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About a year ago I saw something of the desert in the south of Egypt. Wendy and I were in one of several groups on the carefully prepared tourist trail to the 3000-year-old temples that still stand near the shores of Lake Nasser. It provided me with a background for my attempts to picture Jesus in the wilderness before He started His Ministry. Blue sky, hot sun over a landscape of undulating sand and rocks. No water in Jesus’ time – the lake was only formed very recently after the Aswan Dam was built. Nothing else – and that’s the point. This is a place where one can only look at part of God’s creation and think about one’s relationship to Him and His world. There are no distractions. No doubt that’s why Jesus went into the desert to pray and meditate and pray and plan.

Lent is the season in which the Church encourages us to detach from the distractions of the routine of our lives and pray and meditate and pray and plan. With God’s help we can see ourselves all too clearly and identify those aspects of our instincts, character and habits which are not consistent with Jesus’ teaching. It is all too easy, I should probably say very tempting, to ignore or disguise those defects and convince ourselves that we are already good disciples who have no need to change and improve. The devil is on hand to help us make that mistake. Our best defence is to learn from the debate
between Jesus and the devil all those years ago to help us recognise the
updated versions of the temptations Jesus resisted.

The devil suggested Jesus should make bread for Himself when He was hungry. It wasn’t bread-making in itself that would have been wrong – it could have been Jesus putting His own needs and perhaps even His wants before the work He had come to the desert to complete. How often do we take a decision based on the principle of ‘what’s in it for me?’ rather than responding positively to the Gospel?

The devil asked Jesus to take supreme worldly power by foul means presented attractively and simply but actually by replacing God by the devil. How often do we take a decision based on the principle that ‘the end justifies the means’ – usually because we are over- confident that we know what’s best – and can make it happen on our own ?

The devil wanted Jesus to make a grand gesture that would prove His Divinity and force people to accept and preferably love Him. How often do we take a decision with the intention of improving our ‘street cred’, our
reputation and our influence over others – again usually because we are overconfident, and probably mistaken in our belief, that we will be helping to build Christ’s Kingdom here on earth.

Lord, this Lent, help us to identify the 2010 versions of the Temptations that Jesus faced – and like Him, with Your help, resist and reject them. Amen.

Roger

You may have noticed that the same prayer has been at the top of the notice sheet for the last few weeks. This is the prayer written for a new initiative from the Bishop of Chester called “Growth action planning.” The Bishop wants to encourage all parishes in the Diocese to ask some very important questions: What should our parish be like five years from now? What are two or three important priorities that we should
focus upon to achieve this? We have to send back to the Bishop a short form indicating the conclusions that we have come to. In consultation with members of the ministry team and the PCC I have drawn out three main areas for growth in our parish:

1. Numerical Growth
Wilmslow is growing and changing. As a parish we have to respond to this. We cannot stand still. There are new housing estates at Summerfields and the Villas. We need to make connections with those people. With the loss of St Francis Hall, the church presence in Lacey Green has become less prominent. To try to address this we have begun and would like to develop Messy Church up in Lacey Green Primary school. This has brought us into contact with a significant number of new individuals and families. We have leafleted nearly 500 households in particular parts of Wilmslow, including Morley Green, the Villas and Styal, as a way of trying to make sure that people know that we are here and what we are like. The parish website is being developed as an important shop window for people moving into the parish. Indeed, one woman came to a service at St Anne’s last Sunday having moved into the area recently and because she looked at the website. These are ways of trying to get new people into church. We are exploring others as well.

2. Growth in Discipleship
Christians need to grow. Faith is a journey. Like the Church, faith grows and changes in response to situations and events in our lives and in our community. If we are to be effective witnesses in our community we should be learning and growing in our faith. If people come into church we have to provide ways in which they can explore and grow in Christian faith. That’s why we’re running God for grown ups, confirmation classes and other discipleship courses. We are looking to set up home groups to help encourage and nurture Christian discipleship.

