TIMES PAST - A CHRONICLE OF ME AND MY ANCESTORS PLUS SOME PRESENT DAY FAMILY

Sheila Sharp nee Phillips 3.1.31-28.3.11

2011-03-28T10:02:00.000+01:00

Today my dear cousin Sheila passed away after a very long illness bravely borne.

Rest In Peace Sheila we will miss you.

Nelson Village Leek Show 19 September 1959

2011-02-10T20:23:00.001Z

This is a photo taken in the Village Hall opposite the Nelson Miners' Welfare Club on Leek Show Day.

On the 2nd right is my Uncle Bill Allsopp, who was then Secretary of the Club. I think the chap on the extreme left is Joe Twist. The chap on the extreme right also looks familiar to me but I am going to have to ask my old school friend his name and whether she remembers the other two blokes in the photo.

A bit of a quandary!

2011-01-31T23:39:00.001Z

Referring back to a previous post showing my cousin Bryan's wedding.

Although I know who he married, and I also met her, we even used to visit them and stay for tea quite often and they would come to us too - I have tried and tried to locate Lesley's birth registration details without any success.

I had assumed she was born in Northumberland but unless she had not been given a name when she was registered then she isn't there!!!! Other than that all I can find is a registration for a birth down in Chatham in Kent. However I always thought she was a local girl, even though when I think about it she did perhaps speak with a posher accent than the rest of us up in Geordieland.

If anyone reading this knows anything I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks.

My Uncle Bill

2011-01-03T23:22:00.001Z

This is my Uncle Bill sitting at his desk in the office at the Nelson Miners' Welfare Club where he was Club Secretary. I think it was taken in 1959 as there is another photograph taken at the local Leek Show and on the back of that one is the dated 19th September 1959.

Oooh, crikey, I'ves just realised that's the same date as little Cole's birthday! A bit of a coincidence that I should now hunt out this old photo for publishing on here, it will appear on another post.

Uncle Bill was my Dad's oldest brother, well at least the oldest who survived childhood as I have discovered that my Dad actually had a brother who was a firstborn but he died at about 6 days old, I have also unearthed (no pun intended) two sisters we did not know anything about.

I don't remember Uncle Bill ever working anywhere, or why he didn't appear to work in one of the local coal mines like some of his siblings. As far as I know he always lived in a house at the council side of the village we lived in once he was married which also tells me he didn't work in the mines otherwise he would have been given a colliery house.

When I was older and allowed to go into the Club I would go to play housey (bingo) with my Mam and I plagued him to death about giving me a Babycham Bambi which stood on the shelf behind the bar. I still have it, but a few months back when I took it off the windowsill to dust it I dropped it and one of its antlers broke!!!!!

Wedding of Bryan Allsopp and Lesley N Oliver in 1963

2011-01-03T22:59:00.000Z

This a photo of the wedding of my cousin Bryan, who was my Uncle William's (Bill) and Aunty Annie's (Nance) only child. He married Lesley Oliver in 1963 at Morpeth Registry Office. I don't know who the other person is on the photograph but he was presumably the best man.

I am researching my family tree and am having great difficulty in finding any birth details of Lesley.

I remember Bryan always liked a good drink (alcohol I mean) and that one New Year he even got my Dad to take some alcohol (my Dad was tee-total!), he ended up pushing a bowl around the floor in front of him because he was so sick. I don't remember Dad ever doing that again.

I also recall that Bryan and Lesley would come to us for tea regularly and that we also used to visit them at the flat they lived in just outside Morpeth. This flat was on the premises of the car sales room that Bryan worked at.

I was always quite in awe of Lesley who was a Secretary in an office, possibly why I decided I wanted to do the same job when I was older! Isn't it funny how we look up to our elders when we are small?

Latterly Bryan and Lesley lived at Yeadon in Leeds, but Bryan died in 2001, I think Lesley is still alive.

Great Aunty Bella and Great Uncle Jack's headstone

2010-12-11T21:18:00.000Z

Great Aunty Bella and her husband are buried at Mayfield Cemetery in Cramlington, this is their headstone. I think I need to clean it up next summer when I visit.

