Iphone art

Using Scribble app. I drew the above on my Iphone.

Book signing at Craig-y-nos

All 200 books were sold in less than two hours. Dr Carole Reeves is busy re-ordering more.

Book launch at Craig-y-nos Castle

Dr Carole Reeves, Outreach Historian with the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London and Ann Shaw co-authors of the book "The Children of Craig-y-nos" * signing copies of the book at the recent launch in the restored Glass Conservatory in the Castle.

Some of the people present had been child patients in the Conservatory.


* Book available online from Amazon.co.uk or

Dr Carole Reeves
Outreach Historian
The Wellcome Trust Centre
for the History of Medicine at UCL
183 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE

Or Val's newsagent, Ystradgynlais

Free PDF file to download from
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/library/craig_book

Book launch....

Have started to get nervous. We fly from Edinburgh this afternoon to Cardiff.

Dr Reeves is horrified that the boxes from the printers books have been opened . I tell her its Wales. What does she expect? There's no way those boxes were going to remain unopened in the Castle.

Curiosity and privacy do not share the same bed in Wales.

Books arrive Craig-y-nos Castle

Just rang reception at castle. Yes all 200 books have arrived.

They look good I am told . Well neither Dr Carole Reeves nor myself have seen them for they went straight from the printers to the launch venue.

Book launch

Busy getting ready for book launch on Friday in Craig-y-nos Castle. So
far around 100 people booked in. Have asked Cynthia Mullane to do the
introduction and she has agreed . She represents the Sleeping Giant
Foundation, a local oral history charity, who have been very supportive.

SkyTV and Youtube

Have had a request from Sky TV for one of my videos - dog herding ducks- which I made at the local agricultural show in Dunblane . www.youtube.com/user/annshaw

How we will read books in the future

If you think books will remain in the same format as we know them know now - hardback or paperback- then read this from The Wall Street Journal

Book launch -May 1st Craig-y-nos Castle

So far 95 people have booked in for the lunch to launch the "Children of Craig-y-nos" book, a 40 year history of a childens TB sanatorium which I have co-authored with Dr Carole Reeves of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London.

It will be held in Craig-y-nos Castle in the Swansea Valley.

Book- Vook

Just read that there is a device in development called a "vook" a cross between a book and a video which would enable you to read books on a variety of electronic devices and incorporate video too.

Already I find that I use my Iphone to read lots of stuff rather than log on to my main computer.

Horse riding in Jordan

I came across this scene outside Petra and I have called the video clip available on both Youtube and Blip.tv
"The real one trick pony"

I leave it to you to figure out whether it's real or computer fakery...

Finland...folk watching

Had a comment from Finland



Finland on sheep-shearing
Salon Sundö The Movie
Sheep shearing in October 2008 in the archipelago of Finland. No sheep-wrestling, they just walk up a ramp-and sort of enjoy the ride! Happy sheep! :-)
This is a Finnish woman designer who posted a video response.

Blairlogie film show and Youtube

Who watches my stuff on Youtube? Well, Google have added a nifty tool which not only reveals the age of viewers but where they are located .

So, when I got invited to show two films at Blairlogie Village Hall prior to the main film" How to Marry a Millionaire" on Saturday I decided to google them first. Bearing in mind the audience (local) I selected two local films which have already proved popular on Youtube with combined "hits" around 40,000.

I expected the statistics to reveal they had a high Scottish, or at least British ranking.





Not at all. The clip of an eight week old European owl is watched almost in equal numbers by young men and women in the 18-35 age group in the Ukraine !

As for the five minute film of wrestling at the Bridge of Allan Games most viewers are middle-aged Austrian women!....

Argyll and Sutherland HIghlanders march through Stirling

Soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders march through Stirling after returning from Afghanistan.

"Bark in the Park"

Bark in the Park

Genetic engineering....cloning....well' tis a short step away.

Stone Circle- Pittenweem Arts Festival

I am having difficulty embedding video into blog. Please click on following link to:
Stone Circle

This video was made last Sunday in Pittenweem, Fife at the end of their annual arts festival.

The Japanese installation artist Yoshihito Kawabata imported stone from the north of Scotland, he put a message and signed each stone then laid them in a gigantic circle with part of it on the shore. As soon as the tide came in it took some stones away.

He believes in "free art" and he wanted his installation to be enjoyed by visitors to the Festival, and if they wanted a stone as a "keep-sake" then he was happy for them to take stones away. The sea, wind and waves took the rest...

Wrestling - Bridge of Allan Highland Games- 2008

Bridge of Allan Games

I am not able to embed video from YouTube - so go to the above link.

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

This video shot in Stirling of the last march through the city of the world famous Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders has been watched in 35 countries, viewed by over 14,000 people and attracted 50 comments on Youtube.

It was filmed on a very old camcorder on the spur of the moment...I mention this to show how these days with the most basic technology you can make little films and show them worldwide - for free!

It so happened that the Drummer collapsed and I had it on film.

Online video communities

While I have been deeply engrossed in writing "The Children of Craig-y-nos" a multi-media, online project with a book to be published with the help of Dr Carole Reeves , oral historian with The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London and funding from the Welsh Heritage Lottery Fund my videos online have developed little communities around which people gather.

The 47 videos on my main internet channel www.Youtube.annshaw- ) have a life of their own. It is as if the video has acted as a flashpoint, or catalyst, allowing people to congregate online and exchange their views. ( I have another internet video channel for my current project www.Youtube.childrenofcraigynos

I am not too surprised that the blonde woman wrestler in our local Highland Games who flashes her knickers from time to time as she throws men to the ground has attracted thousands of "hits".

Others continue to surprise me. An old clip I put up of dog sledging I made in Alaska while en route to Japan has been bookmarked by many devotees of huskies. Likewise one dealing with predators- one featuring a European eagle chick in a Highland Wildlife park.
As for the three minute clip of the last march of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders through Stirling before they were amalgamated this still draws comments today, years after it happened.
On Youtube you just don't know what grabs folks attention: the odd, the quirky, the unexpected yes.


As for my art videos I am afraid they are the least popular.
Perhaps I should not be surprised; or disappointed.

To view all my 47 videos on Youtube click on:www.Youtube.annshaw

Children of Craig-y-nos- Reunion

We organised a Patients Reunion in September- the first time many had returned to Craig-y-nos Castle, in the Swansea Valley since they left over 50 years ago.

Mary Williams was a former TB patient who had beenbrought into the sanatorium, once the home of the famous opera diva Adelina Patti, as a very sick child.

She was given weeks, if not days, to live. Byi thanks to the miracle drug streptomycin she recovered. Nurse Glenys Davies remembers her because of her dramatic recovery.