Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Ten weeks and counting...(now in weeks)

Wow this time in 10 weeks we will be at the airport checking in for this once in a life time trip of discovery.
I spent some this morning getting my research in order, so I can have a print out of the Family Tree for the other tour members to read. Well really to get their heads around who is who in the family.

So with 70 sleeps left and Christmas over and New Year Eve a day away time is going to fly quickly now...

AB will working on her packing before we know it... I guess I will be in for a few phone calls regarding that...

Let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a fabulous 2011, may all your dreams come true.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Edward Currell 1857 - 2nd May 1936

Edward was the second child of Rebecca (nee Orchard) & Henry Currell born in 1857 and Baptised on 25th March 1860 at Swanbourne Buckinghamshire England. Charles was first born with Emily Martha, George, James Harry, Mary Ann and Samuel William to follow. Emily Martha and Samuel are both noted to have died in March 1871 both being buried at Swanbourne. The family resided in Swanbourne up until 1873.  

It is presumed that Edward won a scholarship to attend the King Edwards School for boys in Godalming, Surrey. As he was listed as an inmate in the 1871 census, one also could presume he may have been there a couple of years. With Henry on an agricultural labourer wage it is hard to imagine he would be able to afford the tuition. What ever Edward was studying was obviously stopped by the move to Australia.

Henry was born circa 1827 in Swanbourne, to father Luke Edward Currell and Mother Sarah Waddup. He passed away on 3rd February 1870 for reasons that are unknown to me. 

Luke Edward was born circa 1790 and is listed as being born at Clappill, Oxford England and Sarah born circa 1785 in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Luke and Sarah married on 3rd October 1813 in Bicester with witnesses being Ann Massey and Samuel Brockliss. Luke was an agricultural labourer. Sarah had become blind later in life.

Clappill no longer exists, it was probably a tithing long since disappeared or swallowed up in agricultural expansion. Ron Currell GGGrandson of Luke who lives in Peterborough in Cambridgeshire has been researching the Currell family since 1980. And an extensive search by Ron through all the Oxfordshire Parish registers has produced nothing, as with Buckinghamshire.
The problem with ‘shifting’ county boundaries could mean that the part they new as Oxfordshire are now in one of the surrounding counties, but which one?

Luke and Sarah had a large brood to contend with:
William 16 Sept 1815 Bicester - 31 Oct 1815 Swanbourne Infant;
John 14 Dec 1815 Bicester - 1905 Swanbourne;
Martha 23 Sept 1817 - ?;
Thomas 2 Dec 1818 - ?;
Mary 12 Aug 1821 Swanbourne - 2 Oct 1860 Swanbourne age 39;
William 1822-1822 Infant;
Anne 31 Sept 1823 Swanbourne - -9 Nov 1849 Swanbourne age 26;
Henry 18 Oct 1827 - 3rd Feb 1870 Swanbourne;
Charles 28 Nov 1829 - 1 July 1848 age 18;
Edward 23 June 1833;
          Jane 14 April 1836 - 18 April 1836 infant
Charles, Henry, Edward, George Currell

Edward Currell

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Clifford Currell part 2

Herbert and Eliza Currell lived at
46 Railway Street
, Petersham. Bert was a baker and Eliza home duties. They moved to Sydney from Barraba in around 1930, firstly living at Haberfield then Lewisham. They had 4 children????

From Eliza’s home Cliff’s next move was to the railway hostel at Macdonaldtown once he commenced his life long career on the railways as a booking clerk at Stanmore around the age of 17. The hostel accommodation was a basic room for 1 person with a bed, table and a wardrobe. The canteen facilities were good open 24 hours to work in with the shift workers. This is where Cliff would meet up with Ellwyn Watson for a feed after being out for the evening. Ellwyn was a junior porter at Stanmore.

The two blokes weren’t the best of buddies then but this soon changed as they became more acquainted. Cliff would often finish Ellwyn’s shift on a Friday so he could take his soon to be wife Judy home from tech. they didn’t socialize much at this time as they worked different shifts and both had girlfriends and went their different ways on their days off. Judy and Ellwyn asked Cliff to be their best man at their wedding in 1952; he gladly accepted, to find out he was married 3 days earlier. Jo and Cliff attended this wonderful day and this was the first time Jo and Judy meet. Judy and Jo became good friends and still are today.