Restoration of the Dobson memorial at Ellerburn.

2010-08-22T18:43:00.000+01:00

Forgive me for more or less duplicating a post from my other blog but this is very important and really needs to be on my family history blog too.

I hope other Dobson family members will see this, read it, and make contact. Since I came home I have made contact with three new sets of people regarding my family tree so the visit to Ellerburn was worth it.

One thing organised for my holiday was a visit to St. Hilda's Churchyard at Ellerburn, near Thornton-Le-Dale, North Yorkshire about two and a half hours away from my sister's home.
The purpose of the visit was to meet up with a 3rd cousin and a 6th cousin both of which I met via family history research sites on the internet. The 3rd cousin made contact again earlier this year as he had been made redundant and had started looking into the family tree again - we think perhaps we first made contact via Genes Reunited but we aren't sure.

He told me he was going up to his mother's in Gosforth near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne at the end of July to do some garden tidying for her and then intended to go to Ellerburn to restore the memorial to some of the Dobson family from our family tree. The plan was that he and his daughter would camp at Thornton-Le-Dale and go to the churchyard each day to do the restoration. I advised him that at that time I would be staying at my sister's so it would be lovely to meet up with them, put faces to the names as it were. Everything was arranged for Wednesday 28 July.
In the meantime I told him about another distant relative I had been in touch with but hadn't heard from for some time, she is a 6th cousin. I passed on her e-mail address and he made contact. Turns out I hadn't heard from her because her lap-top had crashed and she'd lost all her contacts, although someone had managed to get all her family history research back for her. We made contact again too and arranged that she'd meet us there also.

Of course I was a bit wary travelling that far to a little dale in North Yorkshire to meet up with a man I had never met and I can imagine your horror as you read this, shouting out to me to be careful. He could have been an axe murderer and may not have had a daughter for all I knew.

Well I am not that stupid! MN and I would be going and I asked my sister if at least her or even her husband would come along with us for the day if they weren't doing anything to which they agreed. Safety in numbers and all that.
We set off just after 10am, it was a bit of a dull day and the traffic was quite light for the time of the year and we made good time. The roads took us up hill and down dale, some of them pretty steep. As we got closer to Ellerburn I was aware I needed to go to the loo before we got there and knew there wasn't any facilities near the Church, the nearest being in Thornton-Le-Dale. As we drove across the beautiful Yorkshire moors with nothing but the odd farm around other than sheep and cattle, I spotted a sign for a picnic area by Scaling Dam which also had WC facilities. We decided to stop here to do the necessary and stretch our legs. As we pulled in to park we spotted a mobile burger van. When we got out of the car to go to the loo the smell of the bacon from the van was overwhelming, it was calling to us 'Come on you know you want one!' When Mn and I returned from the loo, we got back in the car to set off again and of course it was unanimous - we had to have a hot sandwich. We weren't far from Ellerburn so it seemed like a good idea to eat now otherwise we would get nothing until much later in the afternoon after out meeting. My sister and I opted for the bacon sandwich, MN didn't want anything although he did pinch some of my sandwich!!! My brother-in-law opted for the 'belly buster' which was bacon, mushroom and black pudding I think. We all had a hot drink to wash it down. There were tables outside by the caravan and we decided to sit there to save the mess in the car and for some fresh air. The seagulls obviously knew a good place to stop for scraps as there quite a few of them about.

After we'd had our fill we set off again. As I'd been to Ellerburn to see the memorial back in May 2007 I recognised the road although we were going in from the opposite direction this time. It wouldn't be long now before we arrived at our destination.

We headed off across the moors again, then the road dropped down into a village, after travelling a few more miles we took a tight left hand bend, more or less doubling back on ourselves and drove along the narrow winding country lane with the Church in the distance. I pulled into the small parking area where there were already three cars. Homer's voice boomed from the satnav 'Whoohoo, you have reached your destination, you can hold your head up high because you are a genius'. Yes, I have Homer Simpson giving me directions on my satnav as MN loves the Simpsons!

