A slower but good day today. We went back to the house where John was born and where he and his brothers grew up and this time the owner was home. Amazingly, she is the one who bought the house 47 years ago and remembers the Oldland family. She was so pleased we'd knocked on the door and was very welcoming and tolerant of us asking to take photos :-)
We then went to see Johns primary school, Hunters Hall, then to the Heathway where he went to the cinema on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons & films, the cinema is now a supermarket though.
We were keen to see the grave sites of his grandparents so after couple of bus rides, much fruitless searching through the cemetery and then a phone call to the Cemeteries Board we finally found the very dilapidated graves of his paternal and maternal grandparents. It was a really nice connection with the history of his family.
Leaving there we bus-ed and walked to a beautiful lake "Elm Park" where 30 white swans, loads of geese, and several other types of birds were; a lake where John and his brothers sailed a large model yacht which was made for one of his uncles and restored by Martin some years ago.
The old garden shed in the photos is where John's dad used to have his 'barber's shop' on the left and the boys kept their bikes on the right. Also photos of two men painting a roof - looked more like they were doing penance! Looked like hard work doing it that way, and a red sunflower!
We're back in the room now chilling before dinner with his cousin, Heather. Early start tomorrow to get the Eurostar to Paris.
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