FORTHCOMING ATTRACTIONS

"Here's something I dug up"

This is just a general update post to let you know I've not forgotten you. Coming up in the next couple of weeks will be two posts which I think will be rather special.  The first, following the recent ones on Bert and Ada Bayliss and Canvey Island will concentrate on the second of the Bayliss children, Florence, or Cis as she was better known and her husband Fred. Close on the heels of that will come a long post on Pemberton Gardens where not only Cis and Fred lived for many years but where many other members of the family lived (including myself) and certainly where all members of my generation visited on a fairly regular basis. Two things make these posts rather special.  Firstly, and most importantly, they are collaborative efforts between myself and cousin Sue in New Zealand.  Sue is Cis and Fred's granddaughter and like me she grew up in Pemberton Gardens and she has written a wonderful memoir of her grandparents and her recollections of her childhood in Pemberton Gardens and I will be printing both of these in their entirety. Secondly, I am planning this coming Saturday to make a nostalgic trip back to Pemberton Gardens to take some fresh photographs to illustrate the article.

A member of the family recently asked me if, when I reach the last of the Bayliss children born to Herbert and Esther I will end the blog as it was not my intention to write at any detail about my own or more recent generations.  The simple answer is that the blog will certainly not be ending. For a start there are still the Barrett children, Nibo, Joyce and Billy to write about.  There are stories to tell about my grandmother Esther's later years. The family parties deserve a whole chapter of their own!  We've not touched on World War Two yet but rather than do what I did with the Great War I will be dealing with that within the lives of those who lived through it.

Once I have published the pieces on Cis and Fred and Pemberton Gardens it will be the turn of my own mother to have her story told.  An important part of her life she kept secret, even from me, as I have explained and written about elsewhere.  I think I owe it to myself and to history to tell that story as I now understand it and to spend a little time telling my father's story and background.  I feel this is a legitimate subject for the blog because, as I say in my introduction the blog is not strictly about the Bayliss/Barrett line but rather all connected families.  In some cases I know very little about people who married into the family and I can't do much about that but slowly information does begin to emerge - when I write about Athur Bayliss we will learn about his wife Phyllis's family and when it is Stanley Bayliss's turn I know have some background on his wife Gladys's family.  To those of my generation I can say I will be asking you for any personal memories when I write about your parents - you don't have to write then down but please tell me about them.

Please keep an eye on the right hand column as a couple of new features will be appearing there. You will see today there is a picture of an old paraffin stove - this does have a relevance to family history as I am sure some of you will know (if you don't you can find out in the forthcoming article on Cis and Fred). I will also be publishing pictures of famous people who have crossed the path of family members or who may be connected to places where the family has lived.  Some of the connections will be pretty tenuous but it is meant to be a light hearted bit of fun and I am sure a certain conversation stopper when you tell people you are related to the Kray Brothers! (you'll have to wait to find out about that!)