Stanmore railway station was the meeting place for Cliff and Josephine Elys Everitt, after purchasing her train fare to Newtown, where she was working at the Bank of New South Wales. After a 6 month courtship they announced their engagement and married on the 23rd July 1952 at All Saints Church of England at Petersham, reported in the local Northern rivers paper as a “very pretty wedding”. It was a small gathering with family and friends. After the ceremony Edward and Doris Everitt the bride’s parents entertained the guests at Hotel Sydney for dinner, followed by a party given by Jo’s aunt Mrs. W. A. Berriman (Aunty Grace sister of Doris) at her north Bondi home.

Cliff now moved from the railway hostel and moved in with Jo to a small 1 room with share facilities at Harris Park. They soon left here to go to a larger 1 room at Lidcombe while they waited for the family home to be completed at
20 Lydbrook Street
Wentworthville. Jo and Cliff were able to purchase the land when Cliff collected bonds left from his father’s estate prior to turning 21.
Cliff as best man for Judy & Ellwyn
Jo & Cliff

99 sleeps to go...

With 99 sleeps brings the first day of summer down under..and what a wet and miserable old day it is...
We headed off to work nice an early only to turn around and come back home..The traffic was horrendous and we were in the car for over 45 minutes and still in the next suburb :(
Well I have a clean house now and plenty of time to update this blog :)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Cliff Currell, Part 1, My dad :)

There was talk that Cliff was bit of a handful at the age of 5, but with losing one parent and the other having to deal with estate issues and grief it is hard to imagine anyone having much time for a young boy. A local policeman took a shinning to Cliff, we are to believe he spent about 3 months with him and he thought about adoption, this fell through lucky for us. After Maud couldn’t take care of him anymore he was shipped off to the Church of England boy’s home at Carlingford Sydney.

The Church of England Children's Home at Carlingford, which was run under the auspices of the Anglican Church, but was apparently run by a separate body. Boys grew up there, and went to the local school. They weren't segregated from the community they were part of the community. Carlingford was the "Home" area; there was the Church of England Boys' Home, and further down
Pennant Hills Road before you get to Bettington Road there was the Church of England Girls' Home which is now an American International School. Those girls from there used to go to the same school as the boys, which was Carlingford District Rural School (now Carlingford Public School on Marsden Rd The boys and girls were part of the community, they didn't have their own church, and went to the local church, St Paul's Church, Carlingford, on what was then Church Street, but is now Marsden Road.
).
Buckland was built by Sir Thomas Buckland, A beautiful big old home. It had 40 boys there. Thirty were in one huge dormitory and when you got to be a big boy you moved out onto the balcony where there was only ten. Now the people that ran the organization, the homes, were a Mr. and Mrs. Hill. He took over them, when you got older boys you had Mr. Hill who was in charge. He was in charge of the whole village, but he took personal responsibility for boys as they got older, so they did not have a lady staff looking after them. He was always referred to as "Sir". Mrs. Hill was always referred to as the "Matron". She dressed like a Matron. She had the most beautiful English speaking voice, like Dame Sybil Thorndike. She dressed in a Matron's uniform - veil and white thing, the lot.
Cold showers were part of life at the boy’s home; they had to have a cold shower every morning, winter or summer. There was hot water but they didn't use it. No one seemed to get sick. Mr. Hill would stand of a morning at the entrance to the bathroom, which had about six or so showers and your towels were hanging up on hooks in the bathroom, Dormitory by dormitory.
There were three dormitories, each had ten beds in it and it was Dormitory One first. You all had to hop in and have your shower and just put your towel and pants on and grab your towel. And it might be a bitterly cold morning, so you'd walk past Mr. Hill and he'd say "Good Morning". He'd always call you by name and you'd always call him back by "Sir". And you had your shower. He never faced the showers. He always had his back to the showers. They were side-on, he was back here, and the showers were over there. Bitterly cold morning... oh, boys will be boys. They used to race in and grab their towel, drop their pyjama pants and race over to the shower, put their hand in the shower, wet their head and race out again... it was too cold for the shower. You couldn't fool Mr. Hill. As you walked past him he'd say "Now go back and have a shower". They never worked out how he knew, but he always caught you, so you didn't bother to try in the end.
A lot of the boys left the Homes... one parent, two parents, whatever family were able to take them back home again. A lot of them remained there. The home would help find them jobs.
There were two cottages that the boys lived in there was Noller, which held 30 boys. There was a staff member in charge. Most of them were single, older women. She had her own quarters in that cottage and the boys in dormitories, seven and eight to each dormitory. You stayed in that one until you were probably about eight, and then you moved up to a cottage called Victory. Miss Upton was the staff member in charge of Noller. You went up to Victory where Miss Thornton was the staff member, the House Mother, for want of a better term, although the boys didn’t call her that. You were there until you were about 11 or 12, and then you moved up to Buckland. Both Noller and Buckland are still there to this day.
Christian values were taught, sure but other than that Religion wasn’t pushed down the boys throats at all. They were expected to say their prayers at night time. But on a bitterly cold night you’d often slip into bed quick and shut your eyes, kid you were asleep. They wouldn’t wake you up to say them.
One memory Cliff had of the boys home was the watered down peanut butter which he said resembled muddy water on your bread. You wouldn’t have peanut butter in a boy’s home nowadays!

