my long lost family .....

The  blurry photo on the left is my great grandfather Thomas Hayton and the amazing photo on the right is my grandmother Sarah Elizabeth  at a fancy dress party in the late 1900s

Amazing to think that the motley crew below  was a direct link to these two people.....people that i feel i know through stories from my mother and my mums cousin  the lovely Jim......Patrick and Sean  bought me a subscription to the ancestry site for my  60th birthday! yes sixty where has the time gone....Ive always been obsessed  by history  and social history.  Totally consumed for years about  the ancestors of the Elliott .Hayton, Davidson side. 

This is my niece Emma  me and my sis Jackie !!enjoying a tipple!!! The girls in the family like the odd gin!!

 my son bought a negative printer and i spent hours developing the prints and delving into my own past!!Pictures and memories that id forgotten about! A trip to the local jumble sale many years ago!!!Friends i don't see but think about always  people passed on and theres my mum and two sisters!!We always loved a good jumble sale and still like coming the charity shops and vintage  fairs....

My amazing hard working mum Nancy.......Her  and dad instilled the morals that have made my whole family the people we are today....my wonderful extended family  still very close even  when we have our own lives own worries  we still are a one family unit......Always in touch always together always there for each other   a mean feat  i think which i always credit to my mum and  dad.....

Sifting through  the 100s of negatives i have  was a very emotional  experience...to see  the mistakes i made , the wonderful times i had ,the regrets!!!it was soul searching for me  and i as usual became obsessed!!!i remember  this picture, like everyone i took, like it was yesterday!! That's why i have always loved photography  a chance to capture a split second in you own or some one Else's life......Ive collected albums and photographs all my life and always looked at the images and wondered...who were you, what  life did you live .....this was taking on the metro one sunny Saturday going to Newcastle...funny how my long term memory is as sharp as a knife and i cant remember what i done last week......shes going to kill me for putting this up....sorry mother!!

This is for my Aunt Irene and the cousins i haven't met.......i know our Liz has forwarded my blog to them...this is my eldest son and  beautiful daughter in law  getting married......thats a story for another blog as i cant put pics up till after april!!!!!!

For years i grew up with stories....about my  Grandmother Sara  , her life which was sad ....my mum spoke ofton about her little sister that  she lost touch with after her mother died.....i remember when i was about 10  my mum telling me they'd been in touch with the salvation army ...they were going to find Irene.....my aunt Blanche called into our house every morning and every  tea time on her way to and from  work   she was a cleaner...i can see her sitting in the chair with her cuppa and her and my mum catching up...i ofton wondered how they had so much to talk about when they saw each other every day...they were very close..i remember them talking about Irene and what had happened to her i know my aunt molly and aunt Blanche had tried to trace her years before.....

 My little sis Joanne  in the eighties!!

 This is our Liz who shes always been part of our life and is still close to my mum shes my aunt Blanches oldest........

our Sarah my brothers oldest who's a mother to three and tom my oldest son who has a little girl and another due in April...

 me and Patrick with Rosa 17 year ago  my mum took this photo we were in york....

 not long after my mum told me about  tracing my aunt i remember the excitement!!!a letter arrived!!! it was from her sister and i sat on the chair listing to an excited mother reading it out to me...she was married she had three children and we both laughed at her story of trying to potty train the youngest....my mum  was happy.......i can remember everthing about that letter so long ago....my rosas birthday above!!!!!

My mum with Lauren  who's expecting her first baby a boy  in February.....

 how time just flys by, a blink of an eye...me and my sisters in the 90s

 This isour beautiful Sissy  my niece Sarah's middle girl.......

unfortunately  my mam and her sis lost touch and for years my mom wondered  ,she never forgot her sister and of ton we spoke about her  when her brothers died she said to me I'm the only one left  she thought her sister had died......my mum with some of her great grandchildren......

My amazing Uncle Jack who i admired so much he loved the land and spent  most of his life with small holdings  he  visited ofton and always spent time with me talking about gardening and growing things....

My mum and dad at  my cousins wedding that's my uncle Dick and aunt Joan both passed on ...with my cousin  i remember uncle dick as a  very funny  and kind man i loved them both...how sad circumstances split the  family through no fault of the children........

my eldest son and lovely daughter in law with my pride and joy  Hollyanne...x

 well  last week i found out i had an aunt and five cousins that Ive never met...amazing eh!!!how life can come full circle  and I'm going to e mail my cousin Zena.......i know Liz has been in contact as shes shown me a picture of my aunt Irene and i was blown away by how much she looked like my mum and my aunt Blanche........this is our Milo our  precious little lad a fighter!!!!https://www.facebook.com/Milothesoldier?fref=ts        xxx