For someone who is very interested in the subject, I was very pleased to meet a distant cousin a few months ago. (First of all a little background) I had been "doing" if that is the correct terminology, my fathers side of the family, when whilst working on it, we had an extremly bad 'bout' of power serge, and yes, I lost everything, and you've guessed it, I had not done a backup, (a lesson there I think). So after a few weeks, my mother was sat at the side of me working on the computer, when she said "Well, why don't you do my side of the family" why not indeed. It took 2 minutes (I'm not exagerating) I put her family name in and the word Leicester, and litertally within those two minutes mother had identified a picture on a web site, and started saying "well thats your Grandmother, Thats my cousin" and so on.

So we were well on our way, the site belongs to my mothers cousin, and a 'phone call later, and it was like old times. But, and its a very big BUT, he was not the end of the saga, he had only been doing the research for a couple of years. However, one of their cousins had been "doing it" since 1964!, but ofcourse in those days, she had been writing it all down in long hand. But, now, with technology, she has been able to convert it all to a web site. (Has anyone come across a web site called www.tribalpages.com)? I dare not ask her how many woman hours it has taken her! But she has now managed to amass 4632 names within our family tree, now thats alot!!! And what a fantastic resource for all of us, we've discovered some skeletons, and some people of note.

So back to my youngest, after I had given him his answer I said did he want to know who my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great,Great, Great, Great, Great, Great,Great, Great, Great, Great, Great,Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandmother was, well his responce was not as excited as I thought it would be (You know what teenagers are like, give them anymore than they want, and they turn off) well I managed to keep his attention for a little longer, "Well, go on then Dad, who was she?" "Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine" I responded. "Wow" came a little shreek from the corner of the room, "Did you say a queen", "Yes, and there is a couple of Kings churcked in there for good measure"

He could not contain himself, and had rushed out of the room, but, and there is that BUT again, he did not wait to listen to that little bite of information you just really must listen to, it's almost like that section of writing at the bottom of a contract, all in small print, and you just look at it and say "Yip, I'll read that later"

The info, he did not listen to, the info that he really should have listened to before telling his mates at school, was that back in the 1100's the population of this country, was so obviously so much smaller than today that it is probally a safe bet to say that there are so many people today, who could say that they are related to Queen Eleanor, or can trace their own family trees back to the likes of; King John, King Henry, Edward 1, Edward 11, Edward 111, infact all the Plantagenet House Kings and Queens.

http://www.richardcarterphotography.co.uk/

:D

Why don’t you pick up a pen and start writing, the friendly from voice from down the telephone line announced? My friend John gave me the best piece of advice he could several years ago now. I had never been particularly good at writing at school as I’m sure my teacher/s who attend the 10 o’clock will tell, I never had a great interest in reading either, and for the son of the local book shop manager, that was hard to believe, somehow there was an assumption that my bedroom would be stacked out with all sorts of books, when in fact the only annual interest in reading was the “Blue Peter Annual” every Christmas, the safest Christmas present my Grandmother could give me.

My writing started when I had more time on my hands, after I had been signed off from work, some how it seemed the ‘write’ thing to do, but in my case it was sitting in front of a key board, as my writing was completely impossible to read, and according to family members has not changed much since then!

My problems, in relation to my writing and speech, stemmed from a lacking of; concentration, knowing what I want to say, but the wrong words appearing on the keyboard or even ‘popping’ out of my mouth, and perhaps the most embarrassing of all, having to ask my three children how to spell, what they tell me are the simplest of words. So, as you can see, to ‘produce’ three hundred odd words, takes me a long time, or is it just me ‘waffling’ on?

But, I want to encourage everyone, even YOU, to pick up your fingers and start to attack that keyboard, and write, whether it’s an article for this fantastic The Voice journal or perhaps, like me, sending a monthly e-letter to your friends. It is the most cathartic method I have found to ‘download’ your worries and problems, but obviously not to bore the reader with them. But, what’s to stop, us as parishioners, to write a book about life in Bilton, about the church, the history of the village, Poems, Jokes from the Children, Recipes from The Mother Union or Women’s Institute, and then sell the book in aid of the New Community Centre??

My “Paul’s letters from the Patio Door” started like for former; friends would email me asking how my appointments at the hospital were going, how the children were fairing at school and how my better half was dealing with me at home. So I started the letters. Hopefully they have matured like a good old cheese or bottle of wine over the years.

So, this month I have no real story to tell, no real letter from the Patio Doors, not because there is not anything there to tell, but I thought I would like to encourage you to write an article for The Voice, join me in the great “Waffle”