If you haven't checked out my new "Bite-size Blog" yet, you might like to nip across and have a look at some of the latest Family History posts.

There's a World War Two mystery surrounding an alleged secret visit by Winston Churchill to the house where my grandparents worked...

There's the terrifying story of my mum's lucky escape from a WW2 bomb which landed at the bottom of her bed.... Was it all the fault of her grandfather, Jack?

There's the can of worms I open up when I decide it really is about time to get a full copy of my birth certificate instead of the "short version" I've only ever had until now..


















And there's the story of Poor Old George, my great uncle, whose WW1 injury seems to have been overlooked in the family history memories, in favour of his brother's...










You'll also find other posts, too, about books I've read and how family history inspires my writing!

An abundance of stories - and the new bite-size blog!

Scandal, bigamy, double lives, tragedy, mystery, criminality – I've uncovered them all, and more, in the four years I've been writing this blog about my family history research. (And if this is your first visit here, please click on the list of previous posts on the right hand side of this page to read more about those intriguing stories!)

Choosing what to write about from the vast array of potential subjects can be almost impossible. And then when you do decide, as I mentioned in a recent post, the gaps of knowledge become suddenly obvious, sending you scurrying off in all directions to dig around for more information in order to tell a complete story. Before you realise it, a task which you thought would take moments to put together, has expanded into several days' work!

Hotch-potch files

The result of this rather ad-hoc approach to family history research is that it creates a hotch-potch collection of files, some bulging at the seams with information and others with very slim pickings.

So I've decided that 2018 is going to be the year in which I tackle this imbalance. I intend to put all the stories I've uncovered into some semblance of order and to identify those branches with glaring gaps, adding in any research I can do along the way. There's nothing like starting a new year with a sense of purpose, is there?

Also on my hit list, are my most recent acquisitions left by my late dad – boxes of 35 mm slide photos, a pile of photograph albums, Scouting memorabilia, badges, postcards, jewellery, old passports, driving licences, letters, hotel receipts, theatre programmes, newspaper cuttings and scribbled notes. And, as you may imagine, I have my own personal memories to add to the stories represented by all these fabulous resources.

Childhood photos

I've already made a start in this department by scanning in slides of little 'ole me in the early 1960s, as you can see below! There are still plenty more years yet to do, though...

New Bite-size blog

So while I'm browsing my archives, and, inevitably, following trails inspired by the discovery of old photographs, letters and documents, rather than wait for the full story's conclusion, why not come along with me and share the intriguing puzzles and clues along the way by looking in on my new "BITE-SIZE" blog on my website?

Just click on the link below the typewriter to see what I'm up to... See you there!

https://www.wendypercival.co.uk/Bite-size-blog