Rescrapping heritage photos - Floods 1968

I first discovered scrapbooking when I was looking for a way to preserve the heritage photos I had collected. My heritage album is A4 because I started off with a cheap kit from a discount bookshop, then I went online and discovered the wonderful world that is Internet Shopping!

All the recent rain got us talking about the big rains of 1968 (before my time, but only just) in which my grandparents' house was badly flooded and I remembered this picture-isn't it great? I love that white open-top car trying to drive down the street and those hardy souls swimming to safety in their tin bath.

I think my scrapping style has probably evolved, just a bit since this minimalist layout. LOL! I thought the wavy border and cheeky whale were the height of artistry! And the journaling was restricted to date and place.

Having talked about this with my Dad and had Facebook conversations with my Aunt, I have much more of a story so I decided to rescrap this one to complement my page about the 2014 floods. I haven't finished that one yet, because I fear the story hasn't yet ended. 

I've included their memories in their own words as far as possible:

 "We  were taken to the nearby school until Friday. My boss from Helena Rubenstein (I never even new this was my aunt's first job!) came to get me back to work and she was so shocked I was the only one allowed the whole week off with pay."

 

"The water was pumped out of the house by firemen on 18:00 on Monday and was still in the garden on Saturday."

 

"A canoe came by and Mum (my grandmother) handed a bottle of milk from the bedroom window. He sailed over the top of the fences into the house next door but one and gave them the milk then sailed on through the house to the next road."

 

I've kept the new layout at A4 to go back into my heritage album but I am happier with the style and I think the story is told much more effectively now.

 

3 generations of dancers

More older pictures. I love these pictures of my grandmother, mother an daughter in their ballet poses. You'll notice I'm missing from the line up - dancing was never my thing! My Nan was a great dancer though and, had she been born in a more enlightened era, would probably have made a career of it. M loves her ballet class too.
 

I changed the modern photo of M to black and white to match the older ones then went to town with whatever pink/floral scraps I could find. I cut the title and journalling cards from a 6x6 Chalk Studio pad, but everything else is from my scraps box. I just kept on layering until I was happy with the look of it, then stuck everything down.

I'm not sure what album this belongs in. My heritage album is A4, but that wouldn't have worked for this series of 3. It can live in my 2012/13 album for now.

A heritage layout with the January Counterfeit Kit

I'm enjoying using the counterfeit kit I put together this month. The baby in this photo is me. The gentleman is my Great-Uncle Godfrey, known as Goff and the lady is my Great Grandmother, Alice Maud Wallis.

Goff was a lifelong bachelor and lived with his mum until her death in 1976 when he moved into a small flat. He loved 'a flutter on the horses' and he was a great card sharp. He always got my and my brother's birthdays mixed up, although he never missed one.

Having never learned to drive, he always rode his 'push bike' everywhere. This, sadly, caused his sudden and untimely death whilst I was away working in the Czech Republic. He was knocked off his bike by a car and died very quickly at the age of 75.

I was only 7  when  Alice Maud died so my memories of her are just snapshots:

I remember the house stuffed full of stuff. The 'parlour' was full of untouchable treasures, which unfortunately were all sold off when the house was sold. The cupboard contained tins of beans and custard powder dating back several years. When we cleared the house for Goff's move, we found one tin at the back sporting a price label in 'old money'!

My mum tells me my great grandmother would never have let me see her in her nightgown, but I am certain I have a memory of her in a very high Victorian-style bed. I'll never know whether it's a true memory or not, but it's one I'll treasure anyway.

I know she couldn't pronounce my name properly and called me Krusty.

There were huge rhubarb plants in the back garden and, one summer, a swarm of flying ants. I was terrified and I wouldn't go down the path until my uncle picked me up. 

Strangely, I now work 2 doors away from their old house, in the converted schoolhouse both Goff and my Grandmother attended.

Christmas crafting

I finished my first 10 Christmas cards today and I've written them and addressed the envelopes already. The countdown has officially begun!

These were the work-in-progress I showed on Wednesday, using an old photo of my aunts as a topper. I made 9 of them for my immediate family.

I often use the scraps leftover from a scrapbooking session to make cards, but today I used the card scraps to make a layout  with the same photo for my heritage album. The papers were 6x6 Hot Off The Press Christmas ones so I had several 6x1" strips left over. My heritage album is A4 so I didn't need much else apart from a second tag for the journalling and a few extra HOTP motifs.

Storytelling Sunday - The Magic Teapot

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Kirsty. She had a granny called Nanny Linda (she still does, Nanny Linda is 90 next Spring) who was very fond of a nice cup of tea. Kirsty often visited Nanny Linda and quickly also learned to enjoy a nice cup of tea. This is also where Kirsty got her love of chocolate from as Nanny Linda worked in a Newsagent and regularly bought all her grandchildren big boxes of Cadbury chocolate buttons and Sherbet Dips. She still never visits her great-grandchildren without bringing a sweet treat for them.

