Birthday

Happy Birthday to me. And today I remember my great aunt Freda, my lovely Aunty Freda, who told me wonderful stories, was great company and provided a link to my ancestors.

When I held her hand I knew that hand had once ben held by people born in the 1820s. Amazing.

So here is Freda as a young woman (top) and on her 1930 wedding day with my grandparents and great grandparents (mad hat alert).

Wedding Wall

The whole country has gone mad for the latest Royal Wedding, between Prince William and Kate...sorry, Catherine Middleton (what would be wrong with Queen Kate? It's not exactly as if the previous Queen Catherines had a lot of fun!).


So here are some happy nuptials from my family tree, my own Wedding Wall.


First, the happy day in 1970 when my own wonderful parents tied the knot on a gusty August day in Blackburn. I have always marvelled that they married so young - my mother was 21.5 years old! Most of the people in the picture are now dead, the church is long gone and the town itself...well, if you've ever been to Blackburn no more needs to be said.

Back to Farnworth in 1920 and my great grandmother Bertha looks ever so slightly delirious with delight in her floppy hat and white dress. Great granddad Tommy Meehan had fought throughout WW1, ending up being rsponsible for the well-being of thousands of Chinese labourers brought over (enslaved) to dig trenches.


The others in the picture are two of his sisters, Polly Critchely and Rose Littler (left), and brother in law James Littler. Shortly after this, Rose emigrated to Canada while Tommy & Bertha named their first daughter (my grandma) after her.




Summer 1935 in Whaplode, Lincolnshire and the wedding day of my grandparents Geoff and Ruby. Gathered here we have a jolly little band of (left to right): Desmond, Tony & Richard Warner (my gran's half brothers); Denzyl Cartledge (my father's cousin) and Nancy Hewson (my gran's cousin).


The happy couple honeymooned in Wales and lived in Whaplode for a few years before moving to Spalding, where my dad came along. He stayed in contact with Nancy, and her daughter Diane can be seen on the church steps in the top photo.