We all got out of the car and I grabbed the video camera and digital camera out of the boot (trunk). As we passed the parked cars I read the car sales sticker on the back of a blue one which had Guisborough on it and I guessed that was AA's car as that's where she is from. I wasn't sure about IN's, but there was a little blue sporty job there and a Landrover. Turns out the sporty job was his.

St. Hilda's Church, Ellerburn, near Thornton-Le-Dale.

Looking towards the Church through the Lych Gate

As we walked towards the Lych Gate we could see people gathered in the left hand corner of the churchyard by the Church door and I told the others that these were the people we were going to meet as that was 'our memorial'. We walked towards the Church and introduced ourselves, there was the usual shaking of hands, then discussions about the Dobson family which the three of us are researching.

IN explained how he was doing the restoration with the assistance of his daughter KI. He had been given advice by an old boy he used to work with who had worked on stonework in the past. He was told to: Clean all the faces first; which he reckoned would take at least an hour for each of the three (the fourth being blank). It then had to be left to dry completely before enamel paint was applied to the lettering which then also must dry overnight before wet&dry abrasive paper was used [on a block] to remove any excess paint, thus clarifying (sharpening) the lettering image. His words were: 'I've taken advice from authority on this renovation!!. So timing will be tight but it may be that I am painting by the time you arrive, then the paint can dry over Thursday when we go to Thirsk to meet my friend from Newcastle. I can then finish the job on Thursday eve/ Friday using the wet and dry.' He had also had a practice run on his first daughter's grave stone in the Churchyard at Wreningham.

They were indeed in the process of painting when we arrived and I thought it would be a good idea if all us 'Dobsons' had a go at painting some of the lettering, just to say we had!!! MN didn't do any because of his lack of fine motor skills, but AA, my sister and I did. Photos on here to prove it.

IN then announced that he had brought a bottle of wine and plastic cups with him so we could toast the Dobsons and especially Samuel Dobson who had the memorial erected. AA chipped in to say she had also brought cupcakes. We hadn't brought anything but ourselves and family tree info plus camera and video!!! We all congregated in the Church porch with plastic cup in one hand and cupcake in the other! What a sight we must have been. Unfortunately there was no-one around to ask to do a photo of us.

My brother-in-law took photos of the 'Dobsons' standing in front of the memorial as a souvenir of the day - posted here for all to see. I went into the Church and signed the Visitors' Book again saying I was researching the Dobsons and the memorial and put a donation in the box.

The 'Dobson clan'.

The 'Dobson clan' again.

Here I am doing a bit of the painting.

Here's my sister doing her bit.

This is the memorial after the restoration work was completed.

One of the faces of the memorial, before and after restoration


Another face before and after restoration

The third face before and after restoration

IN says the fourth side which is blank is waiting for him!

I'm sure you will all agree that he and his daughter have made a fantastic job on the memorial. Our concern now is that the yew tree is beginning to displace the top of the memorial. However the Church will not prune the yew tree as it is protected, we don't want them to chop it down just prune it back. I wonder who will be responsible if someone is hurt if the top is knocked off because of the tree pushing on the memorial!!!! What about Health and Safety?

After more talking and wandering around the headstones it was time to take our leave as we wanted to go into Thornton for a bite to eat before our long journey home.

We drove into Thornton which is a very small town, not much there to be honest, but a pretty little place with a river running down the side of the road!!! A couple of gift shops/fancy goods stores, a small general store, a small food store, a fish and chip shop, The Chocolate Factory shop, bakery and cafe, and another cafe/restaurant and a pub are about all there is.
As is usual when we go out, my sister announced that she needed to find a cash machine as she had no cash to pay for refreshments!!! Why is she never makes sure she has money on her before she goes out - something she criticised her daughter for whilst we were up there!!! I told her I had money and that I would pay - after all it was my day out so I'd treat them.

