January 2024 - still celebrating the lovely recording by Jamie MacDougall of my "A Voice of Music" songs written way back, in 1963 - but now sadder news, this time taking me back to 1964 when I moved south from Glasgow and began working for Staffordshire County Council Music Department, where one of my colleagues was the brilliant pianist Leon Coates who has just died following a fall, up in Edinburgh, where he and his wife Heather have lived so much of their later lives (marrying in 1976), they moving in the opposite direction! Leon's photo and other information has already appeared on this site, now on the ( (Previous Photographs) ) page; but one more wee reflection, going right back to November 1952, when the fifteen-year-old Leon broadcast one of his own compositions from a BBC Birmingham studio!

December 14th - celebrating a splendid new recording by the acclaimed Scottish tenor Jamie MacDougall ( See Photo Gallery ) of "A Voice of Music"three short songs not heard for sixty years and now available here for all the world!

During June 1963 I was in my final year at the RSAMD (The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now known as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).and the three songs were part of an end-of-session concert of student compositions, on June 21st in the Stevenson Hall, in Glasgow.

Married a year later, teaching and bringing up a family, left no time for composing, up to when I retired, and it was only during the Covid Lockdown in 2020 that I came across the manuscript again, bringing back so many distant memories.

I was so grateful then to fellow student Roger Crook and pianist Anne Strachan for their first performance, and I'm very grateful now to Jamie MacDougall and Scott Mitchell for this second outing, recorded at the RCS by Bob Whitney, which I can now share with you here.

"A Voice of Music"

(The third song was translated from a Gilbert & Ellice Isles song by Arthur Grimble, then resident Commissioner there. It is quoted in his book Return to the Islands, a companion to his earlier A Pattern of Islands.)

Click above to see the CD booklet

To hear the music, just click the song titles.

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<< The Green River >>

I know a green grass path that leaves the field,
and like a running river winds along
into a leafy wood where is no throng of birds at noon-day
And no soft throats yield their music to the moon.
The place is sealed.
An unclaimed sovereignty of voiceless song.
And all the unravished silences
Belong to some sweet singer
Lost, or unrevealed.

So is my soul become a silent place;
O may I wake from this uneasy night,
to find a voice, a voice of music manifold.
Let it be shape of sorrow with wan face,
or Love that swoons on sleep, or else delight
That is as wide eyed as a marigold.

Lord Alfred Douglas 1870 - 1945

<< Il Penseroso Extract>>

Oft on a plat of rising ground,
I hear the far-off curfew sound,
Over some wide water'd shore
Swinging low with sullen roar.
Or, if the air will not permit,
Some still removed place will fit,
Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the cricket on the hearth,
Or the bellman's drowsy charm,
To bless the doors from nightly harm.

John Milton 1608 - 1674

<< Gilbert & Ellice Isles Song >>

Even in a little thing, (A leaf, a child's hand, a star's flicker)
I shall find a song worth singing,
If my eyes are wide, and sleep not.

Even in a laughable thing, (Oh hark! The children are laughing!)
There is that which fills the heart to over-flowing,
And makes dreams wistful.

Small is the life of a man (Not too sad, not too happy):
I shall find my songs in a man's small life.
Behold them soaring!

Very low on earth the frigate bird young are hatched,
Yet they soar as high, soar as high as does the sun.

Caledonia My Country is now ready!

Do please explore. Caledonia My Country is a new album, comprising our Songs of Scotland, originally written in 1998 and 1999 and now reproduced in memory of Patricia, who died almost two years ago now, at Hogmanay 2020, in the middle of Lockdown, when of course no memorial concert was possible. There is a new edition of the sheet music, Heart of Scotland and A New Twasome, and also a brilliant recording made at the end of November of Claire O'Reilly and Scott Mitchell at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, the recording engineer again Bob Whitney.