The Little Girl - Me!  c1975

Nanny Linda and my Grandad with my Mum c 1960

Nanny Linda lived in a pretty little bungalow all by herself, as Grandad had died when Kirsty was only small. She had lots of beautiful things which Kirsty loved to look at: collections of blue and green Wedgewood  porcelain, a Chinese tea set in a shiny glass cabinet and lots of family photos in polished silver frames. Most special of all, though, was Nanny Linda's Magic Teapot. The first thing Nanny did after giving Kirsty a kiss and a bar of chocolate was to make a pot of tea.
And this teapot was never empty! There was always enough for another 'cuppa'.
Always.
Throughout Kirsty's childhood she never saw the Magic Teapot run dry! She believed in the Magic Teapot with the same fervour as she believed in Father Christmas.

Nanny Linda and my Mum 1982

 Nanny Linda, aged 89, still lives by herself in a pretty little bungalow, only a few doors away from where she lived then, although she has married and buried a second husband in that time. She is independent and capable, not only does she still drive but she acts as chauffeur for several other 'Old Dears', who are all a decade younger than she is. Her collections has expanded to include Lladro, spoons, and tiny decorative teapots. She will still offer tea and cake as soon as anyone enters the house. The little girl is all grown up now and her own son and daughter are adored and spoilt by Nanny Linda.

4 Generations

 (Brought to you as part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday - the first time I have joined in. Go over here to read some more stories.)

  

Learn Something New Everyday. The Third.

TODAY I LEARNED THAT: Family history is always fascinating.

After watching TV's 'Who Do You Think You Are?', I went onto a new website and discovered that Molly Maud Holmes (my husband's grandmother and the Mystery Woman of my family tree research) went to South Africa on honeymoon with her first husband, Paul (Pat) Pentin.

 

They were both aboard the cruise ship 'Guildford Castle' en route to Cape on 29th July 1926, 3 days after their wedding. I'm guessing that is where she fell in love with Africa, where she later emigrated to after Pat Pentin's tragic death in a motorcycle accident.


Another of her grandchildren, P's cousin, coincidentally sent me today a collection stories of her time as a headmistress of a school in Kenya, which she had put together. I am dying to start reading them.

In addition,  I spent 3 hours  this afternoon with my 90 year-old grandmother going through old photos of my family. I borrowed lots of great photos to scrap in my Family Tree album. This is one of my favourites - me as a baby with my Great Uncle and Great Grandmother.

The Generation Game

6 generations of women in my family. I'm pretty proud of this. Not many people are lucky enough to have photos of an unbroken family line from 1856. I have a few very vague memories of my maternal great grandmother, Alice Wallis. (I had to blur out the other names, in case anyone unscrupluous decided to use my mother's maiden name for nefarious purposes) My beautiful grandmother is still very much living and still very beautiful. The family resemblance amongst all of us is strong and often remarked upon (although I think the beauty gene skipped a generation with me!) I hope M has inherited it.

An exciting contact

I've just found a cousin I never knew I had. Actually, she is my third cousin on my father's side. My aunt and I have been collaborating with our family tree research for several years. I use the ancestry.com site to store my tree and it is easy through that site to link up with other people who are researching the same people. Out of the blue yesterday I got an email from a lady, Y, who is also a direct descendant of my great great grandparents, sitting at the front in the picture.

Thomas Bye South (1830-1907) and Esther Martin (1841-1911)  lived in Kent. Thomas is recorded for most of his life in censuses as an agricultural labourer, but at some time in the 1890s he bought a greengrocer's business. He and Esther had 6 children, including my great grandmother Ruth Naomi South and Y's great grandfather, James Joseph, (1874-1936) shown above in uniform.

I always scrap my ancestral photos at A4 as they are stored in a rng binder with all the historial documents and print-outs from Ancestry.com. I quite like the variety from 12x12 and it allows me to use up some of those smaller leftovers, which you know is one of my 'things'.

Crafting with March's Counterfeit Kit - layout 1 - Mystery Woman

I made this at the Scraploonies Crop yesterday.It is A4 to fit in my Family Tree album with birth, marriage and death certificates etc. I will print a facing page with the details I have managed to find about the woman of mystery who was P's grandmother.
This post tells you about my frustrated attempts to prove the story she told my FIL about being left on the steps of a church and adopted by a wealthy vicar, and my eventual discovery that she actually lived with her father, a grocer, until her wedding day.
The photo is of Molly Maud on a ship from Kenya, where she emigrated to after her first husband was killed in a motorcycle accident in Norwich, back to UK to visit the sons she left there. She is with her third husband, Alf. The Kenya link, explains the lion. I loved the vintage elephant cards in the original StudioCalico kit, but didn't have anything like them.
The story is so convoluted, and further complicated by her lies. I would love to turn it into a novel one day.
The March kit was fun to use. I did 3 layouts with it yesterday, and I still have loads left. I'll post them separately, to get more chances in the Counterfeit Challenge draw at the end of the month, as I would love to win those vintage goodies on offer!