3. Growing Together
St Anne’s and St Bart’s are part of one parish with Anchor Court and Messy Church. Jesus’ last command to his disciples in John’s Gospel is that we should love one another. Being a united parish is a way to demonstrate to the wider world that being a Christian actually makes a difference to the quality of our relationships. It is the quality of the network of our relationships that is one of the most effective ways in which we draw others into the life of the church. People want to belong. Social events like the wine-tasting have helped to make this real – people of different ages and backgrounds from the two churches coming together and enjoying time together and getting to know one another.

But part of this growth action planning is specific to St Bart’s. Just over a year ago, of course, we opened the new extension. We have already begun to use that for meetings and for Sunday School. But we need further both to repair and develop these premises so that they cater for the growth that we are experiencing – e.g. the Story
Service and Phoenix are growing – and also to encourage further growth and development in its different forms. To this end the PCC agreed that we should set up a new project team to look at the development of the interior of the church. This group was deliberately set up with a variety of people involved representing different age groups and points of view.

The aim was to unite around a vision that we could all agree on. Inevitably this vision has been shaped by a number of things. There are things that we’ve all had to compromise on in order to find a common vision. There are constraints imposed by the Church authorities on what we can do. For example, it is clear that the Church planners, the DAC, will not allow us to re-locate the chancel screen to the back of church as many had wished – at least not at the moment. Within these parameters, the project team has united behind a way forward that I would like to summarise under three main headings as follows:

1. Interior Improvements
The wooden joists that hold up the wooden part of the floor where the pews are situated are rotting. This part of the floor is slowly sinking. This has got to be fixed. There is simply no choice in the matter. Before we know what is the best method for fixing the problem the archaeologists will have to do a survey to find out what’s underneath the floor. Once they’ve done that we will have an idea of the options available to us in terms of a new or repaired floor, and what kind of covering we might put on that floor.

The sound system in St Bart’s can be very frustrating both for the people leading worship and the people trying to take part in worship. We need to
replace or radically improve it.

The lighting also needs to be improved so that we can show this beautiful building off to the best of its potential.

Within this scheme of interior improvements would also be the right time to consider whether continuing the process of cleaning the inside of the church is the right thing to do or not.

2. Flexibility
In all of its thinking, the project team was conscious of the balance in a building like St Bart’s between it being a heritage space, a worship space and a community space. Whilst respecting the importance of this building as a heritage space, the need for greater flexibility was an important consideration. Why greater flexibility? Because at present the organ cannot be used as a recital or teaching instrument. Because the 9.30am Story Service is growing rapidly, yet is cramped at the back of church on old chairs. Because the present arrangement does not easily accommodate people using wheelchairs.

So, how to create greater flexibility without undermining the importance of this church as a heritage space and also maintaining the seating capacity of the church? It seemed to us that the right thing to do was not simply to take out all the pews and replace them with chairs. This doesn’t necessarily create greater flexibility, and someone has to do the work of moving them all around!

Further, replacing all the pews with chairs would significantly reduce the capacity of the church and prevent us from holding some of our larger
services. The solution being proposed by the project team is simply to remove the front section of four pews on each side and to replace them with 40-50 high quality chairs. This would allow flexibility whilst leaving the majority of the pews in place. This would also not significantly reduce the capacity of the church.

It would allow the organ console to be detached and placed on the other side of the church (by the entrance to the Styal Chapel), and the organ itself developed so that we could have organ recitals and tuition taking place here. The piano could also be more easily positioned for concerts, recitals and other community events. Visiting choirs and small orchestras could be much more easily accommodated. Individual chairs are easy to remove or move around so that somebody in a wheelchair can sit within the body of the congregation. The Story Service would also be much more comfortably accommodated within the building and would be able further to grow.

There was, many years ago, a mezzanine floor at the back of church. In consultation with the bell ringers, we would like to re-introduce this so that the ringers can go physically up a level and we can have a trolley or two of folding chairs that can be stored in the bell-tower and brought out for use at our larger services.