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The STRINGSTERS and A HORNIST'S TREASURE CHEST sites are still high up on our listing; plus of course the A RAPTURE SUITE tone poem for horn trio which has now been rescored for piano trio - details below.

And also hot off the press, the reverse procedure where an old arrangement of Gaetano Braga's lovely La Senerata (as a piano trio) has now been rescored for horn trio!

More information is included in the Hornist's Treasure Chest and on the Stringsters site; but for now, here is a digital recording of the La Senerata <<PLAY>>

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<<A HORNIST'S TREASURE CHEST>>>
-click to enter

- please do explore:

"A Voice of Music", "Wings", "Metropole", "Passing" and "Carousel"- 5 very moving duos for horn in F and pianoforte plus "Footsteps", a haunting trio for horn, pianoforte and violin or flute, with a special resonance at this difficult time of coronavirus lockdown.

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<<THE STRINGSTERS' TREASURE CHEST>>>
click to enter

A WEALTH OF TEACHING AND ENSEMBLE MATERIAL FOR EARLY YEARS STRING PUPILS

WITH HUNDREDS OF PAGES COVERING ALL ASPECTS OF THE INSTRUMENTAL TEACHING CURRICULUM

- AND ALL FREE TO DOWNLOAD!

- and also providing opportunities to join in classroom and assembly work with recorders, percussion and singers through pdfs and also via four dedicated web sites, complete with sound files.

please do explore:

"42 Moments of Music Making", "Viva Viola", "Images and Imagination", "Position Pack", "Sing and Play Along", "String & Percussion Hosanna!", "Celebration String Hosanna!", "Carolling Along", "Kerry's Junior Packs", "Island Trundle"- and not to mention for the more advanced string players my arrangement of Josef Ivanovici's delightful Donauwellen Waltz - and what better to cheer us on through this long pandemic lockdown:

<<play Donauwellen Waltz>>

- and going back to the start of the year: celebrating a new Horn Trio: A Rapture Suite -
"Kerry, the Horn Trio is amazing. Well done." (JW)

The horn trio A Rapture Suite was written in the summer of 2019; but it draws its name, and inspiration, from the Rapture Song Cycle for female voice and pianoforte published in 2016, which comprises settings of 20 of the 52 poems that make up Carol Ann Duffy’s award-winning collection Rapture, winner of the 2005 T.S. Elliot Prize - referred to immediately below this section.

Full details of the Rapture Suite horn trio, and the horn trio ensemble generally, can be found on the accompanying pages under the Horn Trio Link complete with sound clips, technical details and background notes, including some German translation, courtesy of Bärbel Herrmannspahn

A RAPTURE SUITE

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for Horn Trio

A Horn Trio, comprising French horn, violin and piano, is a most attractive ensemble; but strangely has a very small established repertoire. By far the most often performed is Brahms' opus 40 trio (for natural horn) written in 1865 and published the following year. Mozart wrote a horn quintet, K407, also in E flat, which also works well in Tony Rickard's trio adaption; but otherwise, "classical" works are hard to find. The Horn Trio link above has details of more recent composers, Ligeti, Lennox Berkeley, Elizabeth Lutyens and several more and it is great to be able to announce that there are plans afoot for a concert including the première of A Rapture Suite which will also feature horn trios by other British composers, all members of the Central Composers' Alliance which is celebrating its silver anniversary this year. It is highly appropriate that one of the other composers is Professor Andrew Downes, for many years head of composition at what is now Birmingham Conservatoire and himself a distinguished composer. Andrew joined Staffordshire Youth Orchestra as a young horn player back in 1965. As explained in the Preface to A Rapture Suite, it was written with our grandchildren in mind. Emily led the orchestra a few years back and James is still with the county.
More information on the première concert when it is finalised; but for brilliant news about the A Rapture Suite recording plans see the PHOTO GALLERY below.

for Piano Trio

- and now, a version for piano trio!