Spending money would be sent to Cliff while at the home but it was always minus the postage fee.

With help from the boy’s home he obtained his first job at Hardy Brothers Jewelers in
Castlereagh Street Sydney
. Cliff soon left the home to live with his half sister in law Eliza who was married to Herbert at Petersham.

“On the eve of Christmas 1922, five influential businessmen decided to pool their resources and become Santa Claus for a large group of orphaned children at the Carlingford Boys Home. The men were so overwhelmed that such a simple gesture could bring such joy they resolved to alleviate the suffering of poverty wherever possible. In those early years the name "Smith" was officially adopted to enable the businessmen to carry out their work anonymously. The Smith Family is a national, independent, social enterprise that helps unlock opportunities for disadvantaged children and their families through education.”

last childhood photo of Cliff

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Road Trip No. 2:

 This time it was Ben & Joanne who ventured north to Dungowan for a 2 night stay. We had a lovely time catching up with Linda and Mark and being able to have them share in our day at Barraba on the 8th March 2010.
Our Monday started bright an early then with Joanne being over excited drove the group to Barraba to meet with Margaret Currell at the Barraba Historical society at 9am. On approach to Barraba the excitement couldn’t be held in any longer with squeals of delight and leg slapping on Mark by Joanne we knew it was going to be a great day.

We stopped for a homemade sandwich at the rest stop just south of Barraba and for Joanne to take a few deep breathes. Then the excitement reached fever point when we drove up to see “Herbertvale” for the first time. Herbertvale was the short lived family home of Cliff and Mary.

Punctual as always we parked out the front of the historical society right on 9am, dad would have been proud! Margaret was very helpful and even asked Tom Johnson to come talk to us about Edward & Mary. Tom could remember Mary holding Cliff’s hand walking into school for Cliffs first day. The highlight of the day was going to visit Leila Jackson, she was lovely and spoke so fondly of Mary, and we felt like we got to know Mary in some way that day.

Time was then spent walking around the Barraba Cemetery, a few tears were shed here realizing how much no one knows about our grandmother Maud, how insignificant her life was to others, very sad. A call back to Campsie was made for Matt to get on the web to trace the exact location of some of the grave sites.

Knowing that Maud met Edward while she was working at Barraba hospital, we headed there to see if there were records, but no. On their wedding certificate it reads that she was a nurse, but Tom was sure she was a cook. So just another mystery to add to our list.

We saw all the sights of Barraba and had a truly enjoyable day. Joanne and Ben dropped Linda and Mark back to Tamworth then headed on home to Sydney, it was one long day, but well worth it. One way to describe the day was an “episode of, Who do you think you are?”

