Jul 1, Barb and I landed at Heathrow and spent two days trying to recover from our jet lag! With the help of a little melatonin and a brisk walk to the Natural History Museum the first day, we slept reasonably well the first night for at least the first two hours.
Our distant cousin Peter came to our hotel next day to meet us for the first time and show us a sample cast-iron ornament made by our mutual 3X gr. grandfather.
We were off to Shropshire on the 3rd to try to track down the same grandfather, Jeremiah Jones and wife Sarah at Broseley and Coalbrookdale. Through the archives in Shrewsbury, I found the record of their burial at Holy Trinity Church at Coalbrookdale and also his brother William at the Baptist Church in Broseley.
We commuted to and from Ironbrige to Shrewsbury to the museums (saw 5/10) and quite a bit of Shrewsbury in the 10 days we had allowed for Shropshire. Of course, not nearly enough time...
July 12, brought us back to Birmingham where we crammed, trips to Worcester, Staffordshire, and Stratford in. In Birmingham, we made it Cadbury's, Selly Manor, the Bull Ring, BMAG for lunch with Lynn from West Bromwich, a canal boat ride, BBC shop.
Met distant relatives Liz and her parents for lunch on two different days and Ken showed us around Pelsall.
My intent was to spend time at the Library and did find records of Lodge Hill Cemetery for all seven of the Jones family who are buried there. We took a bus to the Cemetery and now have photos of the two grave sites. It appears they may be in the quaker burial section, which is new information for us but not surprising.
The best of Birmingham was shown to us by the Forum members who came to the Barton's Arms to have a party with us on the 18th. And to the others who have supplied me with information but who could not attend are also in my thoughts; Maggie and Tom; Heather; Wendy and anyone else I may have missed.
I will work on the accent...
July 23 we caught a train for Barnstaple via Exeter. Here we saw Exmoor National Park, Honiton, Clovelly, the churches at North Molton and Brendon and the cathedral and record office in Exeter and Barnstaple with the help of Peter and Jean, and Sheilah.
July 31, it was back to London to do the tourist things; the on/off bus tour of the Tower, Westminster Abbey, Harrods, etc.
Aug. 2- we caught the Eurostar to France for a day trip to Vimy. Especially memorable for us as Canadians...
The hardest part was Aug 3 trying to fit all of our "stuff" --the large pile of books I had acquired, the mementoes from the Brummies at Barton's back into the same space we had started with in our luggage.
We're home now with many, many memories of all who helped us and treated us so well whereever we were from the train station attendant who patiently explained why some cars had white licence plates and others had yellow plates to the man who dragged our heavy bags up the stairs out of the Kensington High Street Underground Station (no lift or escalator available) at the start of our trip.
All the best
Shirley
Our distant cousin Peter came to our hotel next day to meet us for the first time and show us a sample cast-iron ornament made by our mutual 3X gr. grandfather.
We were off to Shropshire on the 3rd to try to track down the same grandfather, Jeremiah Jones and wife Sarah at Broseley and Coalbrookdale. Through the archives in Shrewsbury, I found the record of their burial at Holy Trinity Church at Coalbrookdale and also his brother William at the Baptist Church in Broseley.
We commuted to and from Ironbrige to Shrewsbury to the museums (saw 5/10) and quite a bit of Shrewsbury in the 10 days we had allowed for Shropshire. Of course, not nearly enough time...
July 12, brought us back to Birmingham where we crammed, trips to Worcester, Staffordshire, and Stratford in. In Birmingham, we made it Cadbury's, Selly Manor, the Bull Ring, BMAG for lunch with Lynn from West Bromwich, a canal boat ride, BBC shop.
Met distant relatives Liz and her parents for lunch on two different days and Ken showed us around Pelsall.
My intent was to spend time at the Library and did find records of Lodge Hill Cemetery for all seven of the Jones family who are buried there. We took a bus to the Cemetery and now have photos of the two grave sites. It appears they may be in the quaker burial section, which is new information for us but not surprising.
The best of Birmingham was shown to us by the Forum members who came to the Barton's Arms to have a party with us on the 18th. And to the others who have supplied me with information but who could not attend are also in my thoughts; Maggie and Tom; Heather; Wendy and anyone else I may have missed.
I will work on the accent...
July 23 we caught a train for Barnstaple via Exeter. Here we saw Exmoor National Park, Honiton, Clovelly, the churches at North Molton and Brendon and the cathedral and record office in Exeter and Barnstaple with the help of Peter and Jean, and Sheilah.
July 31, it was back to London to do the tourist things; the on/off bus tour of the Tower, Westminster Abbey, Harrods, etc.
Aug. 2- we caught the Eurostar to France for a day trip to Vimy. Especially memorable for us as Canadians...
The hardest part was Aug 3 trying to fit all of our "stuff" --the large pile of books I had acquired, the mementoes from the Brummies at Barton's back into the same space we had started with in our luggage.
We're home now with many, many memories of all who helped us and treated us so well whereever we were from the train station attendant who patiently explained why some cars had white licence plates and others had yellow plates to the man who dragged our heavy bags up the stairs out of the Kensington High Street Underground Station (no lift or escalator available) at the start of our trip.
All the best
Shirley
and as already said it was a pleasure to meet you both...hope you can make it back one day in the future and we will of course arrange another party....