Highway Inn, Dobwalls, 1963

I've just found these articles from the local papers re gaining a licence for The Highway Inn Dobwalls, from about 1962/63:

Rotary Club of Saltash

Jack Smale was a member of the Rotary Clubs, I think it was in Callington and Saltash. Including being President:

He also enjoyed being Secretary and held that post for many years.
His one disappointment was that when we all moved up to Derby they would not accept him due to his age.

Callington Probus Club

Jack Smale was the first President of Callington Probus Club when it was formed in the early 1980s.  He was subsequently made Life President:

Old Family Photos

Lots of old family photos are stuck in boxes in the loft or storeroom and no-one ever looks at them. Many are  tiny, grainy and faded.

With Picasa (which can be downloaded, free from the internet) I've been able to bring many of these old photos to life and in the process been able to pass them on to other family members.  
There are several ways of improving photographs.

One way is to use the cropping facility to look at the part of the picture which you're interested in, whilst still keeping the original photo on the computer.

Here's a good example - a photo of my grandmother (Bunty) staying at a friend's caravan back in the 1960s.  It's such a long time ago that no-one knows who the friend is so, apart from the retro caravan, the important part of the photo is  Bunty herself.

So it's been cropped and now we see Bunty and in greater detail:

When I become more adept  I'll learn how to delete the friend's shirt and tie - but that's for another day!

Another advantage is shown by next photo (taken about 1929) which was so faded that no-one could see what it was.  The photo was imported into Picasa and then I pressed the button 'I'm feeling lucky' and lo and behold my mother's parents appeared in their motorbike and sidecar:

Before (above) and after (below) 

Not as clear as today's photos but what an improvement!


Another very useful feature of Picasa is being able to straighten pictures. Take this photo from our living room window:

A great pic but the sea somehow doesn't look right. After applying straighten, the photo is a great improvement:

and it's less likely to make me feel seasick. As you can see, when a picture is 'straightened' it does lose part of the sides, so this can't be done with every picture.


Web Albums - coming ...

Bianco and Unicorn

Jack, Bunty and Dorothy by Bianco, moored at Richmond Walk, Plymouth

Jack's other leisure boat, the Unicorn

Excitement in 1956

For one day only, in October 2011, the Saltash Ferry is celebrating 50 years since the opening of the new Saltash Bridge.  For details see this link: http://www.saltashferrylink.com/

Back in July, on a post, I mentioned being rushed to hospital in 1956 for an emergency appendix removal.  The local Doctor (Eckersley) packed me into the front of his car, wrapped in a blanket, then drove my mother and me in his big black car from Liskeard up to Saltash (not such a good road in those days). Then we were first on to the ferry and it left pretty quickly.  When we reached the Plymouth side of the river we were first off.    

Luckily, at five years old, I didn't realise the seriousness of the journey and so it was very excited about the whole experience.  All I can say is thank goodness for the fast, efficient ferry. Otherwise we would have had to drive all the way up to Gunnislake to cross the River Tamar via the single lane 'new bridge', built many centuries earlier, and perhaps I might not have survived to write this blog! (see below for details about the Gunnislake Bridge)

Until the construction of the Tamar road bridge at Saltash in 1962, Gunnislake New Bridge, built in the early 16th century, was the lowest bridging-point on the Tamar and one of the main routes of entry from Devon into Cornwall. 

Truro High School

Archives

I've emailed Cornwall Records Office in Truro about stuff which I found when looking through my fathers papers. Amongst those papers, there's documentation relating to several pubs and inns in Cornwall which my family have run and owned over the past 60 years, which may be of general public interest.

Apparently Records Offices are very happy to hold documents and such like for people so long as is wanted and the documents can be reclaimed at any time.  The advantage of this system is that firstly, the documents are properly looked after and unlikely to get lost and secondly may be accessed by others.


Also I contacted the West Devon Records Office as I have copies of two wills, again relating to our family, but this time they date back to the 19th Century and are to do with members of the family who were living in Plymouth at that time.

 The will of William Darton Waddon, died 1848 Plymouth, 

my GGG Grandfather

31.8.11

I've just heard back from the Records Office and they are not interested in the wills, surprising as I thought these documents would be useful for other family history researchers.

Perhaps the policy about which I gave details (above) has changed - and if so many interesting documents are likely to be destroyed and we'll be culturally poorer for this development.

Cornish Inn, Gunnislake

My parents Jack and Dorothy Smale bought The Cornish Inn, Gunnislake, in the middle of 1971.  At that time it was sadly run-down and needed updating.  They set to and modernised the bar and, whilst building up the trade, my father, together with David Cutts the builder next door, did up the bedrooms and made the large function room, over the original stables, into four bedrooms with private bathrooms.  This was long before anywhere in the area was able to offer ensuite facilities.  They made part of the back garden into an overspill car park as parking in The Square at the front was limited.

