People sometimes ask me where my roots are. I was brought up mostly in London, and I've lived in Norwich for a little over a decade now - but my family roots in this region go back much much further.
One branch of my family originated from East Anglia. My great grandfather was Francis John Thorn, born in 1873 in the small market town of March, Cambridgeshire. In 1908 he married Mabel Grace Thorn, née Morris, who was born in 1880. They married in the church in March in 1908. Together they ran the family grocery business and soon moved to Peterborough where they opened a grocery store. On March 21st, 1909, my great grandmother gave birth to Freda Frances May Thorn. She was the eldest of four children; her siblings were Leslie, Reg and Margaret. They all lived in half a manor house in Woodstone on the outskirts of Peterborough. Freda went to school in Peterborough and then went to St Peter’s teacher training college in Peterborough in the 1920s. So, when I visit Peterborough or Cambridgeshire on Green Party business, I always think of my Granny.
My great auntie Margaret is still alive, and lives at the very edge of the Eastern Region Euro-constituency, in the St. Alban's area. Freda Lupton, the last of my surviving grandparents, died just last year, at the age of 97. By which time, she had become a Green voter, and very proud of her grandson’s civic role and Parliamentary ambitions...
Comments
And for all our political differences good luck with the campaign. Being a euro-candidate in such a big region will be hard work!
[didn't think your comment on me on dale's blog was quite as good-spirited... but never mind!]
warmly, Rupert.