We had a quick look around what was on offer then opted for the cafe we'd been in back in May 2007 to eat before going into the chocolate shop for some gifts. I bought BB a chocolate mobile phone, JE bought JE and SN mobile phones in white chocolate, and JE's partner JK a motorbike. The chocolate is Belgian chocolate, it's a bit like going into a Thornton's chocolate shop in England or the Belgian chocolate shops in Bruges.

Looking toward The Chocolate Factory, bakery and cafe. The white railings are erected around the river.

Another view of Thornton-Le-Dale, as you can see the white railings go around the corner, it's a bit like a moat having the river around the houses and shops!

Dobson Reunion at Ellerburn

2010-07-23T20:02:00.000+01:00

If anyone reading this is researching information regarding the Dobson obelisk in the churchyard of St. Hilda's at Ellerburn I'd like to let you know that one or two of us are turning up there on Wednesday 28 July to meet each other and have a chat. We haven't met before but are all in some way connected to the Dobsons commemorated on the obelisk.

Should be a fun day (if it doesn't rain).

More photos of the cute boy who has just joined our family.

2010-03-29T23:07:00.000+01:00

Very proud Grandma and Jayden.

The equally proud Granddad.

Some of my semi professional wedding photos taken by my boss of the time

2010-03-23T11:20:00.000Z

My sister doing the hair, my niece having her hair done, and the other lady is a friend.

Yes, that's me, my friend is passing me my veil to put on.

Last in the series of my school photos 1971

2010-02-12T18:43:00.003Z

Okay Kitten, I know when I'm beaten, you are obviously too shy or too polite to hazard a guess at which child I am on the photos so I am posting the last in the series of my school photos and I now refuse to admit which boy was my boyfriend when I was 11 and which boy I had a crush on for 4 years on this photo.

OMG - look at us all on here. The girls all have very mini skirts, we are wearing tights, and most of us have trimmed our eyebrows to that stupid 70s fashion of being very short, you had to make sure they gave you no more than a 45 degree angle!!!! To do that you took a pencil, placed one end at the bottom of your nose, turned it to 45 degrees and checked where your eybrow ended! Yikes, what were we thinking of.

Now the big question again is, which one is me?????

Answers on a postcard!

My husband's Dutch grandparents

2010-02-07T12:52:00.001Z

I think I have already explained that my husband's mother was a Dutch lady from Rotterdam who met her future husband when he was stationed in Rotterdam after the war. She came over to England and married him here in Worcestershire.

The photo above is of her parents. Johannes Antonius Van Schijndel born 1889, died 1976 her father.
Geertruida Maria Smeehuizen born 1894, died 1965 her mother.

They had the following children:

Maria born 1923, died 1924
Maria (my husband's mother) born 1925, died 2003
Hendricus Jacobus born 1926, a son
Jacoba Johanna born 1927, died the same year, a daughter
Antonius born 1928, died 1977, a son
Geertruida Jacoba born 1931, known as Truus still living

Just like me, Bb was not aware that his mother had other siblings, he was not aware of the ones who died in childhood, however I was given this information by the daughter of Truus, a cousin of Bb's.

Maria was very much like her mother, I can see that from this photo.

Bb always tells the story of his grandfather having smoked a pipe from his teenage years and living until a grand old age - his excuse for smoking his pipe me thinks!

Mind you when I met Bb he smoked the most horrible stinking cigars I have ever smelled. To be honest had he not given them up and taken up the pipe on my instruction, it would have signalled a very quick end to our relationship. He started smoking a pipe and we went through numerous flavours of tobacco until we found something we both liked, me for the smell and him for his palate. We opted for Black Cherry - enough said.

Elizabeth Dobson nee Keld

2010-02-02T17:55:00.001Z

I think it's time I added some more photographs of my ancestors to this blog as I have been a little lax at doing this lately.

This photo is of Elizabeth Keld.

Below is a paragraph from the family tree book I am busy writing at the moment about Elizabeth and John Dobson who she married:

John Dobson 1837 - 1906 and Elizabeth Keld 1841 - 1919

John was born on September 17, 1837 at Thornton-le-Dale, Yorkshire and was christened on September 25; he married Elizabeth Keld on March 18, 1861 at Pickering. Elizabeth was born on June 16, 1841 at Pickering and was the daughter of Isaiah Keld and Jane Lightfoot. In 1861 John and Elizabeth were living with her parents in a private house at Burgate, Pickering and his occupation is given as a Groom.

