Nobody's going to argue that there isn't plenty about Portsmouth out there on the Internet, but it's a bit like having a great big old shed, in which you've been sticking "useful things" for years and years - when you want something specific, nine times out of ten you can't put your hand on it quickly, and you can then spend hours, digging your way through boxes and tins of stuff that are hidden under piles of stuff you really don't need ... and shouldn't have bothered keeping in the first place!

There are indeed plenty of websites dealing with all aspects of Portsmouth, including its history, but too many of them are specialising in narrow fields, or else have fallen into disuse, with broken links, pages that don't work, and information that is either out of date, or else, in some cases, simply inaccurate.

Not all Portsmouth websites fall into those categories, and we are slowly listing and linking to the good ones, which means you won't have to spend half your afternoon trawling through Google, pulling up sites that are little more than an excuse to sell advertising links for hotels, bed and breakfast, garages, plumbers, or the gods know how many other things!

As we continue researching, writing and page building, where we think we can improve on what's out there already, we are constructing pages and sections that are as comprehensive as we can make them, and the content of which we have checked for accuracy (if you should find any mistakes that have slipped through our net, please let us know).

We are including text, written in an easy, friendly style, hopefully without pretension and easy to follow, thousands of images and photographs, the latter dating back to the mid-nineteenth century and often unseen for the last hundred years and more, and graphics to help explain and clarify.

Where we have found sites that deal with specific aspects of Portsmouth and its history, if we don't think we can improve on them, we are including link icons, so that you can visit them yourself.

At the time of writing this, we have spent less than two months building this site, and already there are well over 100 pages of really good content - and a steadily growing number of regular visitors, who seem to be appreciating what we are doing here. By the end of the year, the number of pages should be somewhere close to 500 - and hopefully they will all be easy to find, as we are also working on a new and improved indexing system.

This site is not a profit-making enterprise, although we welcome any sponsors and other support, to help with the costs that it will inevitably incur. The aim of the site is to provide, for schools, colleges, researchers, future visitors to the city and all the people who live here now, or who have lived here in the past, a vehicle with which they can explore, learn, remember and, above all, enjoy a city that is truly unique.

We hope you enjoy this visit and many future ones, and that you will let us know what you think of our efforts. There are also ways in which you can play an active part in helping us to make this website a success - and you can read about those by clicking on the link below, and reading the third and final part of this Welcome section.