About

johnhowes.uk is a personal website, started January 2020. Still in development!

You might want to check Twitter and Facebook accounts for occasional postings – do note that this site’s contact form is a more reliable way of getting in touch.

Site content via a tag cloud:

About me

A few, not so random, facts. Name: John Howes, in case you couldn’t guess. (See ‘Not to be confused with …‘ below for some others of the same name.)

A founder and continuing member of London Cycling Campaign. Amongst other activity to 2001: rides organiser for seven years, regular ‘stuffing evenings’ (magazine mail-out) supremo. Crew member for Bicycle Beano holidays for decades.

Co-ordinator of Greenwich Friends of the Earth for a few years. Spent ‘year off’ as volunteer at central FoE office and running an independent youth version – originally Schools Eco-Action Group, renamed to Youth Environmental Action.

Involvement in writing, photography and production for SE1 Community Newspaper. To accompany an exhibition (created 2021) there is an SE1 Stories website with a little history, and an almost complete set of newspaper editions can be viewed on the Internet Archive. Various other Waterloo community action (and photography and publication production), 1980s.

Worked in finance/admin/IT variously at Directory of Social Change, Plantlife and other charities/voluntary groups, for total of approx. 16 years. First stumbled into this line as “relief bookkeeper” at Friends of the Earth (and acted as temporary manager of their then new bookshop in the foyer of ‘Almost Free Theatre’ – later Books for a Change). After a spell selling recycled paper, there were a couple of years freelance bookkeeping, mainly working with Lambeth and Southwark community groups.

Was also active in worker co-operatives and housing co-ops, again mainly in Lambeth and Southwark.

Created and ran VolResource and its associated websites and newsletter, from 1999 – see linked blog item.

Further Howes sites

Websites managed by myself include:

Family history website Cutlock & Co – the process of discovery, interesting stories and images.
MalvernTrail – ways of enjoying the natural and cultural delights of the countryside and towns on and around the Malvern Hills, especially cycling and walking. Also local campaign Cycle Malvern.
VolResource, a portal providing a wide range of information for the UK voluntary and community sector and accompanying weekly email newsletter, has been fully retired.

Website History

Not that anyone will be interested. All sites now hosted by krystal.uk.

MalvernTrail: via Free Online (part of plus.net) January 2002, own hosting a few years later. Originally Dreamweaver driven, now WP, current design Shoreditch (was tweaked Twenty Fourteen).

Cutlock & Co: registered December 2010, initially forwarding to a wordpress.com site, switched to own hosting from October 2011. Current theme: Twenty Twenty-Three using the Full Site Editing process (was tweaked Gazette).

JohnHowes.uk: January 2020. Current WP design theme: Twenty Twentyone (was Twenty Twenty). Site logo photo taken at Dore Abbey, Abbey Dore.

CycleMalvern.uk: December 2020 transferred from a wordpress.com version. Current design: Shoreditch. Worcestershire Active Travel Partnership appeared August 2021.

SE1 Stories site launched October 2021, Shoreditch design.

VolResource: first started March 1999 as a few pages at volresource.free-online.co.uk. Moved to separate domain/hosting July/Sept. 1999, site retired Nov. 2023. Originally developed using Dreamweaver, then powered by WordPress with final design theme a tweaked Twenty Sixteen. Content is still available for research/re-use, as is that for VoluntaryNews, which was set up Oct. 2000 (at one stage running on Drupal, ending up using WP Gazette theme). CharityBlog (established Jan. 2006) finished on WP, Ixion theme.

mega.org.uk (used for a Malvern group and then as a test site) from 2006 to December 2019.

Not to be confused with …

Updates and additions welcome.

The artist John Howes has his own website at johnhowes.co.uk (based South Wales).

John Howes, who was quality control chemist and later tour guide at Westons Cider in Much Marcle, and has a bench inscribed in his honour at the back of the courtyard there.

Someone I was confused with at work in the past, when he was chair of trustees: top administrator John Howes (Facebook link).

Cycling related

Howes Cycles, cycle shop in Cambridge that was at 104 Regent Street. Established by John Howes in 1840 and run by the family until it closed in 2013.

Jon Howes of Cardiff Cycle Workshop.

A cyclist of similar age who sadly died after a crash in October 2019, as reported in this BBC news item.

Misc

John Howes Author, as per his Facebook handle, lives in Worcester (according to Amazon). Sci-fi and fantasy author.

Looks like the John Howes of the related SoundCloud link is connected with the music scene in Manchester.

johnhowes.studio is held by an American photographer and cinematographer.

johnhowes.net is currently (Jan. 2020) with an American farm insurance agent.

Wikipedia John Howes page is for John Forman Howes, who was a Professor of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia. Died Feb. 2017.

John R Howes, ‘criminal lawyer’ based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA – on linkedin.com (previously had johnhowes.com?)

There was an architectural journalist of the same name writing for The Times at one time.

John Howes, who has something to do with Tarn Hows SSSI in the Lake District.

John Howes previously of Wetlands International (this is archive link) seems an interesting guy.

John Howes, of electrical retailers Howes of Southborough (Tunbridge Wells), a vintage radio technical expert.

There’s a John Howes Close in Easton, Norwich (the city where my paternal grandparents grew up) – although Google Maps records it as Howe’s.

Historic

From Access to Archives (Norfolk record office, Howes family papers, re-checked May’23):

John Howes of Morningthorpe, High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1718, a distant relation. The Art UK website has a picture of him (the original painting is at Ancient House, Thetford).
A barrister, 1697 to 1763.
John Howes of Grays Inn, 1758 to 1787 (connected with the previous person perhaps);

“An entry in the Census records states that [ John Howes] was “… one of the last to return from the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava after a failed attempt to capture the Russian guns … John Howes was born in Norfolk but ended his days living in Warwickshire.”
From a comment on BBC North East Wales Historical page (now defunct):

There’s a Wikipedia page for the London-born artist John Howes, 1750-1833.

Friends and family

Web-related services provided by Howes siblings:

Red Back Graphics design and illustration.
Springwater Software – software development.
HowesComms web and video production.

Some sites from friends:

The Gorfanc Hideaway in depths of mid-Wales. A secluded holiday spot with camping options. Coracle making courses too.
Also available from Gorfanc, handmade willow coffins (Rustling Trees).
Cycling Wales from the original Bicycle Beano people.