Should you have any connection with any of these people do make a comment on my blog, I would love to hear from anyone who may be a distant relative of mine.

Especially for Kitten on my birthday.

2010-01-16T18:59:00.000Z

Now, I know Kitten has looked at my old school photos cos Gingeyginge told me she had. I did ask them to let me know which kids she picked out as me to see if she was correct but as yet I haven't had a reply. So - because it's my birthday today I am going to publish the next photo especially for them to see what they think of me when I became a teenager.

Here goes folks:

Me in 1969 at 13 years of age, in my school uniform, cardigan knitted by my Mam as usual.

Have I changed much? - lol.

Local views 11 January 2010

2010-01-12T23:42:00.001Z

The only bits of water that aren't frozen at the moment are in the lock and at the exit of the lock!!!!

There's actually a barge on the canal at the moment which someone must be living on because they were stoking up when I took the photo below, you can just see the smoke on the left of the photo:

The White Horse on the hilside at Kilburn, North Yorkshire, England.

2010-01-10T23:04:00.001Z

Unfortunately when we visited Kilburn it was a bit of a dreary wet day and the poor horse on the hillside was in definite need of repair. Perhaps they were preparing to remake it.

I wonder if they've tidied him up again yet! Must go back again and take a look sometime.

Worcestershire, England January 2010

2010-01-09T19:52:00.000Z

Lots of snow!!!!!!!

Christmas decorations removed.

2010-01-04T23:51:00.000Z

Just checked in to remove all the Christmas decorations as they must be down by Twelfth Night otherwise it is unlucky - (if you're superstitious).

I think I've taken every one down, just got to put them all back in their boxes until next time - if you spot any I've left hanging around do let me know.

Some views of Bewdley and Stourport on Severn, Worcestershire, England from 2008

2010-01-01T18:35:00.000Z

If you recall, 2008 was a very wet year. Here are some photos of my local area when the Severn burst its banks.

When we have a lot of rain the Severn often bursts its banks and the river comes right over the crazy golf and putting green onto the play area as you can see.

The Severn is up over the car park at this side of the river.

This is the bridge at Bewdley with the River Severn flowing extremely fast. After flowing through Bewdley the river passes through Stourport.

This is the view from the other side of the bridge at Bewdley. The houses on this photo used to be flooded every time the Severn rose above the banks until the brilliant idea of the flood barrier was introduced. The flood barrier can be seen to the left of the black railings. When there is a warning of flooding they erect the uprights then the metal girders are slotted into place, depending on how high they expect the river to be determines how many of these need to be slotted in. They are each about 6" deep, on the photo about 5 have been slotted in but more can be added as the river rises. This barrier is a godsend to the people living in the houses by the river because in the past they had to move their furniture upstairs to avoid damage and because of the flooding it was extremely difficult for them to acquire house insurance.

More photos of the village of Boltby

2009-12-08T17:25:00.001Z

The view from the Church.

Boltby village hall.

Laundry Cottage, Boltby

The cute little bridge at Boltby.

Boltby, is a lovely little, tranquil village in North Yorkshire.

When I visited back in 2007 searching for information on my ancestors I felt right at home in all these small villages, it must be the family connection I can feel when I am there, a sense of belonging.

Boltby, North Yorkshire

2009-12-08T00:00:00.000Z

This is the church in the village of Boltby, North Yorkshire, not far from Thirsk. We arrived there to look around the graveyard just as Sunday service finished - oops. In actual fact it was quite fortuitous as I could speak to some of the locals and I discovered they had published a book about the village for the millennium and a lady offered to go off to her home to get me a copy available for purchase.

This is the headstone of William & Frances Boyes nee Suffill/Suffield, sorry it isn't possible to read the text from the photo but I do have a note of the wording in my Family Tree file if anyone is interested because they are related in some way.