Interestingly, Brahms decidedly did not like using the 'cello in place of the horn in his horn trio; though apparently he thought it worked 'just fine' with viola. Hopefully when the horrors of Covid-19 are finally safely behind us both versions can be given an airing. In the meantime, we have the benefit of a Roland Sound Canvas, details under the Horn Trio Link

Our grandson is presently working on a lovely piece by Saint Saëns, his Romance in E for french horn, opus 67. Saint Saëns was definitely pleased to have this peformed by 'cello, and it still is today, both with piano and also orchestral accompaniment.

SETTINGS OF TWENTY OF THE POEMS FROM
CAROL ANN DUFFY'S RAPTURE COLLECTION

The RAPTURE song cycle, for female voice and piano, was recorded by Yvonne Howard and Scott Mitchell in Glasgow over three days at the beginning of September 2018. At 52 minutes it is a significant work, and with its personalised adaptation of Schoenberg's serial technique makes demands not just on the performers but on its audience too. But happily not too much so:

Kerry Milan has composed an exquisitely fitting tribute to the penmanship of one of Stafford’s most celebrated writers and in doing so he’s gained a new fan…. me! (Entertainment Views Website reviewer)

Three weeks later we had the work's première, this time with another dear pianist friend Dr Roy Wightman, in Stafford, a place with which Yvonne, Roy, myself and of course Carol Ann Duffy all have close connections. The afternoon was kindly hosted by Entrust Music Services, Staffordshire, FoSYM, the Friends of Staffordshire Young Musicians, of which Miss Howard is a patron and our own Ardross House. It proved a wonderful occasion, with the first half of the programme shared by two highly talented members of our younger generation, both from Staffordshire, Alice Dix soprano and Edward Robinson baritone, accompanied by Rachel Fright who is currently a Junior Fellow in Accompaniment at the Royal Northern College of Music, and who also impressed greatly. The second half was the first public performance of Rapture, and I think it is true to say that the audience was held spellbound. To close the concert, Alice and Edward joined Yvonne and Roy to perform an arrangement of my Metropole, which I had written twenty years earlier. (see video just below)

The concert was filmed by Alan Hames

CDs of the Glasgow recording are now available on the tutti.co.uk website, as also are downloads, in two parts, matching the two books of the printed music which are published under the Ardross House label, each with settings of ten of the poems.

These are all now available from the classical music site tutti.co.uk, - a brilliant site dedicated to classical music. It is also possible to obtain individual sheet-music downloads of each of the twenty settings and in addition the opening bars of each setting can be viewed, along with the matching sound file.

The book of Carol Ann Duffy's poems is published by Picador, and is readily obtainable from all good bookshops and on-line. Comprising fifty two poems the collection is a book-length love poem, and 'a moving act of personal testimony .... These are poems that will find deep rhymes in the experience of most readers and will, ultimately, prove that poetry can and should speak to us all.'

The poems have a feel that is both universal and contemporary, and the musical settings aim above all to reflect the author's own refusal to 'simplify the contradictions and transformations of love - infatuation, longing, passion, commitment, rancour, separation and grief.' The musical language, with its background of serial technique, hopefully succeeds in being both contemporary and at the same time reasonably accessible.

Further details on the choice of poems, and on the background to writing the song cycle, including the tone rows, can be found on the accompanying page:

RAPTURE BACKGROUND

and there are two further pages, celebrating the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland recording and the work's première three weeks later in Stafford:

GLASGOW RECORDING

STAFFORD PREMIERE

- following Yvonne Howard's superb performance at Opera Holland Park in Cilea's L'Arlesiana, I thought I ought finally put on to Youtube the video of Yvonne, with Alice Dix and Edward Robinson, singing the Metropole encore which followed the première of the Rapture Song Cycle, featured below, with Roy Wightman accompanying. The concert, sponsored by FOSYM, the Friends of Staffordshire Young Musicians, was recorded by Alan Hames. Sorry it has taken so long!

