Friday, July 29, 2022

This and That

I've found my Mum and Dad on the 1921 Census available on Find My Past. I've just realised that makes me sound very old and perhaps I am at 71 (a month away from 72) although I don't feel it, well perhaps I have just a little recently. I was a late baby for them.  My father was born in 1909 and my mother in 1916.  My father would have been a young child of 5 or 6 when WWI broke out and my mother was born in the middle year of the conflict.  Two world wars in their lifetime.

On Ancestry UK they have refined and advanced DNA results so that we are now able to see which parent may have given us our genetic background.

As you can see from the above I have 85% Western Europe - English East Midlands and Potteries,  8% Scotland, 3% Sweden and Denmark, 2% Norway and 2% Wales in my genetic make up.

A new feature of the DNA survey is the breakdown of the ethnicity inherited from each parent. 

From this they can determine which parent gave you which regions in their genes if you know of ancestors from these regions.  I know I have a 3 x great grandfather from Scotland on my mother's side so I think parent one in the diagram above is my mother.  I find it all quite fascinating.

Talking of the Potteries, where we have lived for around twenty five years, I read in a recent copy of 'Amateur Gardening' magazine that this year Stoke-on-Trent is one of the top five 'wildlife rich' cities in the UK. How wonderful.  The others are Bristol, Leicester, Reading and Edinburgh. The data is from the National Biodiversity Network Atlas.  

Also in Stoke-on-Trent, Hanley Park in the city centre has been given a Green Flag Award since its refurbishment over the last few years.  We visited the park a couple of weeks ago to see the changes and I took a few photos. 

It was a very hot Saturday morning so we didn't linger out in the open for too long choosing to head back into the cool of the trees.

The Pavilion which now houses a popular cafe.

The Bandstand and behind it the bridge over the Caldon Canal.  The Caldon Canal meets with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Etruria near the Industrial Museum.  You can walk from the park up the canal towpath to the Museum.

Flower borders along the Terrace.

More details - here - about the award.

 
I've been reading quite a lot recently.  I've listed them on the blog pages above.  My last read was another Bill Slider novel by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.  I enjoy these as they are always amusing as well as interesting.  I've also found a couple of interesting new series of books.  A series called The Kipper Cottage Mysteries set in Whitby by Jan Durham which are classed a 'cosy' mysteries on the library website.  I've also read the first three of a series set in coastal Lincolnshire by Jack Cartwright.  A little further south in Lincolnshire is where Joy Ellis sets her novels and I've just read the latest of her Matt Ballard series.


A Muder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood Lovett is the first of a new series feauturing ecologist Dr Nell Ward.  These are also classed as 'cosy' mysteries.

I have five books reserved at the library 'Serpent's Point' by Kate Ellis, 'Godmersham Park' by Gill Hornby, 'Thrown' by Sara Cox, 'Murder before Evensong' by The Rev Richard Coles and 'The Ink Black Heart' by Robert Galbraith.

I can see by the number of people waiting for each book which one will be available first.  I'll let you know.

Hope you all have a good weekend.



21 comments:

  1. What beautiful gardens and park you visited.
    Thank you for the info on the Kate Ellis and the new Strike - missed hearing about them . 162 on the waiting list for the 2nd!

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    1. That's a long wait for the Strike, I'm 14 in the queue for that and 1 in the queue for the Kate Ellis, I don't think either are published yet but they are both due in August:)

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  2. Lovely post Rosie and so fascinating to learn all that from your dna. Things have advanced so much in recent years.

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  3. Sorry Rosie published accidentally before finishing my comment! Its a lovely park it really is and great news about Stoke.

    Love reading your book recommendations as I always enjoy the books you suggest. I have the Gill Hornby book "Godmersham Park" on my Kindle as I'e just finished reading her Miss Austen which again I think I spotted on your blog :) I didn't realise there was another Joy Ellis series that is good news for when I have finished Jackman and Evans. I will check out the other new authors you have found.
    Have a good weekend.

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    1. I did enjoy Miss Austen so am looking forward to Godmersham Park. Yes there are three different series by Joy Ellis all set in the same area. It is good news for Stoke as there are lots of parks and green areas in the city. Blogger comments are so strange at the moment some blogs I can comment on as usual and others I struggle with, even my own sometimes. Enjoy the weekend:)

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  4. Never had mine done, but most of my ancestry would be Dutch.

