A beautiful day

Another glorious day! The sun shone, the sky was the most wonderful shade of blue, not a cloud to be seen! It wasn't even that cold! It would have been a great day for the garden, but this afternoon I was due to be at a meeting of our local U3A meeting! This is what it says on the website: "U3A stands for the University of the Third Age, which is a self-help organisation for people no longer in full time employment {ahem! we won't say anything about that! E.} providing educational, creative and leisure opportunities in a friendly environment." There's lots more too but this is the gist of it. Our local group offers all sorts of sub-groups in different subjects that are run by the members on a self-help basis. The members are all folk who live locally, but as in so many of these types of things, the majority of them are incomers, as I am myself of course, but most of them are English! (Proof that life is better in Scotland?)
I am signed up for several groups - intermediate Spanish, gardening and genealogy (English genealogy at that, because the person offering to host the group is English!! Actually it suits me quite well as I have mother's side of the family to investigate. They were all Geordies - in other words they came from round about Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I know a little but am hoping to find out more.) Jane, my great grandmother, was born in South Shields, but married a Scotsman. Her daughter, my grandmother, was also born in South Shields and she too married a Scot! Mother used to say about Jane that she never felt properly dressed until she had her earrings on!

This was meant to be a blog about the beautiful day today has been, but I have digressed!!! Back to the point! The U3A meeting today, the main group, had a local guy as speaker. He does DVDs of his movie film and photographs, and adds music and commentary to his presentations. They don't last long but are really interesting, especially when we recognise the locations! It just reminded me what a beautiful area I live in! So, today was to be for views around Peebles......and now I find I actually don't have many scrapbook layouts of the area. The ones I have, I have already shown you! I must do something about that and get some more layouts done! Enjoy the ducks along Tweed for now!

Oh well! Going back to the English ancestors. Jane, above, was the granddaughter of John Purvis and Winefred Snowball! Yes, SNOWBALL! Really, and as Winefred's father was called Anthony, I can truly say I have descended from A. Snowball (a snowball). It's the excuse I now churn out to explain why I don't feel the cold that much! In actual fact I inherit those genes from dad's side, not mother's!

The Snowballs go back a very long way. Winefred's family can be traced back to the beginning of the 16th century - not that I actually researched all of them! I got a lot of info from a Snowball relation who did! Now I want to find out about the Purvis family and the Bell family. Both families seem to have had a few seafarers amongst them. Census records reveal more than one Master mariner in the family!

No photos of the Bells or Purvises, but here's one of grandmother, Jane's daughter. I like this one, but so far haven't found out the story behind it.

Everyone said I was the spitting image of grandmother's aunt Ella, but I look a lot like grandmother too, especially as she looks here. Shame I never knew her! She actually died quite young, of disseminated sclerosis, which is now known as multiple sclerosis. I don't know a lot about her, but recently got a little more information from the only surviving cousin who knew her, who now lives in South Africa. Interesting!!

And on that note.....

Talk again soon!