monkey (St. Budeaux, Plymouth): unfortunately I lost my finished copy of this short book when my memory stick became corrupted. Yes, I know I know: I should have backed this up. Well, I am in the process now of backing up all of my files to the cloud. In the meantime, I will return to a former draft to finish this off.
  2. The continuation of the English Monarchs FA Cup series: it has taken me about 18 months to complete the first round, and so 2021 will see me push onto the second round with the remaining 32 monarchs. I haven’t been ambitious enough to say that I will complete it over the next twelve months, but it would be nice to have the competition down to the final 16 candidates.
  3. More posts relating to family history: I’m happy that I’ve expanded on the Wildman name over the past year in the form of the series The Trail of the Wildmen, but I’ve got a heck of a lot of other information to post. The big thing I intend to research in more detail is a possible royal link on the Cornish side of my family, which stretches all the way back to Edward I. I’m currently split 50/50 on how viable this link is, but I will be sure to update on here as I uncover it.
  4. Bring in more Tudors stuff: as I’ve noted (somewhere on here), I haven’t had the opportunity to teach any Tudors related content over the past year, but I do miss this dynasty and period of history. I will try to expand on the What If series, and I’ve been looking at blogging the contents of my ebook about the forgotten pretender of Henry VII’s reign: Ralph Wilford.
  5. My fifth and final aim is to give the site a tidy-up: there are some missing links, oddly assigned categories, and the overall need for a spring-clean. The blog has grown massively in terms of content since its birth in April 2018, so a bit of care will do it the world of good.

New year, new me? No, of course not. I will continue onward with the same eclectic posts based on whatever takes my fancy. In the words of John Lennon, let’s hope it’s a good one.