Apologies for the shortness of this newsletter. Pat, our president and newsletter editor is temporarily indisposed and is unable to produce this month's edition. Hopefully she will be back with a bumper tome in June.
May Day Holiday
| In 1978, the government made the first Monday in May a bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our neighbours across the border in Scotland had already been enjoying this bank holiday since 1871 |
 |
It seems that this year we will be getting the weather that we traditionally associate with the May Day holiday - if you have a couple of hours to spare and want some family history things to do here are some ideas.
- If visiting a relative, take the chance to find out something new about their or their ancestors lives.
- Take a backup of your computer files. Ideally copy your files to somewhere other than your computer and keep them somewhere else other than with your computer.
- Have a look through your old photographs and record who is on them whilst you still remember who you are
- See if you can work out where your parents / grandparents were and what they were doing on VE Day.
- Catch up with the stories on the WSMFHS Facebook group
- Take a look at our new website - more of that later!
A Day for Peace – and Wedding Bells!
from Sue Maguire, Editor - WSMFHS Journal (‘Buckets & Spades’)
The date 8 May 1945 was one which the whole world had been awaiting: the day peace in Europe could be declared after years of conflict, death and misery. The second war to end all wars had affected everyone: family members and friends lost, deprivation and fighting just to survive, but that day meant fresh hope - a new beginning and a chance to celebrate.
In Banwell, where five people were killed and many buildings were destroyed by German bombs, that May was a very special time for the Hicks family.
VE Day 8 May was my father Frank Sarkowicz's 26th birthday and Grandpa and Grannie Hicks's 38th wedding anniversary! Then, a couple of weeks later (24 May), my mother Elizabeth (Betty) Hicks, married my father, an American serviceman. Dad looked very smart in his US uniform and Mum wore a lovely two-piece pink suit, made by Grannie. The wedding ceremony was at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Weston-super-Mare.
Afterwards, everyone went to the family home at Cannaways Farm, Banwell, for the reception and this group photo shows Mum and Dad before they travelled to Salisbury for their honeymoon.
Being in the American army, Dad was called back across the Atlantic almost immediately, but Mum had to wait 10 months before she could sail to America and join him in Chicago. Mum arrived in good time for Easter Sunday, 21 April 1946, settled in … and then I was born in February 1947!
‘The Peace’ Rose (Rosa Peace)
Sue Maguire
‘The Peace’ rose was developed (1935 to 1939) by Francis Meilland, a French horticulturist. With Germany’s invasion of France imminent, Meilland decided to protect his new cultivar by sending cuttings to Italy, Turkey, Germany and the USA, and it was propagated in the USA by Conard Pyle Co during the war.
‘The Peace’ is a beautiful Hybrid Tea rose. Its fragrant flowers are light yellow to cream colour with crimson petal edges. Qualities include hardiness, vigour and resistance to disease which makes it a very popular choice with gardeners and florists.
During its lifetime, this rose has been known by several names, including 'Madame A Meilland' (France), ‘Gioia’ (Italy), ‘Gloria Dei’ (Germany) and ‘The Peace’ (USA, Sweden and Norway).
Interestingly, on 29 April 1945, the adoption of the name ‘The Peace’ was publicly announced in the USA by Conard Pyle Co. On this day, Berlin fell and this was a turning point. Later that year, ‘The Peace’ roses were given to each of the delegates at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations (San Francisco), accompanied by notes which read: ‘We hope the ‘Peace’ rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace’.
Over the years, ‘The Peace’ has received many distinguished awards and, in 1976, it was selected as the ‘World's Favourite Rose’ and it was added to the ‘Rose Hall of Fame’.
Perhaps you already enjoy ‘The Peace’ in your garden? … and it would certainly be a lovely gift, or an addition, to anyone’s garden to mark the VE Day 80th Anniversary celebrations.
Who do you think you are?
