Sheila Sharp nee Phillips 3.1.31-28.3.11

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

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!

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

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

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.