Herbertvale in 2010


Mary Currell's Grave at Barraba NSW

Barraba Hospital

Old Barraba School

Driving towards Herbertvale. Herbertvale on right in distance
Next instalment: Clifford Currell.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Road Trip No.1

Beth and Joanne drove to Linda’s one weekend from Kingscliff then on to Campsie. The road trip was eventful for the two girls, lots of laughter, tears, singing and learning about each other, more then they already knew. The girls referred to themselves as the two old aunties, traveling the country side with their thermos and picnic basket. After leaving the main highway to head from Grafton over to Armidale via Nymboida the road was full of bends and narrow in parts.

It was while talking about Cliff and approaching a bend with not that much room either side a large wide loaded lorry came around towards them, it was if Cliff was looking after the two of them as if by miracle a clearing was just there on the left for them to pull over. No where else in this couple of hundred kilometres was there a clearing like it. There were a few more occasions where they thought Cliff were looking over them which are mentioned below. 
What would you do with out a mobile phone? So what if you are driving through the bush you can always call ahead and ask “what’s for dinner?” well it was decided as thanks for putting Beth and Joanne up for the night the duo would cook a feast for Linda and Mark. Well lamb cutlets and vegetables! 

Joanne being the avid amateur photographer she is was driving down the main roan of Uralla camera in hand taking photos. After Joanne took a photo of a pink pig Beth & her realized they had stumbled over a butcher. They pulled over to buy meat at the butcher for dinner. As always the two of them had a fight over what meat and who was getting the bill. The poor butcher didn’t know what was going on when the two of them walked in. first question he fired at the pair was “sisters hay?”
“Yes” was the reply.
Then he asked “twins!”Well Joanne saw RED! “What, I ain’t 50!!!”
Na” he said trying to back track, but the butcher wouldn't believe Beth was soon to turn 50.
Well after they brought what was left of his lamb cutlets and loin chops he was relieved to make the sale and say good buy. I think they succeeded in leaving a lasting impression in Uralla. Not sure if it had anything to do with the crazy pair but the butcher closed shop as soon as they stepped out the door. If nothing else it would have given them something to tell their wives when they got home. Must admit they were great and would suggest stopping there if driving through.

After picking up Linda the three girls ventured in to Tamworth to find a grave at the cemetery. Joanne parked the car and looked out to her left to realise their pulled up along side the exact row of the cemetery they were after. not sure the car was parked safely she decided to move it across the road, parked safe and sound she got out, locked it and looked up to see the sign for the Racing Pigeon section of the show ground, pretty ironic considering pigeons were part of growing up for her thanks to Grant. Within a few steps of walking into the Tamworth General cemetery Linda located the grave of Stephen Abbott Ramsey Johnson that we were after. Stephen is the half brother of Edward Currell, born on the journey out from England in 1873.


The trio spent the late afternoon sitting outside Linda’s gallery nibbling on chips and having light refreshments. Watching the sun slide down under the distant hills with the glowing purples and orange in the sky was magical that afternoon in Dungowan. They through back and forth memories of the past, bringing things to the surface that were once thought dead and buried. Some things were surely meant to stay unearthed, but no with these girls anything was possible.

The short time together was fabulous and more of these weekends were proposed for the future. Beth and Joanne made comment on their drive home that it has been a long time coming being together again and the time between visits has to be kept to a minimum. Even in these days of high petrol prices and increasing interest rates, these things should never become between families. You are only here on earth for a short time and time can be taken from you as suddenly as it was given. Time is a valuable asset, one that should not be taken for granted. Never expect memories to be created for you, you have to go out there and live them, be part of them.

Beth had never seen Steven's plaque ( Steven is our oldest Brother) at the Beresfield Crematorium, so this was a must see stop over on the drive from Tamworth to Campsie. It was a bitterly cold and wet day in Newcastle and it only hindered the search efforts to find Stevens plaque. Joanne had been there many years before and had vague memories of where it stood in a brick wall in a low corner. The two girls split up as the sky drizzled on them. They soon found it and took a photo to add to the research folder Joanne has compiled.  After some time of reflection another photo was taken of location to make the next visit easier for the family member. Beth stood along side pointing in the direction of the plaque and Joanne standing a distance away to capture the surroundings. 
AB preparing morning tea

Uralla Butcher, great lamb cutlets...