Please do get in touch if you are related in any way to any of the people mentioned in my posts.

Thanks.

Felixkirk - more North Yorkshire photos from our family tree searching holiday

2009-12-06T12:08:00.006Z

This is Felixkirk Church in North Yorkshire, some of the Suffill (also spelt Suffield) side of my family are buried here.

This is Felixkirk Church from the rear.

This is the headstone of Anthony and Elizabeth Suffill which is in the churchyard at Felixkirk.

This is Felixkirk Village Hall.

Felixkirk is a village in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire England, situated about three miles north east of Thirsk.

We had Sunday lunch at the Carpenter's Arms an 18th century pub in the village - whilst there I mused over the idea of some of my ancestors supping here in this hostelry!

It's amazing how visiting such places bring the past to life, although I don't have photos of these individuals, I can imagine them living and working here in the beautiful North Yorkshire countryside.

I'm now at Grammar School, aged 12

2009-11-27T18:01:00.002Z

This photo was taken at my Grammar School in 1968, I am now 12 years old. Can you spot me on this photo - please take a guess and post a comment.

Our school uniform was claret/wine/red and blue. Striped tie, white blouses, navy blue skirts, red cardigans or v-neck jumpers, white knee length socks, a beret and striped school scarf were optional red blazer for the summer with our motto on the pocket 'Tenax et Fidelis'. In the summer girls could wear checked summer dresses.

P E kit was culotte style shorts and airtex shirts. Sandshoes (pumps), hockey boots. By year 2 we'd banished the culotte shorts and started purchasing stretch nylon shorts which just covered our bottoms!!!! not sure how we got away with that! We played netball, hockey, tennis, rounders, did athletics and gymnastics in the well equipped gym. I loved climbing up the ropes in the gym. I was first to volunteer if the teacher needed someone to climb to the top to untangle the ropes! I hated hockey but loved gymnastics. I competed in a cross country on Sports Day the first year I was there and came in about 17th or 19th out of something like 120 pupils, gaining points for my house which was Trevelyan - colour blue. The other houses were Collingwood - red, Percy - yellow and Ridley green ( may have got the last two colours around the wrong way).

When we started Grammar School they put you into Forms according to when you were born so I ended up being in a Form which had none of my friends from Primary School in it, I was aghast. As I have said, I was a shy, timid child. I had been at Primary School from 5 years old and had close friends in my class, I expected to be in the same class as all of them. Three of the girls, including my cousin and best friend, ended up in a Form together, and the other girl from my Primary School ended up in a separate one on her own too.

Luckily I did manage to become good friends with two of the girls in my Form, and an acquaintance to the others but I did seem to be the odd one out because they all appeared to know each other from their Primary School. One of the girls I became friends with sadly passed away from Cancer at the tender age of 21. In fact there are a few of my school friends who have passed away too early in life.

When we moved up to Year 2, it was very nice because I ended up in the same Form as all the girls from my Primary School because they decided to put all the children who had not studied French at Primary School into a separate Form so that we could concentrate on learning French before embarking on a second language. The children who had studied French, did a second language from Year 1, they did German or Russian. We did not begin to learn a second language until Year 3 I believe, we got the short straw, lumbered with Latin - although I must admit that I did quite enjoy it and can still remember some words - my best friend from school says she can't!!!

I am in Class 9, or Standard 4 as it was called in this photo

2009-11-26T17:50:00.001Z

This photo was taken in my last year at Primary School so I am between 10 and 11 years old on this, depending on when the photo was taken, I can only estimate as there is no date on the photo. I'm guessing we haven't yet arrived in summer time as we are still wearing our knee high socks, not ankle socks, on the photo. In fact I remember the ones I am wearing and they were a fawn colour with a self coloured pattern to them so if I wasn't wearing white ones it definitely wasn't summer. Not sure why my mam made me where fawn ones!

If you have already looked at my previous photos you should be able to spot where I am on this photo - would love to have some guesses put into the comments box please. I'll reveal the answer in a week or so.

