Horsham and London - glorious weather

Today we are having a rest day at the Caravan Park at Barns Green outside Horsham where my cousin Linda lives. We are staying here eight nights, and will visit Ightham in Kent (where my mother’s family hail from) tomorrow.

On Saturday, we spent a delightful day with Linda (Tucker) and her husband Peter Harrison live. We met a couple of their friends (also Margaret & John) and Linda’s older son Dave, his wife and three children aged 7, 4 and 2. We had brought over some Australian books for the kids, and these were very well received, especially the travel picture book of Australia called Are We There Now? Sound familiar?

Like Ray and Trish in Banbury, and Ange in Southampton, Linda and Peter have been most welcoming and helpful. Things always seem to go wrong with the van or John’s wheelchair, and this time it was the ladder to the top bunk and the bedside lamp. Being without a working ladder could have been disastrous.

Yesterday we arose early and caught the 10.04 train from Horsham to London Victoria, where we met Lisa and Jereon, an English/Dutch couple. Lisa was a backpacker journalist in Sydney in 1999, and John supervised her work at the Physical Disability Council of Australia. She stayed with us for the first two weeks in Australia, and then travelled for a year prior to going to New Zealand.

Lisa has since married Jereon, a Dutchman she met in Australia, and they took us on a walking tour of Buckingham Palace, Westminster and the Thames embankment. Due to the brilliant weather (28 degrees and very sunny) there were masses of tourists around, and especially near the London Eye. There was a lot of entertaining street theatre as well. A wonderful day yet again, but exhausting.

However, John is now well over his medical problems, and is now simply dealing with tiring days, as am I. It still takes us four hours to get ready in the mornings due to the constrained space within the motor home. Nothing we can do about that really. We have become as efficient as possible, but no way around it, due to John's lack of independence, even to turn over in bed by himself. (It ain't like home).

Hamptworth and Landford - our Tucker agricultural labourers

Last Tuesday, we spent some time exploring Hamptworth and Landford, the villages near Downton where my Tuckers were agricultural labourers in the early 1800s. I have posted some photos at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/JohnMoxon1/HamptworthWiltshire , mostly of the Cuckoo Inn, where doubtless my great great great grandfather (1805-1886) and his sone George (1832-1914) would have partaken of an ale or two, and also some of Landford where there was a John Tucker, yeoman, farmer of four properties between 1735-1812 and presumably his father also John Tucker who was a village constable in 1736 at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/JohnMoxon1/LandfordWiltshire

I am still trying to link John Tucker of Landford with my Tuckers. I suspect he was my William Tucker (1730s-1784)'s brother.

In the evening we went to Totten in Southampton, where we were invited to dinner by Ange & Paul and Ange's sister Ali, who is over from Florida where she lives, but is constantly travelling with her businessman husband. Luckily he is working in the UK at the moment, so she sees a lot of her sister. We entertained them in Sydney last December. We had a very enjoyable evening there. We will put some pictures up soon.

On Wednesday we set off for Horsham, and avoided the motorway, which would have been quicker. We travelled via the A272 instead, and it was very pretty. We stopped for refreshments at one of the myriad of old pubs on the side of the road.

We are still rather unnerved by the narrow roads, and unfortunately, I scraped the side of the motor home on the A36, due to a commercial truck being illegally parked with his side leaning into the road - on a curve - and I had nowhere to go. There was oncoming traffic. I thought I'd avoided him, but I was more conscious of the bottom of the van than the top, and so I came off worse for wear. We have taped the worst of it up with gaffer tape (what would we be without it) but bang goes our extra deposit we paid in case of such eventualities. (These motor home hirers ain't stupid!).

Southampton, Downton, Salisbury, Hamptworth and Downton

Friday 9^th May

Last time I wrote, we were in Sherfield English, a little village in Hampshire, just below the Wiltshire border, and on the edge of the New Forest. We are now in Horsham. We’ve found that we can only really write on our “rest days”, those days when we catch up on The Guardian and Observer” and do the washing. Too tired other days.

So let’s tell you about Hampshire and Wiltshire, and driving to Horsham in West Sussex, where my second cousin Linda (Tucker) lives.

Southampton

Having set up camp at a really well appointed caravan park off the A27, we connected with Ange, a fourth cousin whose family never left Southampton, unlike the rest of my relatives. I have been corresponding with Ange for over 12 months, and hosted her sister Ali and husband Dennis to a barbecue at our place last Christmas. It was great to see her.