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    1. That's interesting William, perhaps one day you will research further:)

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  5. Your ancestry search sounds interesting and I lost interest with some of mine a while back, but maybe I should look at it again. Nice to hear about the park's Green Flag Award & it certainly looks nice in it's summer finery. Have a great weekend, take care & hugs. Oh, our birthdays coming around that quickly?

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    1. I've been doing family history on and off since the late 1980s and have met quite a few 2nd cousins and some cousins once removed, a couple of them have become friends as well. I always think I've got to the point where I can't find out anymore then something pops up and off I go again. Take care:)

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  6. I see we are close in age, geneology is fascinating and quite confusing as I go deeper in to it. I discovered a family secret, one of my grandfathers was married twice before marrying my grandma, and the family never knew that. I enjoy many mystery series too, including the Elly Griffiths books. You mention that a Rev. wrote a mystery, that would be fun to read.

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    1. It is fascinating, I've found one or two things out that family didn't know about, second marriages or places of birth and work etc. The Elly Griffiths Ruth Galloway books are wonderful some of my favourites. The Rev is somewhat of a celebrity on TV and radio now, he was also a 'popstar' in the 1980s, He is quite fun so I thought his book might be too:)

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  7. I've never got around to having my DNA done, despite lots of badgering from my cousin who is into the ancestry thing in a big way. Good to hear that Stoke is such a green place - not what a lot of people would expect. Is that THE Rev Richard Coles? He certainly spins a good tale in the interviews I've heard with him.

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    1. I've always thought that Stoke still had a reputation for being a grimy industrial city and there are lots of old run down factory buildings, espeically alongside the canals but even they are full of wildlife. The six towns that make up the city have their own public parks and there are lots of green areas in between them. We have farmers fields and a nature reserve just five minutes walk away from home with public footpaths across them. Yes, it is that Richard Coles, he is entertaining and I'm hoping the book will be too:)

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  8. How wonderful to find your parents on the census. We have a few gaps in our family tree as there are do many people in the region with the same name, it's difficult to find the right one to follow. It's so fascinating to see what they can find out now. The Park looks very pretty with all the aliums flowering. Enjoy your books and have a good weekend. 😊

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    1. It felt quite weird to find them alongside their parents and siblings and living just a few streets away from each other. It is hard to find the right people if they don't have a more unusual name and families tended to use the same forenames too down the generations. I loved the flower borders in the park they were more like the garden of a large house than a council owned park:)

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  9. I like the sound of your cosy mysteries. I will check out those titles, thank you. Love to hear about your family history especially the dna results. Something I have meaning to do. One day! B x

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    1. I've been reading a lot of 'cosy' books recently as I can't cope with anything too challenging at the moment. I pop in and out of family history but found the DNA results interesting.I hope you do yours one day as it is fascinating what they can find out:)

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  10. I love a good 'cosy mystery' I too am fascinated by family history and where we come from. I used to do a lot of family history research years ago, it became very expensive and time consuming and I stopped but I still have all my files and maybe I might return to it now there is a lot more information available on line. Maybe when I retire? xxx

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    1. Like you I started family history years ago when you still had to go to records offices and order the parish registers to browse or even visit the church to see them. It wasn't long before these were transferred to micro film and then microfiche. It is so much easier now things are online as before lots of travelling was involved and it was time consuming and expensive although I still now and then like to visit places where ancestors lived. I find I can read a 'cosy' mystery in a few days so at the moment my book list is getting longer than usual:)

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  11. How nice you have that lovely photo of your folks. I love old photo's. Haven't been on ancestry in awhile. I tend to do that more during the cold ugly winter when I'm not outside as much. Finding ones family history is fun and entertaining I think; though I haven't done the DNA. Perhaps I will sometime. Yes, you have to be careful what you find on the Mormons sight. Though I think it's better than it used to be in terms of accurancy. I dislike how they baptize everyone, not just their ancesters after the fact. The park looks awesome, and such pretty flowers. Enjoy your books. I've not gotten into "mysteries".
    Sandy's Space

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    1. The photo was taken at my granny's house after the wedding when Mum had changed out of her wedding dress. I haven't any actual wedding photos of my parents as the person who took the photos ruined them all or didn't take them properly. Mum was always sad about that. I've been doing a bit of family history whilst I've been recovering and not able to go too far so as well as reading it has given me something to do but usuallly, like you, it's something I do in the winter rather than the summer. I agree about the mormon site, I just use Ancestry or Find my Past:)

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