Thursday, July 10, 2008
10th July Shopping, children, Godfreys etc.
The weather has been better today - not the warming heat that I yearn for, but pleasant enough.
This morning we walked into town. The town centre is a place we go to quite infrequently really.
But today we went to find something for Jessica's birthday - she will be 7 in two weeks time.
She is a girlie girl and likes clothes, so we headed for Primark to see what she might like.
I can feel your disapproving glances!
Primark sell cheap clothes and it has always been obvious that their stock must have been manufactured in some place which pays low wages. Since the recent Panorama programme on TV everybody has been made aware that some of the clothes have been finished off by young children in Eastern countries.
Of course children should spend their time receiving education and playing - but perhaps there is too much of that in the west and children don't grow up feeling that they have a role their families.
Children can feel proud to know that they make a valuable contribution to the family well being.
In one cafe we went to in Thailand a small girl, aged about 7, was at a table chopping vegetables for her mother and when our meals were ready she carried the plates of hot food to our table.
She didn't feel anxious and showed greater skills than most 7 year olds here.
It was the school holiday, so she was not missing out on education and she was learning about the realities of life.
Oh - all that just to excuse ourselves about shopping in Primark!
I think Jessica will like what we have chosen. The parcel has now been posted.
This afternoon Bill has been working in the garage, renovating some model cars which were too tatty to grace anybody's cabinet.
I went back to the Godfreys. I really had done so much before and just needed to get things straight in my mind.
I know who all Bill's great uncles and aunts were on the Godfrey side - Louisa's brothers and sisters. None of them seem to have ever been known by Bill's family.
I know who Louisa's parents were and her father's brothers and sisters.
I know where they were too because I have the census returns back to 1851.
What I don't know is where are all their descendants?
Bill has Godfrey second cousins in abundance I should think - and many are probably not all that far away.
One is named Archibald and he was with his grandparents at least until 1901 when he was 11. He would have been the son of one of Louisa's sisters - she was too young for child bearing when he was born. I would guess the mother was her older sister Ellen. Ellen was still at home in 1891 ( a worker in the fields), but, if I have it right, by 1901 she had become Ellen Lacey and had produced 4 more children.
By 1891 some of the family had migrated a little further into Kent. Louisa and her family were in Keston.
I presume from there she found a position in service which must have involved being in Charlwood and thus met the Monk brothers.
I will keep dabbling - sometimes with the earlier ancestors and somehow maybe I could find some of those living in the 20th century.
We both feel tired tonight - we have been busy as always, but this week has sort of trundled by without anything definite.
Next week there are more commitments of various kinds.
So, at half past ten, feeling tired I will bid you a goodnight.
This morning we walked into town. The town centre is a place we go to quite infrequently really.
But today we went to find something for Jessica's birthday - she will be 7 in two weeks time.
She is a girlie girl and likes clothes, so we headed for Primark to see what she might like.
I can feel your disapproving glances!
Primark sell cheap clothes and it has always been obvious that their stock must have been manufactured in some place which pays low wages. Since the recent Panorama programme on TV everybody has been made aware that some of the clothes have been finished off by young children in Eastern countries.
Of course children should spend their time receiving education and playing - but perhaps there is too much of that in the west and children don't grow up feeling that they have a role their families.
Children can feel proud to know that they make a valuable contribution to the family well being.
In one cafe we went to in Thailand a small girl, aged about 7, was at a table chopping vegetables for her mother and when our meals were ready she carried the plates of hot food to our table.
She didn't feel anxious and showed greater skills than most 7 year olds here.
It was the school holiday, so she was not missing out on education and she was learning about the realities of life.
Oh - all that just to excuse ourselves about shopping in Primark!
I think Jessica will like what we have chosen. The parcel has now been posted.
This afternoon Bill has been working in the garage, renovating some model cars which were too tatty to grace anybody's cabinet.
I went back to the Godfreys. I really had done so much before and just needed to get things straight in my mind.
I know who all Bill's great uncles and aunts were on the Godfrey side - Louisa's brothers and sisters. None of them seem to have ever been known by Bill's family.
I know who Louisa's parents were and her father's brothers and sisters.
I know where they were too because I have the census returns back to 1851.
What I don't know is where are all their descendants?
Bill has Godfrey second cousins in abundance I should think - and many are probably not all that far away.
One is named Archibald and he was with his grandparents at least until 1901 when he was 11. He would have been the son of one of Louisa's sisters - she was too young for child bearing when he was born. I would guess the mother was her older sister Ellen. Ellen was still at home in 1891 ( a worker in the fields), but, if I have it right, by 1901 she had become Ellen Lacey and had produced 4 more children.
By 1891 some of the family had migrated a little further into Kent. Louisa and her family were in Keston.
I presume from there she found a position in service which must have involved being in Charlwood and thus met the Monk brothers.
I will keep dabbling - sometimes with the earlier ancestors and somehow maybe I could find some of those living in the 20th century.
We both feel tired tonight - we have been busy as always, but this week has sort of trundled by without anything definite.
Next week there are more commitments of various kinds.
So, at half past ten, feeling tired I will bid you a goodnight.
