More photos of the village of Boltby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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