My outfit on this photo, again something I can remember as if it was yesterday. It was pink crimplene material with a pleated skirt and a lacy collar. Oh, my goodness, fawn socks with that pink dress - how awful - definitely should have been wearing white socks. What a fashion faux pas!

As you can see the hairstyle hasn't really changed. Mam did not let us have long hair in Primary School in case we caught nits!!!!!

My first ever boyfriend is on this photo, he's the one second from the right on the back row - handsome eh! He hadn't been at our school long, he only came in that last year when his family moved from another area. He used to have white mice for pets. I remember going to his 11th birthday party at his house, I think that was the first time I ever went to a boy's birthday party. In class we used to pass each other notes up the aisle by rolling up the piece of paper and placing it inside an empty thread bobbin!!!! Can't remember if we ever got caught! Naughty girl!

I was always very envious of the girl in the centre of the middle row. Both her and her sister had long hair down to their waist and wore it in plaits - how I longed for hair like that.

In Primary School we had separate entrances and playgrounds for boys and girls. Girls in one yard, boys in another. Most weeks there would be fights/arguments on the girls' playground. You would be told you had to choose whose side you were on, you had to choose whose gang you wanted to be a member of. I didn't want to be in a gang, I was so shy and timid but you had to make a choice. Usually the gang leaders were the girl in the front row 5th from the left, the girl in the front row 6th from the right and the girl in the middle row 5th from the right. This gang business didn't carry on outside school, it was just something that happened at playtimes when someone fell out with someone else and you wouldn't speak to the people in the other gang.

We played all sorts of games in the playground. Skipping, two bally, uddy cuddy, chain tuggy, leap frog, the big ship sails, in and out the dusty bluebells, oranges and lemons, the farmer wants a wife, ring a ring of roses. School never supplied any toys for playtimes, if we wanted to skip or do two bally we had to take our own to school.

Those were the days.

I'm about 9 years old on this photo

2009-11-25T17:00:00.000Z

Oooh, now this is a dress I absolutely adored. It looked like leopard print and was made of a material that was very soft and slightly furry, the colour was large and white with a nice picot edge to it.

Again this is a school photo taken at Primary School, I was about 9 years old.

I do wish these old photos had been in colour because it's hard to see how nice this dress was.

I just have an ordinary hair clip in my hair for some reason, no nice slides in my hair on this one!

My past

2009-11-24T17:23:00.000Z

This is the first school photo I had taken when I was 5 years old.

At Primary School we did not wear a uniform. I'm wearing a lovely white broderie anglaise short sleeved blouse and a cotton skirt with rabbits on it it had an elasticated waist and straps over the shoulders, I think it was red (my favourite colour ), my sister had a blue one; either that or we both had a red and a blue - I'm not sure, will have to ask her. How I loved that outfit.

I remember those slides which are in my hair, they were pale pink with little bobbly bits on them. I had lost my two front teeth when this photo was taken!!

Don't I look so cute with my little kiss curl hanging down onto my forehead? A lady neighbour of ours always said it was her kiss curl, she was called Mrs Clark - don't people say strange things sometimes?

The Church of St. Wilfrid, Kirby Knowle

2009-11-22T18:57:00.000Z

Kirby Knowle is a village in North Yorkshire, near Upsall and about 4 miles north east of the pretty market town of Thirsk. No doubt my ancestors would have travelled to Thirsk on market days.

Some of my great grandfather's family were christened in the church of St. Wilfrid, Kirby Knowle which is shown in the photograph. My great grandfather's grave is also in the churchyard.

My great grandfather James Allsop's headstone in the churchyard at Kirby Knowle

2009-07-11T18:55:00.004+01:00

These are photos of my paternal great grandfather's headstone in the tranquil countryside of North Yorkshire, Kirby Knowle to be exact.

My favourite tree is the Monkey Puzzle tree and his grave is very near to one of those - coincidence? not sure because I also remember going to my maternal great grandparents' and grandparents' grave in Gateshead and passing a monkey puzzle tree there too.

The 2nd photo shows my son at his great great grandfather's grave, and the 3rd photo is my sister and me at our great grandfather's grave.