	View Metropole on YouTube - and just the sound track, for those of you whose tablets won't play the video! -<<audio>> and here is a link to a copy of the words <<Metropole text>>

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And more good news ..

The Central Composers' Alliance was planning to celebrate its 25th anniversary, marking the occasion with a concert by the splendid Leicestershire Chorale, conducted by Tom Williams, featuring choral works by seven CCA members including a movement from my own <<Completus>> work, the third movement setting of "Keep me as the apple of an eye" with "Lighten our Darkness" for a cappella double choir.

The concent was to have taken place on 28th March 2020 in the beautiful church of St Margaret in Leicester. Full details of any revised plans following the end of the coronavirus lockdown will be available on the <<Central Composers' Alliance>> own web site.

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And now, back to somewhat earlier music ....

All of the tracks from the Sonnets' CD "How do I love thee? ..." are now available for download. The CD was originally released to coincide with Opera North's "Festival of Britten" season, with which Yvonne Howard was then touring. The accompanist is again the brilliant Scott Mitchell.
<<Full details below>>

Also visit the Pippa Passes pages for details of how to quickly and safely buy its five tracks, again courtesy of the fine contemporary classical music site tutti.co.uk - details <<below>>

The splendid Ars Brunensis recording of "Completus" is also now available as track downloads - again, information <<below>>

Finally, the four tracks of the "Affinities" Violin and Piano sonata are likewise now available as downloads - the relevant links are again given <<below>>

In addition, we are delighted to announce that all four of the works featured in the 2013 Stafford Festival concert are now available to view in high definition on the vimeo channel:

The Sonnets song-cycle "How do I love thee?"
The String Quartet "Echoes"
The Song-cycle for mezzo and piano trio Pippa Passes
The Sonata for violin and piano Affinities

If you have only a few minutes just now, the final sonnet "How do I love thee?" is also on YouTube:Yvonne Howard & Roy Wightman

On CD and downloads

- recorded at the Royal Northern College of Music,
Manchester by Stephen Guy on July 20th 2013.

<<CD and Downloads at a click>>

“How do I love thee? ... ”

A new site has been set up to cover the Sonnets settings. As well as the story behind the Sonnets and a commentary to accompany the full text of the sixteen selected sonnets there are also details of the beautiful première peformance by Yvonne Howard and Roy Wightman at Stafford in May 2013.

In addition there is information about the new audio recording that Yvonne Howard has made with the distinguished Scottish pianist and accompanist Scott Mitchell. The sonnets were recorded on July 20th 2013 in the splendid acoustics of the Royal Northern College of Music concert hall. The CD and audio downloads are now available.. Please do visit this splendid new site

