Helen Parker-Drabble
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helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Helen Parker-Drabble
@helenpdrabble.bsky.social
290 followers 320 following 570 posts
Author & ex-counsellor exploring family history through a psychological lens. Sharing stories of the Victorian era, Sheffield & memoirs of hidden resilience. helenparkerdrabble.com. 'A Victorian's Inheritance' ‘Yet’ https://tinyurl.com/3duyxdcu
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helenpdrabble.bsky.social
#GenHour I was at Sheffield's Christmas Victorian Market last weekend in full Victorian costume. Great to speak to so many family historians.
December 11, 2025 at 8:17 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
All set up & ready to go at Sheffield's Victorian Christmas Market today & tomorrow at the iconic Kelham Island Museum. There's over 80 stalls! I remember talking to dad about exhibits here a few years ago. Off to get into Victorian costume! #Sheffield #FamilyHistory #Psychology #GenHour #Ancestry
December 6, 2025 at 7:27 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
After understanding comes choice.

You're not betraying ancestors by choosing different patterns. You're honouring their survival while recognising you face different circumstances.
They did what they had to. You get to do what you choose.
helenparkerdrabble.com
#Healing #Choice #FamilyPatterns
November 30, 2025 at 6:22 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
📖 Discover a Forgotten Chapter of History

'Yet' my father’s incredible story of resilience in the face of childhood trauma & disability caused by bovine tuberculosis. It’s a story of hope, love, & transformation.

🎥 Watch here: youtu.be/G2TGkACKgCA

#Resilience #DisabilityHistoryMonth #Memoir
November 25, 2025 at 9:31 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Exploring your ancestors' psychology can transform your understanding of them.

helenparkerdrabble.com/blog/

This is psychological genealogy - where family history meets mental health.

Ready to see your family in a whole new light? #AncestryHour #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #GenHour
November 18, 2025 at 7:58 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
GENEATHERAPY:

Genealogy that asks not just WHO your ancestors were, but WHY they were that way.

Using psychology, trauma research, and historical context to understand family patterns.

And break them.

helenparkerdrabble.com

#Geneatherapy #FamilyHistory
November 18, 2025 at 7:14 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Why do family patterns repeat?
How does trauma pass through generations?
Can we break the cycles?

Think differently about your family. Read
www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/6/...
#FamilyHistory #Psychology #Genealogy #GenHour
November 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
What family possession tells the best story?
For me: Dad's self-taught violin. It represents a disabled child fighting back.
What object in your family speaks volumes?
payhip.com/b/jBlrF
#FamilyHistory #Genealogy #DisabilityHistoryMonth #Disability #GenHour #AncestryHour
A black-and-white portrait of 15-year-old Harry Drabble, 1949, playing the violin. He is dressed in a suit jacket and is captured mid-performance, holding the violin with his left hand and the bow with his crooked right hand. The scene conveys a sense of concentration and musical engagement, typical of posed portraits from that era. Read more in ‘Yet’: A Story of Triumph over Childhood Separation, Trauma, and Disability www.helenparkerdrabble.com
November 15, 2025 at 7:20 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
This week I'm exploring a woman's life through her personal Victorian recipes. #Genhour
Victorian Recipe for elderflower wine To 3 Gallons of Water 9 lbs of Sugar boil 1/2 an hour with whites of 2 eggs when milk warm add to it ½ a peck of picked Elder-Flowers. The juice and peel of 3 Lemons 3 or 4 Table - spoons full of yeast beat all well into the - liquor put into the cask 3 lbs of raisins - stoned. Strain the wine on to the raisins - dissolve Isinglass to fine it. Stir it often for 4 or 5 days when done working bring up - and put about a quart of Brandy to ten 9 gallons of wine. Let the Work the wine in a Peggy Pot before straining it. Mrs George Eadon Junior [née Ellen Hopkinson] Work the wine 3 or 4 days in a Peggy Pot before straining it [in a horse hair strainer] MA [Mary Allott]
November 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Sheffield, England 1860s vs 1930s:

Mary's recipe book shows middle-class Victorian domestic life

Harry's hospital shows working-class children's health crisis 70 years later.

Same city. Different worlds. Both stories.

