Website problems

I have just been able to access a computer, and see that the website is having some problems. Stand by, hopefully it will be fixed soon.

In other news, no white Christmas for me - but some lovely frosts so I have some pretty photos nonetheless. Hope you all had a good Christmas!

Family Traditions

Christmas in NZ generally consists of gathering around the BBQ with family and friends, and ensuring you are well coated with sunblock in case you catch too much sun while eating steak and sausages! And Skyping those relatives overseas of course, to wish them a Merry Christmas and tell them how sunny it is!

In Wing this would have been a bit different - less sun, less heat, but probably still a comparatively bountiful feast. And their family were likely mostly in the immediate vicinity, not scattered around the globe.

This year I'm turning things upside down and heading north to the other side of the globe, Shropshire to be precise, to spend Christmas with my grandfather and brother. I've been keeping a dubious eye on the temperatures, and I hope I will at least see some impressive frosts and snow to compensate for not being able to feel my toes.

I hope that, wherever you are, you too will be able to spend time with your family and friends enjoying a few days off.

The next update to the website will probably be around 7 January, once I'm back in NZ and had a chance to fully defrost!

Just testing

Just testing remote blogging....Anyone else with ancestors working as gardeners at Ascott? Keep 'em coming!

Ascott House gardeners

I think I'm going mad.........I'm sure someone emailed me a while back whose ancestor was a gardener at Ascott House, but I can't find the email now. Assuming I didn't imagine it and whoever it was is reading this, can you please email me again? Thanks!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

I'll be in the UK for Christmas this year, so if you all dream along with me maybe it'll come true! Just a light smattering to make everything pretty, not enough to interrupt travel plans, that'll do nicely.

Fox Hunt

Sometimes names change slightly between directories - for example a first name might be revealed whereas in a previous directory it had an initial only.

However in the 1928 Kellys directory, the 1st whip at Ascott, William Bodington, appear to have suddenly acquired the middle name "Faux" - did he pronounce this Fox perhaps? Looks like this might be an affectation rather than a name he was born with...

Ancestry.com US passport applications

There's a Harry George CHAPPEL born in Wing that is listed as applying for a US passport in Ancestry.com's new US Passport Applications 1795-1925 database.

Unfortunately my subscription is to the UK site and only covers UK databases so I can't see the full entry. *sigh*

December update

There's a new directory as promised this month - the 1928 Kellys directory. This is four years later than the most recent directory I had previously transcribed, so those of you with relatives in Wing prior to WWII will be keen to see this one I'm sure.