<<HOW DO I LOVE THEE? >>

VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL SITES (non-educational)
"Completus" is a substantial work for double SATB choir lasting over 35 minutes and comprising six movements, the texts for which are all drawn from or connected with the service of Compline. A performing edition of the whole piece is now available, together with a dedicated web-site where sample pages of each setting can be accessed. A beautiful recording by the Czech choir Ars Brunensis is also available - now including individual track downloads.
Of the six movements, three are set for double SATB chorus while the Nunc Dimittis (movement II) and movements IV and V are essentially SATB. The opening movement is "Qui Habitat" (psalm 91/XC). The third movement is a setting of "Keep me as the apple of an eye" with "Lighten our Darkness" with the last movement an eight part setting of O Radiant Light - which is an English translation of the Latin text used by John Taverner in the late 1520s for his votive antiphon O Splendor Gloriae. The third movement has also been scored optionally with trombone quartet (ATTB). << visit the COMPLETUS site >> - now with instant downloads available The work has been recorded by the breathtakingly beautiful Czech choir, Ars Brunensis, under their conductor Dan Kalousek. The church of John Huss, Brno, was a perfect setting for the recording made by Annegret Lange's Vienna company, with recording and sound engineers Frantisek Poul and Vaclav Frkal - full details on the COMPLETUS site. - April 2007 - I have just heard the pre-master disc - to quote Andrew Downes the choir is simply "superb"! June 2007: the recording is now available - visit the COMPLETUS site for details - "Wonderful music" - Guy Woolfenden OBE CD and vocal parts available now from tutti.co.uk for where individual track downloads are also now available
VIOLIN SONATA in A minor "Affinities" *for Violin and Piano* I Quasi a piacere II Andante piangevole ma espansiva III Scherzando IV Allegro (Rondo) This is a substantial work at some 28 minutes, and should be a welcome addition to today's repertoire. For both players the parts lie well, but the work is not without challenges, not the least of them rhythmical. It is a very satisfying and rewarding work - the whole work having been conceived as an emotional journey, from the violinist's first anguished cry to the last movement's idyllic happy ending. <<composer's note>> Eight sample score pages are now included in a pdf document. You may also be interested in the notes that accompany the printed score. Just click to follow the links: <<sample pages from the piano score>> *"I am thoroughly enjoying playing it .... the whole sonata is really elegant and happy and characteristic of the composer" !!* - a dear colleague who shall remain anonymous! Audio downloads available for purchase from tutti.co.uk - just follow the link! <<track one>> <<track two>> <<track three>> <<track four>> - violinist Jane Faulkner and pianist Timothy Ravenscroft. The recordings were made by the highly respected Michael Ponder in the splendid setting of All Saints, East Finchley. These are virtuoso performances.		"Pippa Passes - five songs of Asolo" - for Mezzo Soprano and Piano Trio *The words are by Robert Browning, from his poem Pippa Passes, first published in 1841.* The work was recorded in July 2011 by the brilliant mezzo-soprano Yvonne Howard and the English Piano Trio. "Your lovely settings of Robert Browning truly do justice to this beautiful poetry" A.D. Dedicated "Pippa" pages give details of the work and of the recording: <<pippa_passes>>