The other photos show you the headstone before and after cleaning and grass cutting.

RIP great grandad xxx

My grandparents

2009-07-09T19:32:00.003+01:00

This is a photo of my maternal grandparents, it looks like they are off to a wedding so I think it was taken in 1937 when one of my grandmother's sisters married my paternal grandfather (it was his 2nd marriage).

Believe it was taken at Ravensworth Terrace, Gateshead.

Bobbin lacemaking

2009-07-04T20:48:00.001+01:00

If you're into craft, take a look at my other Blog - 'Blogging my Life etc' which shows some of my bobbin lace work.

Enjoy.

2009-07-02T21:48:00.001+01:00

This is a photo of my mam's cousin 'Harry', his proper name being Thomas Henry and his bride Jennie, on their wedding day back in 1958, presumably in Gateshead.

My mam and grandad

2009-07-02T15:59:00.004+01:00

Here's that photo of my mam in her very high-waisted wide legged trousers. She's with her dad in the front garden of the last house they lived at in Gateshead.

Those trousers would do Simon Cowell proud.

Photo would have been taken some time after 1939 as that is when they moved into that house.

The Dobson family obelisk in St. Hilda's, Ellerburn Churchyard, North Yorkshire, England

2009-06-25T19:09:00.004+01:00

Hi all

This is a photo of an obelisk dedicated to members of the Dobson family by the will of Samuel Dobson who was born in 1808 and may have died around 1879. The obelisk must be between 15 and 20 feet high.

I am researching the Dobson family who lived in and around Pickering, North Yorkshire and I and other researchers are stuck on the said Samuel Dobson, being unable to locate him on the Census in 1871 and unable to find his death registered in England which may be because he emigrated to America at some point.

These are the words on the obelisk in the churchyard of St. Hilda's Ellerburn which we believe was erected by Samuel for his parents:-

To the memory of Robert Dobson who died Sept 8th 1825 aged 48 years, also of his beloved wife Elizabeth who died Nov 23rd 1841 aged 70 years. Erected to their memory by the will of their son Samuel in 1879. In affectionate remembrance of William Dobson, late of Hartoft, who died at Wilton, June 3rd 1887 aged 85 years, also Hannah, wife of the above, who died at Hartoft, June 10th 1867 aged 63 years. To the memory of Jane, wife of William Dobson who died January 7th 1797 aged 44 years, also William Dobson who died Nov 19th 1807 aged 63 years, also two of their children who died in infancy.

Perhaps there is someone out there reading this blog who can help me to find out what happened to dear Samuel. He must have made his fortune somewhere in the world to be able to pay to have this wonderful memorial to his family erected.

My mam and her friend Lorna

2009-06-22T17:09:00.002+01:00

The girls are in the garden of my mother's parents' house in Gateshead. Must have been catching some rays sitting in their deckchairs reading as I can see a bit of a shadow on the ground. Should imagine this was the late 1930s or the very early 1940's.

My husband's parents

2009-06-22T17:06:00.002+01:00

These are my husband's parents, his mother was a Dutch lady. They met when he was stationed in the Netherlands after the war. Unfortunately they are no longer with us.

3 children of Charles & Lily

2009-06-22T17:02:00.002+01:00

Here are Doris, Lily and Robert in the garden by the vegetable patch. If the photo is grainy I apologise as it is a copy of one emailed to me, I don't have the original.

My paternal grandfather's second marriage

2009-06-20T18:28:00.002+01:00

These are photos of my paternal grandfather's second marriage, he married a maternal aunt of my mother's.

My mother is one of the bridesmaids, she is second from the right, the lady looking down at her flowers, without the large floppy hat, she would have only been almost 16. Her brother is the young man on the left of the photo.

My great grandparents

2009-06-20T18:22:00.002+01:00

This is my great grandparents in Woods Park, Gateshead on their Golden Wedding Anniversary in August 1937.

*TIMES PAST* - A CHRONICLE OF ME AND MY ANCESTORS PLUS SOME PRESENT DAY FAMILY