More note taking outside Edelwiess Gallery. http://www.edelweissgallery.com/

Beautiful valley of Dungowan NSW


Beth pointing to Steven's location at Beresfield Crematorium Newcastle

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The journey to discovery


In 1993 Cliff and Joanne enrolled in a local community college to learn about Genealogy. Once a week they went along to learn the ways in which to trace our family history. Everything was going along well until in June the Trams at Parramatta Park burnt down. The journey of finding our heritage came to a halt.

Some 15 years on, while Jo was reading the Daily Telegraph newspaper she saw someone asking the where about of “Hoskinson’s Creek”. It was Robyn Currell of Tamworth. Jo was soon in contact with her via email, suggesting that Joanne may have some information from when Cliff and she were researching.

Joanne took a few days to respond as she didn’t have much information at all. She certainly didn’t know the location of Hoskinson’s creek. Joanne did realize though that she didn’t know much at all. Cliff and Joanne really didn’t even skim the surface when it came to discovering the past. So before Joanne responded to Robyn she spent some time on the Internet hoping she may discover a little more about her past.

The Internet proved to be very valuable for her as she endeavored to ascertain where she came from. With more knowledge under her belt she felt confident enough to contact Robyn. Joanne was soon to find out that Robyn was at this stage very new to tracing the family tree and was mainly concerned about Albert Edward Currell, Cliff’s oldest half brother. Robyn did pass on what information she had and some proved most useful.

While surfing the net Joanne located Ron Currell in England whom is a descendant of Luke and Sarah Currell. The data Ron forwarded over to Joanne was priceless. And in turn Joanne has been able to fill some of the gaps in his facts.

With knowing there are relations out there gave Joanne the drive and determination to follow through and find her extended family even if only on paper as for all her life the only Currell’s she has know have been her own immediate family.

There have been countless emails, phone calls and even road trips to ensure memories are not lost. With Cliff gone and not having him here to ask questions it is quite hard to realize what sort of early life he had. To piece together what information we can now for the future generations is imperative.

One thing this research has done for Cliffs children is bring them closer together again, as for a few years there they had drifted apart. For Joanne one memorable thing was while sitting at Linda’s dinning table with her and Beth. Watching the way in which Linda relived her memories with us, the love and warmth that flowed from her. While reminiscing about Steven Beth couldn’t bear the heartache she was feeling and it all became to much for her, Linda consoled her in such a compassionate way, that, that memory will be long lasting for Joanne as she was thankful to have been there to witness it, The love of sisters.



Reminiscing over Lamb cutlets

Joanne taking notes of Linda & Beth's memories


Next instalment Road trip Number 1...

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Yippeeee

Just collected all our travel documents... we are good to go....

:)

There is so much information behind why we are going.

133 sleeps left

Prior to leaving for the UK this blog will be more of a family history site. It will be filling you in on the reason behind the journey.

Yes we may be flying cattle class for 23hours straight and be hit by jet lag at the other end...but as you read the posts to come it is much more civilised then our ancestors who took months on boats to travel here.

Everyone has said to us..."oh you can't just go for 2 weeks!"  Oh but we are.. it is better then nothing and the reason for the trip is to meet family and see for ourselves the land from which our family came. To see any sights of England will be a bonus..

We have added another person to our list of people to meet for a cuppa, Brian Collett. Brian has a website http://www.collettfamilyhistory.net/ , we are connected to the Collett family through the Currell & Turner families. More info on this will be posted soon.

Mary & Cliff



Monday, October 25, 2010

Maud Currell nee Turner.

Maud and Edward Currell
Maud Turner was an English lady who migrated to Australia in 1913 on the ship MILTIADES bound for Melbourne/Brisbane. Maud is listed as “Domestic” under the heading occupation.

Women, especially domestic servants who were much coveted owing to the high demand for them in Australia, were often sponsored by governments or voluntary organisations both in Australia and Great Britain. Single women were encouraged to immigrate in order to satisfy perceived needs in relation to Australia’s future population, both in terms of its quantity and quality. Domestic servants would release middle-class women for their primary role in society as bearers and nurturers of children; they would help overcome the isolation of wives of rural settlers and, not least, they would become future wives and mothers themselves. Their character, youth and experience were therefore important criteria in selection.