Having a husband of her own who uses a wheelchair, she sympathized with me about the lack of space in the motor home. However, being thinner than me, she was able to get between the fridge and John’s chair much more easily than I can. I know I should have gone on that diet.

John was still not well, so Ange drove me into Southampton and we went to the Southampton Common to pick up printouts of the surnames I needed for the civic burial grounds in the area. We didn’t have time to go to the Old Cemetery where my Tucker ancestors (three generations) are buried. Pity. However, I was keener to go to the Southampton City Archives, where Ange left me to go home to see to her husband, who has been in bed for weeks with a pressure area. (I’d simply left John at home with a sandwich.)

The City Archives was a treasure trove, and I could have spent more than the two and a half hours allotted to me by my chauffeur (Ange) at my request, since I did feel a bit guilty about John being home alone! He said the worst was listening to the lawn mower at the campsite all day.

The next day, Friday 2nd, we had to check out John’s battery charger since it was not charging the chair, but fortunately it was just a loose connection. Ange had come to the rescue and found us a local wheelchair fixit man.

We then went into Southampton for the day, and fortunately it was a beautiful day and the Eastgate markets were in progress. We have some great photos of the fortress wall and gate.

Both my great grandfathers were small businessmen in the vicinity of Eastgate. My father’s grandfather and father (before WW1 for the latter) had a music shop at 10 Upper Canal Walk, and my grandmother’s father, Robert Henry Reed had three bakeries, one in East Street, which intersects with Canal Walk, and the others in High Street and London Road. The East Street premises was also a tea shop (café). Upper Canal Walk was badly bombed on November 30, 1940 and the music shop was destroyed. My great grandfather’s second wife (“the gold-digger”) was running it from 1924 when g-grandfather died until 1940. The bakery at East Street and all the shops around there seem to have been renewed as well, so maybe they were also bombed. Over 600 people lost their lives at that time.

The photos for Southampton can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnMoxon1/Southampton

Downton Cuckoo Festival, Saturday 3^rd May

This is an annual festival, and we timed our trip so we could go. My cousin Linda and Peter were also keen to go, so they drove two hours to the campsite from Horsham, West Sussex and we all went together in the motor home. I only jumped the clutch once.

We found parking quite easily in the schoolyard and joined thousands of others in the village. We missed the Maypole dancing but caught the hoop dancing and the Morris dancing. We had a beer in the King’s Arms, where a secret passage led to the neighbouring St Laurence Church. During Tudor times, the Catholic priest could be hidden in the pub if necessary.

St Laurence Church (1150) is very interesting. My 5th great grandfather William Tucker was married here in 1761, and many of my ancestors and their siblings were baptised or married there.

You can check out all the photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnMoxon1/DowntonCuckooFestivalMay32008

Salisbury
On Sunday, we travelled to Salisbury to catch up with Dot Gurd, who is a very very helpful Wiltshire genealogy "expert". She is always very helpful to "newies" on the Moonrakers list, and to people who have met a "brickwall" with their genealogy research. She contacted me off-list and invited us to lunch at the Red Lion, and then took us on a tour of Salisbury Cathedral and to a Medieval Pageant which co-incided with the 750th anniversary of the church.

Salisbury Cathedral has the highest spire in England. Those stone masons and builders certainly knew what they were doing back then. They sure had some skills.

The funny thing is that Dot is also a Power wheelchair user.

The photos have not yet been loaded, but keep an eye out for the Salisbury photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnMoxon1/.

Banbury April 20 to 29 - our itinerary shot to pieces

Well, all good plans go astray, and ours WAS a good plan. We just didn't allow for a) having to leapfrog over John's wheelchair in the motor home (and you know how good I - Margaret - am at that! b) John not being able to turn over in bed independently - too narrow, nothing much to hang onto. And c) John getting ill two days into the trip, with an infection that wouldn't go away and a pressure area, and a hospital visit, and recuperation.

So we spent nine days in Banbury, including John spending time experiencing the National Health Service - 99% good, he has to say. They actually listened to him! Westmead Hospital could do with some of that.

However, enough of that. We've met some fabulous people, and reacquainted ourselves with old friends (Carole from 1972 in Sydney) and Ray, Marg's second cousin in Banbury. We met Linda Tucker, Marg's second cousin for the first time, and a 4th cousin - do they count? - Ange in Southampton, as well as people from the Moxon Society, including John Moxon Hill, whose driveway we stayed in in Coventry.