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday?

Is it really a week since last Wednesday? We have been busy this week. M was invited to her first birthday party and had her first swimming lesson. She loved both, although she was sick after swallowing the pool water so I really hope she isn't allergic to the chlorine. R celebrated St. George's Day with Beavers and took it all very seriously. His older cousin is a Scout and I was able to get a lovely photo of them together. J is nearly 11 and was so embarrassed to see his Auntie I won't compound the crime by posting it here, but it will fdefinitely get scrapbooked. P met his new Headmaster yesterday, and I have been shopping for summer clothes - always a great feeling.I love that it is fnally Spring, the sunlight always lifts my mood, although I forget that during the depths of Winter and don't really notice my SAD until it goes away..
I'm lucky to have Wednesday mornings off work but that means there are always so many things to do that I rarely have time to actually be crafting on a Wednesday. However, I am up to date with my lesson planning, I have a washing load going so I thought I'd have a play with these Style Stones this morning. I bought them for 75p in a bargain basket, not really knowing what to do with them. I'll post later and show you the result, but if anyone has used Style Stones before, I'd be grateful for some tips.
Also, on my desk are marriage certificates and family tree notes I am compiling about P's grandmother MMH. (See other posts labelled genealogy if are interested)
Enjoy your Wednesday!

Updates

Sorry I've been incommunicado for the past couple of weeks. We've had exams at college and I always find interlocuting the Speaking and Listening test very stressful and tiring. So, I'll try to catch up.
Well, I'm as certain as I can be that MMH's father was indeed Ernest Holmes, a grocer in East Anglia. I found them living together in Norwich on the 1911 Census, with mother Ada Mary and her mother Caroline Ann Dawes. I was then able to trace the Holmes' back to John, born 1793. There are also a couple of very tenous pieces of circumstantial evidence which point to this being the right MMH: an uncle was pawnbroker in Brighton, where she had links, and a first cousin listed her occupation as 'Music Teacher' in 1991. MMH was apparently musically talented, and ended her days as a headteacher.
I'll never know the real reason for all her stories, but I feel pleased to have finally unravelled some of it. It (almost!) vindicates the hours I have spent.
Craftwise, I have finished my first jewellery commission from online. Thanks Vicki!
R has spent the past 2 weekends in back-to-back rehearsals and peformances of 'Beauty and the Beast'. I watched it yesterday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised by the standard of this amateur children's group (I had seen some of the rehearsals!). I also helped backstage last night and was less surprised by the noise 40 children can make in a dressing room! Not my first choice of ways to spend my 11th wedding anniversary, but P has promised to postpone it until we are in France over Easter.
Mother's Day and 'Beauty' will form the 2 12x12 pages for my March Document 2010 so if you check back here on WOYWD Wednesday, I might have something to show.

The mystery deepens

I received something very exciting through the post this week- the marriage and death certificates for someone in my family tree I have spent many hours researching.
My husband's paternal grandmother (who I will call MMH) is a mystery woman . She had 3 children by different fathers, was born in East Anglia and ended her days as the headmistress of a prestigious school in Kenya. She died having who had never told even her own children the full truth about her (or their) parentage. So, being the nosy woman I am and having reached a dead end with my own, fairly mundane, family tree, I wanted to know more.
I embarked on a hunt through the genealogical websites in search of MMH. All I had to go on was family heresay and there were several different stories about her illigitimate birth in Norfolk at the turn of the century. After many hours on the internet I had discovered circumstantial evidence for my father-in-law's side of the story but I was no closer to discovering a birth certificate or any documentary proof of her life at all.
Last week, however, I happened upon a marriage certificate. MMH's first husband, Pat, was reputedly killed by a bus in fog in Norwich, The name on this certificate was Paul Herbert David, but one of MMH's sons was called David so it seemed a close enough match to justify £14. I sent for his marriage and death certifcate. It turns out that Paul Herbert David died at the age 0f 31 from 'Shock and haemorrhage from head and other injuries caused by being accidentally knocked down by a motor bicycle.' Whoop!! I've found him!'
However, the marriage certificate arrived today! Paul Herbert David must be right. MMH is about the right age, was born in Suffolk, but she named her father as Ernest, a grocer.
Never heard of him! Could you really invent an illigitimate childhood?
Back to the drawing board!