The advertising associated with assistance schemes to bring out British farmers, young rural labourers and domestic servants (the ‘preferred’ immigrants) inevitably encouraged others. State departments and ‘intelligence bureaux’ were set up in the capital cities to receive and advise new settlers. Assisted immigrants made up about half the total arrivals in the pre-war years, some selected by state governments and non-government organisations, some nominated by relatives and friends already in Australia.

Maud’s father Alfred Charles turner was a polisher for Holland & Holland who was very much the luxury end of the horse drawn carriage market and may well have worked on some carriages of Queen Victoria. His father John is one of many in the Hertfordshire area and it is difficult to work out who is who. Her mother was Elizabeth Allen, this side of the family has been traced right back to the middle ages to the Collett and Bond families of Cambridgeshire.

The Christmas present ever for Joanne came on the 18th December 2009 when the verifying email arrived from Peter Mason in Sheffield England.

“Dear Joanne,
Thank you for your message. All I know about Maud is that she went to Australia. Up to now, I thought my grandmother Edith was the only daughter of Alfred to have a family. She had two sons: my father Frederick and Ralph who is still alive in his nineties in the Croydon area.
I am now retired in Sheffield, living with my wife Lorna, after working as a BBC engineer. I look forward to hearing more from you about your family.
Best wishes, Peter Mason.”

Half way through reading this Joanne had tears rolling down her face and was speechless. So from that day she has been in constant contact with Peter & Lorna and will soon be meeting them in person. To have someone else interested in Maud is lovely.

How Maud comes to arrive in Barraba is still a mystery today. She was working at the local Barraba Base hospital when she meets Edward Currell. On the 8th March 2010 Linda & Mark Floyd with Ben & Joanne Power traveled to Barraba to see if they could find out any more information on Maud. In one answer NO, she is proving hard to find out about. Tom Johnson mentioned that he thought she was a cook at the hospital, we were under the assumption she was a nurse as on her wedding certificate it states Nurse as occupation. The locals from that era believe she met Edward while he was a patient in the hospital. Edward too was on the board of directors so nothing here can be confirmed to how they met.

Maud & Edward celebrated their marriage on the 23rd May 1927 at St Lawrence’s Church of England church in Barraba. “Herbertvale” Barraba was the family home of Edward and Maud. Mary Maud was their first born on 27 June 1928 and baptized a month later on the 26 July 1928.  Clifford was born on the 15th July 1931 at the family homestead with the assistance of Dr. Rhipps and nurse Edith Woods. Cliff too was baptized at St Lawrence's parish in Barraba being on the 4th August 1931 the ceremony was performed by HCR Lancaster. Edward was 73 years of age when Cliff was born.

While caring for 2 young children, Maud also was caring for Edward as he was suffering from dementia. He treated Maud quite roughly and it really was a hard period for her. Edward would go walk about at night so to help Maud with this added pressure relatives would come stay the night.
These times would have been quite difficult for the family of wide ages as 1929 saw the start of the great depression in Australia; it was a time of extreme hardship for all Australian.

Maud was Edward's second wife; his first wife being Mary Esther Mc Neill. Mary had passed away a couple of years earlier on 23rd August 1923 of Pneumonia. Mary & Edward had 5 children together Albert Edward, Herbert Fredrick (Bert), James, Maud Ester and Robert William Hamilton.

Cliff unfortunately didn’t experience many years with his family as Edward passed away on 2nd May 1936 and is laid to rest next to Mary Esther in the Barraba General Cemetery. After Edwards passing his estate had a claim made against it from one of his adult sons, Robert (Bob). Robert lived on Herbert Vale with his family and helped run the property as a share farmer. He brought his house over from his own property for convenience. Maud decided with all the correspondence and demands that it would be best to sell Herbert Vale. With this the creditors and Robert were paid. Some money was left for Mary & Cliff. Mary and Cliff didn’t receive many processions from their father. Cliff was to be left Edwards chime clock and justice of the peace badge but he never did see them.