But to delve into the past, The Cornish Inn has a long history, being well over 200 years old, I've been investigating it's history and give some details below:

Links found which mention The Cornish Inn:
1856 Cornish Inn - John Sanders (http://www.calstock.info/census/kellys_1856.htm#1856)
1883: Cornish Inn: George Adamson (http://www.calstock.info/census/kellys_intro.htm#1883

I've had this photo for years, showing that long ago the Cornish Inn was known at the Commercial Hotel.  From the name written on the front of this postcard and links below the photo was taken in about 1923.

Links re Commercial Hotel:

1893 Commercial Hotel and Posting House:  Abraham Bond (http://www.calstock.info/census/kellys_1893.htm#1893)

1902 Commercial Hotel, Samuel Nile: (http://www.calstock.info/census/kellys_1902.htm#1902)

1910 Commercial Hotel, Bedford Brewery Co: (http://www.calstock.info/census/kellys_1910.htm#1910) This ties in with the document reproduced below (copy of a document found at the Cornish Inn):

Cornish Inn in about 1980.

 The Cornish Inn, mid 1970s - showing Dorothy, Jack and Margaret

Copy of Menu at Cornish Inn about 1978 - 1980
(note prices - and VAT at 15%)

Taken from the Gunnislake Festival - Scarecrow Map

Years ago someone told me that at one time Gunnislake was a boom town Williamstown.   The site below bears this out and gives background history of Gunnislake:  http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/cisi/gunnislake/CISI_Gunnislake_report.pdf.  

From the site above: 

"In 1901 Venning’s Directory described Gunnislake as a settlement which ‘seems to have grown up rapidly without any well-defined plan; with no architectural pretensions it seems to  have been designed in a nightmare, built in a whirlwind, and is capable of being made orderly only by a succession of rythmic [sic] earthquakes’. This very astute observation helps to explain the difficulty in pinning down the centre of Gunnislake, and defining its character; this arises as much from its setting and topography as from any distinctiveness in its built fabric or townscape"

Trenython

Extract from my father's memoirs:

In 1925 we moved to Cornwall where Dad was to take a new job as general maintenance handyman at Trenython, which was a convalescent home owned by the Great Western Railway. The mansion house had been built by a Col Peard - one time A D C to General Garibaldi. On his death the Bishop of Truro bought it and made it his Bishop’s Palace, adding even more treasures to its opulent furnishings and fittings.

With Frank and me in the sidecar Dad drove the motor bike combination to Dawlish where we stayed the night with Aunty Dorothy and family. She gave us a wonderful welcome and we had a boiled egg apiece - with soldiers of course (at that time Jack was 6 and Frank 3).

Mum came down by train with Vera (baby) and we moved into a small country cottage - damp, primitive and with no running water indoors and no gas or electricity. A chemical toilet in a privy outside and a black coal cooker completed the inventory.

It was about 700 metres to the main road - the bus route from Tywardreath to Fowey. If we were going in either direction and Mum was under pressure she would ask me to go ahead and ask the bus conductor to wait - and the bus would wait – the conductor saying from time to time 'where are they to’ and I would peer up the drive and reassure him they were on the way - and eventually Mum would come scurrying down the drive with Frank and Vera in tow. This happened many times.

Items from the Internet of interest: 

It was originally built for Colonel Peard as a thank-you from Garibaldi for support during his Italian struggle. In 1891 it became the Bishop's Palace for the Diocese of Truro and lasted in this role for 15 years. For half of the 20th century it was a railway convalescent home and is now an hotel.

View of the Hall and Staircase at Trenython

History of Trenython Bell

The bell, cast at the world's most famous foundry, London's Whitechapel (famous for Big Ben and Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and still in operation today), is believed to have been purchased by Trenython's original owner, Colonel John Peard. It dates back to 1868, two years before the house was actually built. The colonel was a man of discerning tastes who had travelled extensively and fought with Giuseppe Garibaldi in the liberation of Italy. In honour to this partnership, Peard - 'Garibaldi's Englishman' - ordered the house built in Italian style.

In its nearly 140 years of history, Trenython has been owned by Peard, the Rev. John Gott, Bishop of Truro, and eventually became a convalescent home run by the Great Western Railway before it was purchased by Club La Costa Resorts & Hotels in 2006.

View from the Terrace at Trenython - August 2011

A view of the staircase (bottom): above is some of the carving in the downstairs hall

Highway Inn, Dobwalls

 Early 1963 when the Highway was being altered

 The Highway Inn when it was open

 Dorothy, Jack and Bunty in the Lounge Bar (about 1965)

Aerial view of the site at the time, The Highway, is just to the left of the main road, near the bottom of the photo.

Site  now for The Highway (as was):
http://www.thehighwayman.org.uk/Welcome.html

Barley Sheaf, Liskeard

Jack and Dorothy at their leaving do, Barley Sheaf, 1956.

I understand The Barley Sheaf is now a listed building: http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-382153-the-barley-sheaf-public-house-liskeard

The Barley Sheaf now:

http://www.thebarley.com/

Copley Arms, Hessenford

The Smales were at the Copley Arms, Hessenford, from 1959 to 1963:

These postcards date from the early 1960s

A photo of the front of The Copley from the early 1960s

Sportsman's Arms, Menheniot

The Sportsman's Arms, Menheniot, Liskeard, Cornwall - where
the Smales lived from 1952 to 1959.

