Family history doesn't have to be lists of names from centuries ago. My mum shared some of her childhood memories with me this weekend. We went for a pint in Blackburn and chose a pub that is opposite the shop that she grew up in in the 1950s.
The paper shop that her parents managed (along with 2 more in Blackburn and 3 in Bolton) is now a fastfood takeaway and a cab office. Mum grew up above the shop and played with the local kids in the bank next door while it was being cleaned. She met my dad in the Mecca Ballroom round the corner in 1967 - 'those were boozy days' she said!
She recalled moving to a flat further out of town when her parents got fed up of managing the six shops. Her dad got a job in Matthew Brown brewery (where he stayed until his retirement in 1985) and her mum (after a brief spell making slippers) got a job at Queen's Park Hospital where she stayed until her retirement in 1985. Then they moved to a semi near Shadsworth, and she recalled visits by her Scottish cousins (who ahd a sort of camper van vehicle) and even her Great Aunt Rose from Canada (I had no idea mum had ever met her).
Some great pictures of Blackburn can be found here.
Mum also told me about how she and my dad had to hide their engagement. And how I was taken to visit my own great grandmother and great, great aunty (left) in Lincolnshire as a baby in 1976.Suddenly the family tree felt very much alive and we had another pint of dark mild.
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