Monday 19 March 2012

Trevithick Estate


We moved into this house in 1953. Both my sister Shirley and my brother Richard were born there. We moved to London in 1962.
Since then the house has undergone an upgrade. The windows have been replaced (the old ones were single glazed metal frames and were very draughty, and the building has been clad to improve the insulation.
I'm going down to Hayle soon. Should I knock on the door?

Wednesday 7 March 2012

My early years


I was born in 1949 and my parents lived with my grandparents for the first few months of their marriage. However, I understand that my grandmother was not the easiest person to get along with, and so they moved into a bedsit in Penzance. I've tried to find it but the building must have long gone. Following that, they lived on Hayle Towans. Here's my Identity Card which I still have in my possession.




In yet another of those strange coincidences, this is about half a mile from Phillack Church, where my Great-great-grandfather and his wife are buried.

I have a few tiny photos of me as a child taken on the Towans. But where?


We stayed on the Towans when we holidayed in Cornwall last September. I made a point of looking for the location of the photographs. I soon found the chalet called "Lanteglos". It doesn't have a sea view and I'd have been too young to be the boy in the picture. I went looking for "Westover". I was told that the owners aren't allowed to change the names of the chalets but I saw little evidence to support that as I walked around the area. Most of the chalets have been uprated or rebuilt as bungalows but I eventually found myself on a part of the Towans that had the required views and buildings in the background. (I have about six photos and it's possible to line up the photos with the present day buildings and get the approximate location.)

This is the same view as the photo from 1952, with my son as subject

According to my ID card we moved into "Westover" in February 1951. We moved to Trevithick Estate in 1953 (I think) so I would be two or three when the photo was taken.

An update


The project has been on the back burner for a few months while I collect more information and order my thoughts. I can trace my family all the way from 1863 to the present day but I have a few gaps in the narrative. It doesn't help that almost all my aunts and uncles are deceased. I'm in contact with various cousins and I'm trying to patch together the story from the mid 1930s.
My family is typical of many. In a way there's nothing special about them. However there are the usual family arguments and divisions and I'm trying to piece a story out of the fragments that survive.

I've written about 20,000 words that take the story up to the end of the First World War. As I understand more about my family I will add to it.