The scores and parts for both "Pippa Passes - five songs of Asolo" and also the Violin/Piano Sonata "Affinities" are available to purchase from tutti.co.uk - click the logo, left. The CD, with Yvonne Howard and the English Piano Trio, is also now available. PLUS: instant downloads are now available for all five Pippa tracks: full details on the Pippa Passes pages.
Duo for Alto Flute and Piano Kerry Milan First Performance: February 28th 2009 The Recital Room Ellen Terry Building Coventry University in a concert of works by members of the Central Composers' Alliance Alto Flute - Claire-Louise Appleby piano: Julian Hellaby The performance was recorded by Alan Hames and this haunting extract (the recapitulation section) captures the mood perfectly: <<play>>( mp3 version) Downloads of the parts are now available from tutti.co.uk.
	SCHERZO FOR WIND ENSEMBLE This work had its first performance as part of a Commuters Concert at Birmingham Conservatoire in November 2000. It was performed again, brilliantly, by the Windworks wind ensemble on November 19th 2006, also at the Conservatoire. The recording included here is an mp3 file: <<play>> There are also extracts of the score to view, if you are interested in following what is a very challenging piece, just to follow, never mind perform!: <<view>> *(The full score and parts are now available to download from the classical music site tutti.co.uk)*
	The "CAROLINE SINGS site" features "Footsteps", "Wings" and "Metropole" which Caroline Milan has performed and recorded - and not forgetting "Emily Rose"! A song to celebrate a second birthday, "Carousel" - "Happy Birthday, Aged Two, Is there room for me too, As you race of on each new adventure? ....."
And from even earlier, one of my earliest works, started when I was seventeen, and still at school, completed in 1961 when at college and almost completely forgotten about for sixty years! Welcome to the reborn piano sonata "Fossette". <<<piano sonata score pdf>>> <<< Play movement I>>> <<< Play movement II>>> <<< Play movement III>>> <<< Play movement IV>>> <<< Introduction / background>>> Movement timings: 11'16", 4'23", 3'32", 1'11"
CHILDREN'S CANTATAS
	<<GEORGE AND THE DRAGON>> is a cantata for two-part school or area choir, suitable for children of about 11 to 14 years old. Catchy tunes, with simple two-part writing, and easy piano and percussion parts mean that everybody can join in what is a fun work with a serious warning message to all bullies! Visit the site - see the scores and hear the music - Caroline Milan, singing all the vocal parts, really brings the story to life.
<<HELEN AHOY!>> is a cantata for two-part school or area choir, suitable for children of about 12 to 16 years old. Its five movements focus on the Gods, the Greeks, the Trojans, the Fall of Troy and finally Helen herself - " ... if she'd only said 'No thank you Paris..' " All great fun, and an education too!	a cantata for two-part choir - five movements telling the classic story of Helen of Troy. Visit the site - see the scores and hear the music - Caroline Milan, singing all the vocal parts, is in fine voice.
	10. "Music for a While" has been produced by ASC Records for the Central Composers' Alliance. The CD includes Caroline Milan and Julian Hellaby performing two of the pieces, Wings and Metropole, which are featured on the "Caroline Sings ..." site above. It is a most attractive collection, and the CD is available from all contributing members as well as from ASC Records. Further details from the CCA web site - see link below
OTHER SITES
Quite different site - DUCKS! - the story of the Mallard duck and 13 ducklings born in our back garden! - - the cycle repeats itself! August 2003 and a very late starter! August 12th 2003 - you can watch a duckling hatch! February 2004 and they are back on the pond. Too early yet to say; but is this going to be another hectic year for us! - update November 2004: no! plenty of activity but no, only smashed egg shells this year! quack here for ducks! May 2009: not ducks this time, but more drama in our bird scene - including five cygnets. February 25th 2016 - a pair of ducks make their first visit of the year to our pond. They certainly look just like the couple which have been regular visitors in the past, and they certainly know to come to chess board to ask to be fed! April 4th 2019 (right) - first visit of the year that we have seen, the single duck being rather outnumbered! March 22nd 2021 - first time this year that I have seen them, just the one pair who have returned a number of times since. April 2021 and a rather odd sight, bottom right. There have been several visits by this group of five, but they seem to have had a falling out (which was quite noisy!), with one of the four drakes now having to keep his distance. March 30th 2022 - first time this year, again just the one pair! February 22nd 2023 - first time seen this year, and again today the 23rd, the same pair?? - March 6th 2024 - first time seen this year - just the drake seen! <birds a-tweet>