I don't know if you have been watching the current series - the last two episodes with Andrew Garfield and Mishal Husain have been two of the most interesting ones I can remember seeing so if you have been giving it a miss recently it might be time for another look.
 |
Tuesday 6th May at 9pm (and repeated later in the week) sees the turn of Ross Kemp of Eastenders fame - who according to the advertising "believes sifting fact from fiction will be the biggest challenge when it comes to his family history". Sounds like there could be a few old stories to sort out. |
Our new website
Hopefully you all know by now that our new website is coming ... We are aiming to switch over on 6th June - if it was good enough for Montgomery and Eisenhower then it is good enough for us (and yes, before you all write in I know that D-Day was supposed to be the 5th!).
You can have a look at what is there now - as can anyone - by going to www.wsmfhs.org (same as the current one - but without the ".uk" at the end).
However if you want to access the restricted areas of the new site you do need to logon - this is a different login to the one from the old site - you normally logon with your e-mail address. Once you login the system will remember you so you don't have to continually need to login.
We will be sending out invites to the new site in the week leading up to the 6th. If you would like access earlier (and you are very welcome to do so) please let us know.
You can find all of the information from the old website on the new one with extra "stuff " including
- Contact with other members via Private Messaging
- Buckets & Spades (current and old issues) readable from the site
- Exchange Journals readable from the site
- Research Forum sortable in different ways
- Parish pages that include direct links to records held on Ancestry and Findmypast
- Milton Road Cemetery Charts
- Extensive War Memorial coverage with 800+ individual profiles of those who died during the Boer War and the First World War
- Close Up Pictures of the Grove Park War Memorial in Weston
- Special Projects including Brick Walls, Parishes at War, Member Pedigrees and of course the Weston Worthies in full technicolor for the first time.
We are still looking for GED files containing members family tree to trial on the Member Pedigree project. We require only
- A GED file (can be exported from any software program)
- The name of Person in the tree who the pedigree is centred on
- A picture to add to the post (does not have to be a portrait).
- No other graphics/media are needed
The resulting pages are based on on all ancestors of the main individual plus two generations of descendants for each ancestor of the main individual.
Events coming up in May
|
14 May, 2:30 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church Hall
"Unexpected Sources", a talk by Samantha Taylor – those odd sources she encountered whilst researching her family tree
|
  |
|
16 May - 18 May at St Martin's Church, Worle
Flower Festival: A celebration of Marriage
Fri, 16th May 7:00pm Opening of Flower Festival
Sat 17th May 10.00am – 4.00pm Church open for viewing displays and marriage registers
Sun 18th May 2.00pm – 4.00pm Church open for viewing displays and marriage registers
Sun 18th May 4.30pm Special Service to conclude Flower Festival
|
 |
|
19 May, 10:30 at Weston Library
Library Help Session
|
|
|
28th May at 19:30, via Zoom
Henry Smith: A Most Notorious, Naughty, False, Lying Fellow: A Global Black Sheep or Maligned Character?
Sue Paul gives a light-hearted case study demonstrating how to reconstruct a seventeenth-century life that cannot be found in traditional genealogical records to enhance your ancestral history
|
 |
And finally ...
10 years ago - from the May 2015 newsletter
(It was reported that Mark Sayers was moving to the Mediterranean and was standing down as chairman)
"We have never had a vice-chairman, a situation which we will have to resolve. In the meantime, Brian Airey has reluctantly agreed to carry on as both chair and secretary until November – the revised date of the AGM. If there is a local member who is interested in taking the chair (or can recommend another member who might be approached) please will they let us know so that they can be co-opted on to the committee before any election takes place."
Some things don't change much - we don't have a vice-chairman or a chairman for that matter - we have two co-chairs! - and Brian is still carrying on as Secretary - and we would still welcome anyone who would like to help on the committee - we are quite a friendly lot!
Enjoy the month of May!
And finally (again) ... one last May
My mum's sister was called June, her daughter is called Avril and Mum's & June's stepmother was named May - can anyone beat that? | 
login.jpg)
3 Comments 
