A- Z Challenge - A is for Ancestry

Ancestry – “One’s ancestors as a group”

Well my theme for this challenge is loosely based on family and relations.  I think I’ve managed to find something for each letter although I struggled initially with A until I thought it might be good to start with some background on me and my family – hence ancestry.

I am British born and bred – I was born in London and have lived here all my life apart from a few months when we moved out to Essex when I was just a baby.  Due to family circumstances that move was short lived and we moved back to the East End of London where my mother’s family were based.  I don’t know much about their ancestry although my cousin has done a lot of work on our family tree so if I ever decided to do any work on my own I’d have a head start.  My Dad’s branch would be more of a challenge – he was born in Wales, taken to Yorkshire by his father at an early age but saw quite a lot more of the world when he signed up for the army as a way of escaping coal mining. He served before, during and after World War 2.

My husband was also born in London, in fact we were born in the same hospital but a few years apart.  His family have more widespread roots.  His mother’s family have roots going back to Ireland and his father’s family can be traced back to Germay.  In fact we have visited some of his extended family there and some of them have come here.  

We haven’t strayed far from our roots though and we are very happy in our corner of London.  We are very close to the Olympic park.  We have 3 children who have all now left home.  Our daughter, the eldest, still lives in London.  Our eldest son has strayed the furthest to date having gone back to Nottingham where he went to university.  Our youngest son might possibly have ventured the furthest (and may still do one day) as he is married to an American.  For the time being they are living here in London.

We’re a close knit family and in future blogs you will learn more about us.  I used to blog quite regularly but then output dwindled.  Now a change in circumstances has given me time and I saw this challenge as a good way to get back into regular blogging.  I'm not an aspiring writer but I do like to write and I hope you will enjoy my waffle.