Explore both: helenparkerdrabble.com/blog/

#Sheffield #History #LocalHistory
November 13, 2025 at 8:10 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
"I taught myself to read from a Bible while lying flat on my back in a hospital bed. They said I was ineducable. I proved them wrong." - Harry Drabble

Never let anyone define your limits.
tinyurl.com/3htja9fs

#YetBook #Disability #Resilience #Inspirational #Genealogy #TB
November 9, 2025 at 6:35 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
#Genhour. Doh, it's been a very long day...I've just received a death certificate. Can you help me with the spelling of the person who was at William's deathbed, please?
November 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
The history of childhood institutionalisation in Britain is finally getting the attention it deserves.

The psychological impact echoed through generations.

'Yet' adds one more.

helenparkerdrabble.com

#History #Disability #ChildhoodTrauma #BritishHistory #DisibilityHistoryMonth
November 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Harry Drabble spent his childhood in Sheffield's hospital for 'crippled children.' He was told he'd never work or have a family. He proved them wrong.

Read the opening chapters: helenparkerdrabble.com/books/yet-a-...

#DisabilityMemoir #FamilyHistory #Resilience
November 2, 2025 at 9:40 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
'Yet' - a story about childhood trauma, disability, & the power of three words: "I can't... yet."

Harry Drabble spent his childhood in Sheffield's hospital for 'crippled children.' He was told he'd never work or have a family. He proved them wrong.

Read the opening chapters: tinyurl.com/3htja9fs
Harry Drabble, aged about 14, with his father. Taken by a roving reporter in Skegness. Harry is using crutches. His leg brace is hidden under long trousers, but his built-up boot and crooked arm are obvious.
November 1, 2025 at 8:31 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Before pasteurization & antibiotics, children with bovine TB faced long & gruelling treatments trapped in bed, separated them from their families for months. “No one believed me. ‘Children couldn’t have been treated like that.’ But we were.”
'Yet' now available in print. payhip.com/HelenParkerD...
October 31, 2025 at 10:30 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Before pasteurization & antibiotics, children with bovine TB faced long & gruelling treatments trapped in bed, separated them from their families for months, or even years. ‘Children couldn’t have been treated like that.’ But we were.”—Harry
'Yet' now available in print. payhip.com/HelenParkerD...
October 31, 2025 at 7:15 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Before pasteurization & antibiotics, children with bovine TB faced long & gruelling treatments trapped in bed, separated them from their families for months, or even years. ‘Children couldn’t have been treated like that.’ But we were.”—Harry
'Yet' now available in print. payhip.com/HelenParkerD...
October 31, 2025 at 4:15 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Before antibiotics, children with tuberculosis faced long & gruelling treatments that separated them from their families for months, or even years. In 1930s and 1940s Britain, bovine tuberculosis attacked the bones, joints, and spine. 'Yet' now available in print. payhip.com/HelenParkerD...
October 31, 2025 at 8:15 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
USA: Closes today PRIZE: A signed special edition hardback or one of 10 ebooks of ‘Yet’: A Story of Triumph over Childhood Separation, Trauma, & Disability.
Please share!
"A powerful & beautifully written story that really stayed with me."
tinyurl.com/2628s9em

#USAPRIZES #memoir #truestory
October 23, 2025 at 11:01 AM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
I've just notified the winners of the signed special edition hardback and 5 digital version of ‘Yet’: A Story of Triumph over Childhood Separation, Trauma, and Disability. please check your email folks! #Genealogy #FamilyHistory #GenHour #Memoir #MedicalMemoir
October 16, 2025 at 7:52 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Have you uncovered childhood stories of long hospital stay or separation in your family tree? Did your parents or grandparents face challenges that shaped who they became? #FamilyHistory #Resilience #OvercomingAdversity #Ancestry #Genealogy #memoir #GenHour
geni.us/ikrcxwE
A staged photograph of girls laid in bed taking fresh air treatment at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for Crippled Children, Photo taken between 1920-1939. ©Picture Sheffield (Image s07418) www.helenparkerdrabble.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:31 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
WIN USA! CLOSES 23 Oct

Win a signed hardback or one of 10 ebooks of ‘Yet’: A Story of Triumph over Childhood Separation, Trauma, & Disability. Please share!

tinyurl.com/2628s9em

"No one believed me. ‘Children couldn’t have been treated like that.’ But we were."

#MemoirGiveaway #TrueStory
October 13, 2025 at 1:07 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
Yes, it was quite surreal going into what would have been his bedroom. Here he is with his sisters in 1886. His mother is standing outside the door of their cottage
October 9, 2025 at 7:40 PM
helenpdrabble.bsky.social
I managed to get this one of new found cousins outside my maternal grandfather's cottage-now a village museum!
October 9, 2025 at 7:35 PM