Front View of Sportsman's Arms, Menheniot Station, taken August 2011

 Sitting on the wall at the bottom of the car park, with Sooty and an American visitor

 The public bar (right hand side of the front door)

Lounge Bar (left hand side of the front door)

View from just above the back car park

The back door

Sooty by the back door (Dorothy behind, in the kitchen)

Gateway leading down to a magical field

The website to see The Sportsman's is:

http://sportsmansarms-menheniot.co.uk/

Sisters

Three generations of Sisters: 

Brenda and Dorothy

Vicky and Fiona

Sadie and Holly

This photo was taken in Edinburgh, May 2010 - and is never to be repeated. 

Would you like to research your family tree and don't know where to start?

Well, here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Get yourself a good-sized notebook
• Write down what you know already: births, marriages, deaths, names of any relations, places they lived, their occupations, any other snippets which may seem unimportant.  The more you write down now the less there'll be to remember . . . .
• Talk to family and friends, especially the older members, noting all details, even tiny ones which seem irrelevant at the moment.
• Obtain certificate for all events about which you are certain.
• Back-up everything - 'just in case'.
• Use the information gained from the above to start looking further afield.
• Start a file making a note of which details you have about each person.
• Look on the internet - a good place to start as it saves shoe leather and petrol.  Various sites are given to the right of this column and in a separate spot on this site. Also see my article Recommended Sites from the April pages.
• To be continued .....

Example
I remember my grandmother (Violet Florence Gasper) saying that her husband was born on Valentine's Day in the same year as her, that her mother had the same first names as my grandmother but reversed and that Violet and her husband had been in a terrible accident in the mid 1930s on the way to a family funeral.

I had Violet's Death Certificate (above) from 1987 which gives information about her date of birth, and her husband's name.  This Death Certificate say that Violet was born in 1898, so I knew her age and could then look up her birth on http://www.freebmd.org.uk/.

I went onto this site, pressed on the word 'search'.  On the next page I keyed in my grandmother's maiden name and the approximate year of her birth (as some ladies have traditionally been economical with the truth about their ages) and then highlighted the word 'birth' in the top left hand corner.  Then I pressed on the word 'find' in the bottom left corner.

Up popped Violet Florence Gasper, born Hackney, in the quarter ending June 1898, volume 1b, page 508.  This gave me the information needed to send off for her birth certificate from: http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp.

On the first page which came up on this site I clicked on 'order a certificate online', to register with them.   Then typed in my email address and chose a password.  This saves giving my address details every time I order.   Then when asked I give the details gained from freebmd: name, year, which quarter, volume and page.  This service costs just under £10 for each certificate and is very prompt.

Here is a copy of Violet Florence Gasper's Birth Certificate 

ordered from gro.gov.uk (see above) . 

When it arrived we had a big surprise - there was no father mentioned: so my grandmother was illegitimate.   Well, at least it gave details of her mother, mother's job and place of residence and where little Violet  had been born.  I looked up on the internet and found a photo of, and some information about the place:

The Mother's Hospital (above) was a Salvation Army Maternity Hospital at 153-163 Lower Clapton Road, Clapton E5. It was opened on 18th October 1913, replacing an earlier Salvation Army hospital at Ivy House 271 Mare Street, Hackney E8, which had been opened in 1884. 


The next thing to do was to start the file, so there would be birth, marriage and death certificates, plus any other documentation and photos.  I like to keep a photocopy of everything so the originals can be kept somewhere safe. Then, if I go to the library or to visit someone the originals won't get lost or spoilt as I don't need to worry about the photocopies.

There are several ways to file information.  I like to have a ring binder with plastic pockets so everything can be seen at a glance.  Then I have tabs to separate each part of the family.


At present I have a different colour binder for each part of the family and start with the latest generation (me) at the front.  On the front inside cover I put a family tree, so I can easily see who is in that particular binder and where they're likely to be. 

Family Tree to go on front inside cover

On the back inside cover I put a tree with the oldest person first, cascading down to me and all my cousins.


I also started to do a page for each person, giving the following: name, date of birth, parents, spouse, children and death.  To this page I added census information when  located and any other details, pictures or references.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that we've covered how to start saving all this information that's accumulating, I must warn you that researching your family tree is somewhat addictive and the more you find out the more questions you'll probably have.  


Family history seems to seep into every subject: geography, history (of course), then there are the occupations of your ancestors, the wars in which they may have been involved.  Then there were the social conditions of the time, how some women had so many children which died in infancy, or indeed some mothers themselves died very young.  


Also you may well find relatives who've crossed continents and researching them may be not quite as straightforward as those who've stayed in one village all their lives.  Having said that, my husband's family mainly stayed in one place but unfortunately there are many people in the same village with the same name - so which Robert Fry are we to look at!?