We were away down south for the holidays, visiting my family in Wales. While there,  I took the opportunity to visit the town where one of my maternal great grandfathers was born. I’d found out about this branch of the family largely thanks to the great local history site Thornbury Roots. I was amazed to find my great, great grandmother was named Caroline!  This was purely coincidental, my parents  just liked the name which was very popular in the early 60s.

My  great grandfather lived in this house

with his parents and eight siblings. The family lived at other addresses in Thornbury and one of my great grandfather’s brothers ran a decorating business from this house

on Castle street.

My great-grandfather left the town and moved to Wales where he married my great grandmother. She was also a migrant from England;  her family came from Dorset. But that’s a story for another day.

We visited George’s Aunt last week, and as so often happens the conversation turned to the past. We talked about George’s grandfather (who he never met) and in particular the two puffers he sailed around the West Coast of Scotland from the ’30s to the ’50s. They were called the StarFinch and the Narwhal.  Later we were helping to sort some old papers at her house and I came upon an envelope addressed to  George’s cousin once removed (his grandfather’s nephew) Inside we found a letter, and these.

Back home we did a little research and found a story here  about the Starfinch delivering coal along Loch Feochan.

Loch Feochan is close to Sheiling, we drive along it on our trips to Oban. So now when we do I have a little think about George’s grandfather delivering coal and other goods to the communities along our coast. And about my grandfather who mined coal in Wales.