3. Fellowship
There are many ways in which the
family of the church can celebrate its most important meal together – Holy Communion. At the moment we have what we might call a pilgrimage
pattern. The priest at the altar is significantly separated from the rest of the congregation by distance and by the chancel screen. People come up quite a long way to two separate altars as if on a pilgrimage or journey towards God. There is nothing wrong with that at all. That is perfectly good and valid. But there are other ways of celebrating Holy Communion which also emphasize important things about what we believe as Christians and that help us to stay
connected to Jesus’ celebration of the Last Supper with His friends.

As Christians we believe not only in a transcendent God, a God beyond us, but also an immanent God, a God who is close to us, in our midst. That is the very point of the festivals of Christmas and Easter – God comes among us and on the cross breaks down the barriers that separate us from Him. That is the very point of the service of Holy Communion – to celebrate this belief. Our building and our worship need to express this. Ponder this for a moment.

When Jesus celebrated the Last supper with His friends He did it not separated from them by a big screen and by a long distance – effectively in another room – as far as we can tell He was in the same room with His friends gathered around Him – around one table. The final command that He gave to them was that they should love one another as He had loved them.

In other words, our relationship with God is inseparable from our relationship with each other as members of the family of the Church. Christian faith is never simply the flight of the alone to the alone. As I mentioned before, it is the network of our relationships that is one of the most effective ways in which we draw others into the life of the Church.

The project team would like to suggest a way of us all celebrating Holy Communion around one table in one room. That is by introducing a nave altar platform – not like the temporary staging – but a genuinely integrated piece of liturgical furniture.

There would be a new removable altar and removable altar rails. You would be able to see me, or whoever is presiding at the service, much more easily. You would be able to see the bread broken and the wine poured out in front of you as Jesus did with His friends at the last supper. God and human beings are brought together, reconciled, as the festivals of Christmas and Easter proclaim.

What the project team is proposing is that the 8am and 6.30pm services
remain exactly as they are, using the chancel and the high altar. But the 10.30am parish Communion would use the nave altar, except on the fifth
Sunday of the month, when we would use the high altar, and we would
continue to use the high altar for
Midnight Mass at Christmas and for a Communion service perhaps on the
Saturday evening at Easter.

Remembrance Sunday would continue to use the chancel and high altar as usual (although this isn’t a Communion service). So, it isn’t that the high altar would become redundant; it is about moving to a more mixed economy of using a nave altar and a high altar on different occasions and for different services. Such a platform could also be extended to help accommodate visiting choirs and other groups for greater community use of our premises.

One other very important aspect of all of this that I want to emphasise is that apart from the flooring, everything that the project team is suggesting is reversible. If, in 20 years, the next generation thinks that this was all wrong, pews can be replaced and the nave altar platform removed.

On a personal note, I appreciate that change can be unsettling. It can sometimes feel like a lot is changing. We all like what we are familiar with. But Christian faith has to strike a balance between honouring and handing on what is good from the past, whilst also having the courage to adapt and change so that we can respond effectively to the needs and challenges of the present and journey onwards into the future.

So far, this proposal has been discussed and approved by the ministry team, the management team, and by the PCC. At the last PCC meeting it was agreed unanimously with one abstention.

From here, the way forward would be to consult particular groups such as the bell ringers and the choir, and then to begin to involve the Church’s planners, the DAC, and to employ a conservation-trained architect to design and manage the project.

If you have any thoughts, comments or questions about any of the above material, please do not hesitate to contact me or any member of the project team by Easter at the latest.

Paul

Over the next few months in our churches, we will be offering people the opportunity of belonging to a ‘Home Group’. These groups will consist of a small number of people (anything from 4-8) that will meet approximately every month or 6 weeks and will do a variety of things.

A group might choose to do Bible study, learn more about prayer and pray together, watch films and talk about how they relate to our faith, work through a study book on a particular subject or look at subjects which are relevant and contemporary to us in faith as well as in society. One group in our last parish photographed and studied the stained glass windows in the church. At most groups, enjoying some social time together is also important and so some simple hospitality always happens – tea and cake, soup and bread, wine and cheese or a simple meal.

