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llywelaOh, it feels good to be clean.
Today we had one of our family get-togethers. My Dad's youngest brother and his family live up north, in Warrington, so it was decided that we would all meet up halfway between here and there, as many of the family as we could get together. We ended up at a country park on the outskirts of Birmingham, Lickey Hills. Lovely place, on a sunny day, I'm sure. Alas today was not a sunny day. It was cold and wet. We all got very muddy. Very. But it was good to see everyone, and the kids had a blast: in the end we managed to get together sixteen out of however many of us there are, six of them aged 12 and under.
One day we will manage to arrange one of these things for a day when it is actually possible to see the sun!
Thinking about it, I'm not sure I've ever been to Birmingham when it hasn't been raining. Maybe it exists in a damp little micro-climate all of its own. Or maybe my visits have just been really badly timed.
Yesterday was another family-oriented outing. My Mum has done a lot of family tree research - originally she set out to look back through her own ancestry, but kept hitting dead ends with those who came over from Norway and Ireland in the 19th century. My Dad's family have been rather easier to trace back through a good two or three centuries, however. Yesterday we went on a mini-pilgrimage to the town of Thornbury in Gloucester, where the one branch of the family to ever possess money came from. Way back in the 18th century, John Salmon was Mayor of Thornbury. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, his family made their fortune on the sugar plantations of Jamaica - apparently, Salmon is still a common name in Jamaica today. I've no idea what happened to that family fortune - it certainly never found its way down to us! But it was the family memorial in St Mary's Church, Thornbury, that we visited yesterday.
Turns out, Thornbury is a really pretty little medieval town - it's mentioned in Domesday Book, so the settlement goes back a fair way. Bits of the town have been modernised, but other parts still look much as they would have done three or four hundred years ago. The high street has some gorgeous old Tudor pubs and shops along it.
I couldn't help but wonder what those wealthy forebears of ours would say if they could see their descendants sitting on a bench on the high street, dirt poor, eating fish and chips wrapped in newspaper!
St Mary's Church dates back to the 14th century, and is absolutely stunning.
See how sunny it was. What a difference a day makes!
On the front wall is a sun dial dated 1764 - restored in the mid 20th century.
Inside, the church is chock-a-block with beautiful stonemasonry and stained glass windows.
Plus, of course, there's that Salmon family memorial, which was the reason for our being there in the first place. It is the biggest in the church, which says something about the Salmons. A little too high up to get a good picture, though.
And behind the church, tucked up right against the wall, is the family burial plot. Very ostentatious.
Behind the church is this fabulous old wall, crumbling and overgrown, separating church land from Thornbury Castle, which is immediately behind it. Alas, the Castle is now a hotel and private property, so I couldn't get a good look.
We found a little museum, tucked away in a side street. One of the displays focused around service and servants, and there was a picture of one of those Salmon forebears of ours, with a servant who had come over from Jamaica.
And that was that! Voyage of discovery over and done with. We found the family memorial, their burial plot, an old photo, and learned that Thornbury is a really pretty little town.
Also today, my sister was feeding baby elephants in South Africa. Her holiday-of-a-lifetime is almost over now. I hope they've had a wonderful time!
Today we had one of our family get-togethers. My Dad's youngest brother and his family live up north, in Warrington, so it was decided that we would all meet up halfway between here and there, as many of the family as we could get together. We ended up at a country park on the outskirts of Birmingham, Lickey Hills. Lovely place, on a sunny day, I'm sure. Alas today was not a sunny day. It was cold and wet. We all got very muddy. Very. But it was good to see everyone, and the kids had a blast: in the end we managed to get together sixteen out of however many of us there are, six of them aged 12 and under.
One day we will manage to arrange one of these things for a day when it is actually possible to see the sun!
Thinking about it, I'm not sure I've ever been to Birmingham when it hasn't been raining. Maybe it exists in a damp little micro-climate all of its own. Or maybe my visits have just been really badly timed.
Yesterday was another family-oriented outing. My Mum has done a lot of family tree research - originally she set out to look back through her own ancestry, but kept hitting dead ends with those who came over from Norway and Ireland in the 19th century. My Dad's family have been rather easier to trace back through a good two or three centuries, however. Yesterday we went on a mini-pilgrimage to the town of Thornbury in Gloucester, where the one branch of the family to ever possess money came from. Way back in the 18th century, John Salmon was Mayor of Thornbury. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, his family made their fortune on the sugar plantations of Jamaica - apparently, Salmon is still a common name in Jamaica today. I've no idea what happened to that family fortune - it certainly never found its way down to us! But it was the family memorial in St Mary's Church, Thornbury, that we visited yesterday.
Turns out, Thornbury is a really pretty little medieval town - it's mentioned in Domesday Book, so the settlement goes back a fair way. Bits of the town have been modernised, but other parts still look much as they would have done three or four hundred years ago. The high street has some gorgeous old Tudor pubs and shops along it.
I couldn't help but wonder what those wealthy forebears of ours would say if they could see their descendants sitting on a bench on the high street, dirt poor, eating fish and chips wrapped in newspaper!
St Mary's Church dates back to the 14th century, and is absolutely stunning.
See how sunny it was. What a difference a day makes!
On the front wall is a sun dial dated 1764 - restored in the mid 20th century.
Inside, the church is chock-a-block with beautiful stonemasonry and stained glass windows.
Plus, of course, there's that Salmon family memorial, which was the reason for our being there in the first place. It is the biggest in the church, which says something about the Salmons. A little too high up to get a good picture, though.
And behind the church, tucked up right against the wall, is the family burial plot. Very ostentatious.
Behind the church is this fabulous old wall, crumbling and overgrown, separating church land from Thornbury Castle, which is immediately behind it. Alas, the Castle is now a hotel and private property, so I couldn't get a good look.
We found a little museum, tucked away in a side street. One of the displays focused around service and servants, and there was a picture of one of those Salmon forebears of ours, with a servant who had come over from Jamaica.
And that was that! Voyage of discovery over and done with. We found the family memorial, their burial plot, an old photo, and learned that Thornbury is a really pretty little town.
Also today, my sister was feeding baby elephants in South Africa. Her holiday-of-a-lifetime is almost over now. I hope they've had a wonderful time!