Linda and her husband Peter met us in London on April 19, and put us on the train to Derby at St Pancras. We tried to get on the Tube at Hammersmith, but the train was 12 inches below the platform, and no ramps. So much for accessible underground. Plan 2 worked though. Number 10 bus to Kings Cross. We made the train with 30 minutes to spare.

The British Midlands train couldn't be faulted. Excellent customer service, ramps and friendly helpful staff. We are collecting photos of accessibility features and will put them on a Google Album.

So to Derby where we collected the motor home - just huge - and Marg had to learn how to depress a clutch (after 25 years not using one), and after two weeks, she's nearly got the hang of it. Hate reversing in tight spaces though. Bit of a coward. Meanwhile John sits behind, strapped down (takes 10 minutes to strap him in) and reminds Marg to change gears. What a laugh. But we make a good team. John is so used to driving when we go travelling, we'd both much prefer it if he were driving.

After a night at Shardlow Marina near Derby, we set off for Coventry, where we had a really great time with two men from the Moxon Society and their wives. Very hospitable. Did John tell you his DNA matches other men's from the Moxon Society in his same line? So no kidding, he really is a Moxon.

On Monday 20th, we left the van at the Moxon Hill's place, and caught a taxi into Coventry, where we met Carole and her husband at the Coventry Cathedrals. Stunning ruins. There is now a reconciliation process going on, between Coventry and Dresden, which is nice. It was bitterly cold, as it was on the previous Saturday in London. Carole and I had 34 years to catch up. We'd lost touch, and I'd last seen her when I was over on a working holiday to the UK in 73-75.

Banbury was next, and that's where John started to feel really ill again with an infection which came back despite treatment in London. And to complicate matters, his good trousers (worn to impress his family connections ins Coventry) didn't agree with him, and he developed a pressure area. So he ended up in Banbury's Horton Hospital under the NHS. After two days (and with John's encouragement) they discharged him - too soon in retrospect. Isn't it always the way with hospitals? No one wants to stay in. It has been difficult to deal with sickness in the motor home - despite its size, it is difficult to move around and especially to move equipment.

But back to Banbury. Whilst John was in hospital, Marg stayed two nights with Ray and Trish, her cousins, who had been on the doorstep almost as soon as we'd arrived. Ray gave John a lot of help by building a platform to make it easier for John to get into bed. (The bed was too high). Did I mention top bunks - just the thing for a 60 year old wife - NOT. But there you go, one of us has to climb the ladder. Meanwhile Trish lent and gave us things to get us out of strife, and they drove me around town shopping etc.

Banbury is a lovely place - it is where the peasants were advised to Ride a Cock Horse. The town is a mixture of new and old. Lovely shopping centre in between all these streets of old houses, pubs and other businesses. And the Oxford Canal with its locks and longboats (for tourists) meanders through the town. We have loaded up some photos onto a public album. We were there nine days altogether. Not much fun for John though. He didn't see anything of Banbury.

And so to Hampshire where we are staying at Sherfield English, midway between Romsey and Salisbury, and a very well appointed caravan park. Lots of kids having the time of their lives over the Bank Holiday weekend. Enough for now.

We've arrived

Well, it's freezing in Hammersmith! John is all done up in his Bathurst gear, whilst Margaret is borrowing his Bob Jane jacket whenever possible. Did you know that the poms have summer gear for sale now. No way can I find a fleecy lined weather proof jacket of my own. Nor a scarf or hat. (I did bring some winter clothes, but not nearly warm enough).

Many of the shop chains I remembered from 35 years ago still trade - Marks and Sparks, Boots the Chemist, W.H. Smith. Streets are narrow. Many of the buses appear to be wheelchair accessible.

We nearly flew back to Hong Kong yesterday. John couldn't get off the plane for nearly two hours because of a breakdown in communication about wheelchairs. I have a very embarrassing photo of him sprawled out on a first class cabin "bed" chair, but no, I won't be posting it on our blog. I don't want a divorce.

We are still feeling somewhat tired after the trip, but neither of us had any trouble adjusting time zones. We are nine hours behind Sydney. Still thinking "what time is it at home" but no doubt we'll soon get over that once the holiday starts properly.

Our Itinerary in the UK and Ireland

Here is our calendar for our trip.

Fitzpatricks Arrive from Ireland

This is a graphic of the good ship Charlotte Gladstone which carried from Ireland to Australia (Victoria, actually) four children of George and Norah Fitzpatrick.

The children were Patrick (26), Kate (20), Timothy (18) and Honora (14). They arrived in 1869.

In 1875 Timothy married Catherine Brown and in 1884 they had a son, Ernest Alfred, my grandfather.