With all the emotional turmoil of losing her husband and then her home, Maud was soon to loose her children as she just couldn’t cope. Cliff had scratchy memories of spending a short period of time with Maud in a Manilla Hotel. (No mention of Mary).

Maud was to suffer a nervous breakdown and was admitted into a mental hospital in Newcastle, we are not sure of exact dates and the records are locked for 110 years. This is where she lived out her life till her death on 27th January 1962. The cause of death stated on death certificate was Cerebral Thrombosis duration 6 months, Arteriosclerosis, Years, and senility. Maud is in an unmarked grave in the Church of England Cemetery at Stockton
NSW. Mary and a friend had erected a timber cross in her memory all those years ago but over time this has since perished due to being exposed to the natural elements.

The grave number details are Anglican (formerly Church of England) Section No. 8 Grave 18, the reason why Newcastle Council had problems locating the grave when I first started the search for it is that somewhere along the line they have transcribed their old records incorrectly and have Maud Currell’s name as Burrell. It was with the help of Andrew France of France Family Funerals at Nelson Bay that we have discovered Maud’s were bouts. On her death certificate it lists Jonah Bevan and Son as the undertaker. So with this information and the help of the yellow pages we were to find this establishment still in operation in the larger Newcastle area.

So, our grandmother lay with no reminder of her existence and no thanks for the life she gave to us. The hunt has begun to locate her and give her life some recognition as with out her we would not exist.

One is to wonder what life was like for her, when she left London all those years ago she would have had dreams and hopes for a greater life then the one she was leaving behind. It seems she only managed a few shorts years of happiness. All anyone asks for in their life is respect and to feel some what appreciated, it seems Maud’s life was insignificant to many people.
The only photo of Maud that we have.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Itinerary

Thursday 10th March 2011 Fly to London, collect hire car (very thankful they drive on the same side as us) and spend 7 nights at Godington in self contained cottage.
While here will spend time exploring what England has on offer.
·         Buckinghamshire (this is the family history region)
·         London
·         Cornwall/Devon
·         The Cotswolds
·         The Slaughters
·         Bath
Godington itself is significant in our past, so being able to stay so close to our history is amazing. While here we will meet Ron & Shirley. Ron has done significant family history research and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the Currell family. He will show us all the sights of Buckinghamshire of where our ancestors once lived.
Friday 18th March Depart Godington on route to Calver for 3 nights.
We spend this day driving through Wales, with the chance of visiting Llangollen, Snowdonia National Park, Snowdon Mountain railway, Hafod Eryri, and Chester just to name a few.
Calver is situated in the Hope Valley of the Peak District and it is here that we will meet our second cousin Peter and spend time with him and his family. Peter is through our Grandmother Maud’s family. We know very little about Maud and have no idea what brought her out to Australia in 1913, but one thing is for sure her dreams were not fulfilled.
Monday 21st March depart Calver and bid farewell to Peter & Lorna as we head north up into Scotland.  We will spend 2 nights in a semi-detached fishermen’s cottage which lies in the pretty village of St Abbs with its picturesque harbour.
On our way north we will visit York, North Moors National Park, Captain Cook Memorial Mueseum in Whitby, Newcastle Upon Tyne just to mention a few.
Tuesday we will explore Scotland, visiting Perthshire, Pitlochry, Glenshee & Loch Rannoch. We do hope that Beth will have the chance to see snow for the first time, so weather gods please be on our side that day.
Wednesday 23rd March we leave the UK to fly to Paris.
Well, what can I say about what we will get up to here, who cares we will be in PARIS J
·         Champs-Elysee
·         Eiffel Tower
·         Arc de Triomphe
·         Notre Dame
·         cruise down the Seine River
·         Laduree
·         shopping
The list could go on forever but one thing is for sure, I will eat myself silly here, Personally I just want to absorb the Paris atmosphere walk where Carrie did.... etc...
So on Friday 25th March our trip will come to an end L as we leave Paris to head home to Sydney..

Thank you Mum for giving us girls the opportunity to travel to the UK, we are very grateful.