Lifechart is a business born from a long-held desire to add a 'paper product' aspect to our advertising and design service, Surgey Marketing Communications. It has been a long time in the making but has been driven by a genuine passion for history, particularly of individuals, famous or otherwise. It began with a 'eureka moment'...
HOW IT BEGAN
It was December 2004 and it came to me at the end of a desk-bound day to try an internet search on the name of a close friend’s much-loved old racing yacht Iverna that I had stayed on as a houseboat in the Salcombe estuary throughout my teens. To my amazement, there in front of me appeared old 1890s photos of her under full sail and written accountsof her exploits. It was pure time travel!
On relating this to my family, I found out that my grandfather had been a regular crew-member in the 1920s on another beautiful racing yacht, White Heather. The thought occurred to me that he may well have known Iverna and perhaps he even raced against her at one of the Royal Regattas. He may even have gone aboard her! I began to investigate.
Their lives certainly touched: they were ‘born’ within three years of each other – Iverna in 1890, Frank Surgey in 1893. They would have frequented the same yacht clubs throughout the British Isles and they certainly both raced against the King’s yacht Britannia. Iverna retired to Devon in the 1930s and Frank followed suit twenty years later. They lived well into their 80s – Iverna to 85 and Frank, 87.
That was how it started. I knew that I wouldn't find the time to write a book on either but I did want to do something that would bring their stories into the open, not least so that my children would know something of the man that was their great-grandfather. Iverna became Lifechart No. 1 and Frank No. 2. You can see them both on this website and, dare I say it, the rest is history.
OUR AMBITION
I hope that Lifechart helps to introduce some interesting histories to a wider public and that, over the years, it grows into a worthwhile collection in its own right. I hope too that it encourages more of us to record our own lives and the life stories of others and that, in doing so, we discover that the journey is just as fascinating as the end result.
Martin Surgey
July 2009