Christmas interviews

Limb wood walk

A walk in Limb woods and the 'secret garden' with David and Eileen

Froggatt edge

With all the kids at school. We took a walk together along Froggatt edge. The clouds were lying low in the valley.

Fell running half marathon

On Saturday Katy completed a fell running race. Maverick X peak district. It was a 17 mile route going up four big hills and down the other side. Win Hill, Kinder, Mam tor and Lose hill. It was a great achievement. The kids joined her for the last few hundred meters! They also found a park to play in.

 Trying to crack open some conkers.

Katy used to wear these boots when she was three.

Amy's Victorian Ancestry

In this picture are some of my ancestors. Hannah Asher is my Great Great Great Grandma, she is the lady with crutches. This picture was taken around 1900. These are the Willoughby Cottages, Sudbrook, Lincolnshire. Three families lived in these cottages.

 

Compared to the first picture this side of my family were very rich. This is a picture of John Robertson and his family, he is my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandad and the picture was taken around 1870. He owned the largest cotton mill in the world! They lived in Scotland. They had the first house on the Isle of Bute to be lit by gas.

 This is the one of the homes of John and his family.

My Great Great Great Grandfather, William Eastern Robertson was one of John's sons. He lived in Scotland, and went on holiday to Paris in 1876. Dora Annie Goble from South Africa was also on holiday in Paris. She was walking up the steps of the Paris Opera house when her locket broke and fell to the floor. William retrieved it, returned it to her and fell in love with her immediately. They had a quick courtship visiting famous places around Paris. They met in August and got married 8 months later in South Africa. They lived in Scotland for a while, he owned a textile mill which went bankrupt and they went to live in South Africa, where he became a Presbyterian Minister. They had 11 children, one of which is my Great, Great Grandads.

This is a postcard that William wrote while in Paris after meeting Annie and falling in love.

The poem reads:

Amist the cares, the toils, the strife,

the weariness and waste of life.

that day shall memory oft restore

and in a moment live it o'er.

William Eastern Robertson met at Opera House, Paris (Capt. Goble and Dora) on 7 Aug 1876 at 7.30pm. Staircase - dropped and returned locket.

Sheffield editions of Goosemail

Here are the 4 editions of Goosemail since we moved to Sheffield...

Beacuse, Dan failed miserably at emailing out Goosemail in 2014 and 2015. So if you missed them - which you probably did - here they are:

Bobbie's 5th Birthday Party

 Zelf or Zombie Pirate?

Joseph has a little mardy because he isn't allowed to eat another box of TicTacs

Dublin

Dan had a conference in Dublin and Katy came along. So we had a few days to ourselves, while Roy and Julie kindly babysat back in Sheffield.

Some graffiti and shop fronts:

 Molly Malone

 "If you want to be happy for a day, drink alcohol

If you want to be happy for a week, get married

If you want to be happy for a lifetime, go fishing"

 

 

 The city hall

 Central bank of Ireland

 The view out of our hotel room. Civic buildings.

 Feeding the homeless under the shelter of Central Bank of Ireland

 Ha'penny bridge

 

The Connolly's served with David and Eileen on the Preston Temple presidency. They very kindly fed us on the first evening. We had a lovely time with them and their daughter's family.

 Panorama from Montpelier hill

 The hellfire club. Site of 18th century devil worship?

An archaeology dig at the hellfire club

 Look! Everyone is working. They must be Poles.

 Jedward

 An ancient verruca

 Trinity college

 Detail of a celtic cloak pin

 Museum toilets... with sofas

 Kilmainham gaol