<<FAMILY TREE - click for details >> - revised Bowker outline (Nov. 2017) ... two fascinating Outlines taking the family back to the Conquest, through the Brus/Bruce and Mowbray families - see too <<Mowbray Outline with links>> ... April 2014, a look at the LYNAM family in Cornwall during the 16th and 17th centuries - and a look even further back with a 1066 to the Restoration Outline! In Lincolnshire, the DYON / DYAN Outline *(revised August 2016)* is equally fascinating, going right back to the 15th century - and we know quite a lot about this family, not least because so many of the family became priests! For example - Dom. Alan DYAN' will in 1488 includes the lines "my body to be buried in the church of Saint Clement Grainsthorpe. Also I bequeath one cow in the name of my mortuary." May 2014 - a revised Outline for some of the JEFFERY / JEFFREY families in the Horncastle area of Lincolnshire -Winceby, Hameringham, Hagworthingham, Mareham on the Hill, Hemingby, Kirkby on Bain etc, going back to the 1500s, and with the related family names of CLARKE, MALTBY(E), SILVESTER, LEADLEY, BARRIT, BROWNE and PAGE. <<JEFFEREY earliest days>> December 2012, a look at the DEOR / DEWAR world around Aberfeldy at the period of the Jacobite rebellions in 1715 and 1745. But what a lot of people sharing very few names! December 2011 - a new Outline for some of the ELLIS families in Nidderdale, starting with Richard ELLIS who married in 1704. October 2011 - a new Outline of the Constable / Billing / Hawkin / Rundell Quaker connections in Cornwall - including Blanche Constable's crossing to Pennsylvania in 1682. Summer update, looking into the MILNE family of 18th century Angus, in the Scottish Highlands. June 2011: a huge project looking at the MITCHELL families of North Cornwall, especially around Port Isaac, Port Gaverne etc. in four outlines! One Two Three Four. January 2011: WADGE / TREVITHICK Outline - made possible because of Susanna BILLING's remarkable will of 1764 January 2019, sees the BILLING alias TRELAWDER outline update. This is a fascinating line, going back to the 1400s and earlier, according to Sir John Maclean's 1870s account. The CONSTABLE to BILLING outline goes right back to Henry Constable's marriage to Joane GOODING at St Sampson or Golant in 1568! This presents a fascinating picture of a family over two hundred years from the time of Henry VIII, with many Quaker families and early links with Pennsylvania. new update at August 2010: a fascinating picture of the TYRWHITT family in Arksey, Yorkshire, over five generations from the 1530s - with a further look too at the BOWKER / BOOKER family in Tickhill Outlines now include the Werry / Little, Callaway, Couch and Frod / Frad families in north Cornwall and from Cumberland, yet more revisions to the Calvert / Walker and Ferguson / Hodgson lines. James Calvert married Eleanor Hope at Kirklinton in 1809 and we have done a lot of research in trying to place him - latest revision April 2017 New at October 2009 - if you are a MILAN are you part of the extended family descended from JOHN MILNE, born in Edzell, Angus in 1787? <MILAN LINK> November 2009 - an article of the BROCK families of the Isle of Axholme from 1547 <<AXHOLME LINK>> January 2010: link to the HARROP family connection.	Apart from music and ducks, and our love of crosswords (we are Azed fanatics) researching our family background has become another favourite pastime. Although we have a large web of several thousand pages we are not currently thinking to put it on-line. But there are one or two mysteries which someone perhaps may be able to to help us resolve, and by the same token we may have information of interest to others, so bits of trees may appear here from time to time. Our first mystery concerns Lancelot Hodgson who married Eleanor Ferguson on December 6th 1876 at Kirklinton in Cumberland. Lancelot was born at Upperby near Carlisle in 1855 to a single mother, Jane Walker, and until a few years before his marriage he was called Lancelot Walker. On his marriage certificate he says his father was called John Walker (a farm servant), so why, sometime after 1871, did he adopt the name Hodgson? New at October 2011: In a reversal on circumstances, we have just come across a 2007 GenesReunited request from Linda concerning her ancestor Ernest Richard Maudson EARNSHAW. Not being a member of GenesReunited we have not been able to trace Linda; but if she is still interested in her ancestors could she please get in touch. We have much of great interest for her. contact: ardrosshouse@btinternet.com June 2013 An article is attached about The SILVESTER FAMILIES OF NORTH CHESHIRE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. For anyone researching the SILVESTER families of Cheshire and Lincolnshire this may provide interesting material! April 2014 - more from Cornwall, with its wealth of wills providing fascinating and sometimes humourous reading! Welcome the LYNAMs. September 2014 An article is attached on the variableness of spellings for family names: <<MILL - MILNE - MILAN: the variableness of Angus name spellings>> February 2015: a huge step back, as we add the Brus and Mowbray family outlines. These take us back to the Conquest, and even before. The Mowbrays came from the French village of Montbrai in Normandy, the Bruys from Brix, a little further north, on the Cotentin penisula. Both families settled in North Yorkshire. It was the Brus family who founded Guisborough Priory in 1119. Perhaps the family is better known, however, for Robert the Bruce, 1274 - 1329, who became one of Scotland's most famous kings. January 2020 - something a little different:MUSIC IN THE FAMILY - a fascinating look at how just occasionally these usually very different interests overlap.