Looking back, looking forward

Well, it’s certainly been a weird year! But some things don’t change – it’s about now we look back at what we’ve done and think about what’s coming next. Let’s hope what’s coming next is more like a “normal” year!

Browsing through this year’s blog posts, I’m pleased that I’ve unravelled a little bit more of my on-going family mysteries, such as On the Trail of the Mystery School and Assaulted in the Line of Duty.

I was also delighted to make contact with the Booth family, to hear the incredible stories of the seven brothers who fought in WWI and to share their fantastic family photograph, in The Power of an Image.

Memorable moments

I discovered a particular gem in my gran’s postcard collection, in Politics on a Postcard, I learned about an amazing twist of fate, in Truth, Fiction and an Unbelievable Coincidence and reported on the untimely death of my great-great-grandmother in The Gruesome Truth.

And of course, back in the summer, I introduced the fourth Esme Quentin mystery, The Fear of Ravens, in Any Witches in Your Family History?

Looking ahead

So what’s next for 2021? Obviously, as with all family historians, there are always more mysteries yet to solve. In my case, the burning questions are:

• Is there any more to be found about the assault on Constable William Percival?

• Is there any truth in the allegation that my great-grandfather, Edward Colley, came from a family of “playboys”?

• What did my great-aunt Annie do in the “missing years” between qualifying as a nurse in Redhill in 1915 and returning to her home town of Shrewsbury in 1923?

• And will I ever get to the bottom of the mystery of the Indian Letters? (see my post Mystery Letters – coincidence or connection?)

We will have to wait and see!

So until then, it just leaves me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy healthy, New Year.

Take care, stay safe and I’ll see you again in 2021!

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