I knew that Dad had not had an easy childhood. He had been raised in a children’s home in the Lake District from the age of four. He had told us that his mother had died, and his father had disappeared. I asked Dad if he knew anything else about his family. He answered that he didn’t know much, just that they were gypsies. He also told us that he had twin sisters somewhere, but he didn’t remember their names. He didn’t want to look for his family saying, ‘They never bothered with me, so why should I bother with them?”

Despite this, he let me have his birth certificate. It wasn’t the original, it was a copy he had ordered when he needed one for his marriage to Mum. The certificate gave me the basics that I needed to start putting my family tree together. I had Dad’s name, birth date, home address and both his parents’ names, His birth was registered in November 1934 by George Alfred Davies, Dad’s father, who gave his address as 30 Bridge Lane, Lancaster and his occupation was ‘General Hawker’. His mother was named Emily Davies formerly Cunningham.

I wondered what had happened to Emily, for her to have died when Dad was so young. Why had George left? Where did he go? Who were the twin sisters and where were they? So many questions! I decided I would try and do a little research to see what I could find, but I’d keep it quiet so as not to upset Dad.

To be continued……

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