Without people, there's no family. I am fortunate enough to belong, albeit at a distance most of the time, to strong and diverse families that know much about themselves and the people that make us -- family.
Within these pages are stories about some of them. I have organised these, for now, into the two "sides" that are my mother's and father's families, separated as they are by the Atlantic Ocean and a whole lot of cultural difference. I inherited both cultures, part by nurture, part by nature, and they have manifested themselves at times over my entire life, evoking reactions from horror to applause from my family.
Albert Bourne's shop1
I set this site up to share stories of my family, starting with my mother. It's not really a family tree kind of thing, although there will be information from various family genealogists and contributors. Please bear with me -- as retired folk soon forget, time is a precious and rare commodity when you're working in the first half of the twenty-first century. I've been "doing family history" all of my life from time to time, and have some stuff to draw upon, somewhere around here.
Please get in touch if you have something to add or ask. I'm happy to help, and even happier if you can help me with a missing or misplaced jigsaw piece.
Nick Hood
Rosyth, Fife, Late 2022
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If this is the Albert I think it is, then his wife is Lilian, née Peckett, and their shop is likely to have been in East Ham, London. He would have been in his 30's in the early 1920s, when I think this picture was taken. That's all guesswork and poor recall of stories from my childhood. ↩