Home Groups provide a way of ‘being church’ but in a smaller and more
intimate setting. It gives us all an
opportunity to get to know one another in a different way and often at a deeper level. There isn’t always time to do this after church. The dynamic and life of home groups can also help feed and nurture the life of our congregations as a whole. It can also be a great way of helping people when they are new in church and community to get to know others who are more established.

Healthy home groups are ultimately self-led, but help and resources would be available from the beginning in order for them to function in this way. Healthy home groups also grow and change, and, at times, invite others on the edge of the church and community to come and be part of their life. They are also not just about being with your friends but about celebrating the diversity of who we are as Christian people.

Some of our parishioners have had
experience of the Cursillo movement and we are hoping that some of the ethos of this, in simplified form, can be incorporated into the thinking behind the groups. I am aware that both churches have had such groups before, but at present there is only one operating at St Anne’s and this is a fairly new group. So it feels the right time to begin these once more.

If you are interested in belonging to a Home Group, please contact me. It would also help if you could let me know the kinds of things you might be interested in looking at.

Magdalen

On 14th December 2009 Class 5 ran the school. Mr W. was the Headteacher and Ms N. was the Deputy Headteacher. Class 5 created the curriculum for the day and at the end they held a school assembly to show the superb work the school produced.

The subject of the day for the whole school was ‘The Nativity Story’.

Class 1 did the stable story and made shaped cookies. They also made nativity scenes from collage.

Class 2 told the story of the shepherds and in English wrote postcards from the shepherds in Bethlehem to the others who were left behind.

Class 3 did the story of Mary and Joseph from the Donkey’s point of view.

In Class 4, they took the role of the Wise Men. In maths, they tried a problem activity trying to reach the star of Bethlehem. They also made water coloured wise men.

On that day, we held a Hymn Practice in the morning where Mr P. came in to play his excellent violin. In the afternoon, we put on an assembly as we said, and each class made a poster representing what they did in the day. It was almost like a Friday Good News assembly! They clapped the people who created the fun activities for them.

The children who didn’t yet have a job had the role of helping Mrs C. to answer the phone and many more jobs. They had half-an-hour shifts as many people wished to be given the job.

It all started with a literacy lesson where Class 5 were learning persuasive letter writing and, as a task, they had to write to Ms D. to see if we could run the school for a day. We completed the task in groups and she thought they were all so good we all deserved to run the school.

Thanks to Ms D. we all had a great day and hope we have more days like this!

Daniel & Misha

What a lovely snowy start to 2010. I’m sure lots of our Young Church members had a great time sledging and building snowmen.
Anne

Sunday 24th January saw the next session of Messy Church held at Lacey Green School. The theme was “Bible Seasides”. We had lots of water which can get very messy so I’m sure we’ll have lots of
interesting pictures!

On Sunday 31st January in St. Anne’s Hall some of our Young Church members took part in a production of the pantomime ‘Dick Whittington’.

‘Thank you’ to all the 9.30 families who helped us make 200 Christingles. What a great effort and the church was packed to capacity for the service. Jackie

Beginning on Sunday 7th March the Parish Electoral Roll will be displayed in
both churches for checking. There are many people whose names are in our Parish Directory but not on its Electoral Roll, and others who attend regularly but whose names are not on either list.

I hope the following questions and answers may help those who may not understand the Parish Electoral Roll.

What is the Parish Electoral Roll?
A list of the people and their contact details who regularly attend
St Bartholomew’s & St. Anne’s Churches and have applied to be on the Roll.

Why should my name be on it?
The Chester Diocese needs to know how many people support our churches. This number determines how many representatives the Parish has on Deanery Synod and contributes to determination of the number of representatives the Deanery has on Diocesan Synod.

The clergy (particularly the new ones!) use the information to get to know their parishioners and where they live. The Roll also enables the Neighbourhood Network Group to keep contact with parishioners.

If you are NOT on it you are not eligible to vote at the Annual General Meeting or to hold any office in the work of the church, except for being a Churchwarden.

Being on the Roll is evidence that you (and usually your children) may be married in one of the Parish’s Churches even if you do not live in the Parish.

How much does it cost? Nothing !

How do I know if my name is on it? Look at the lists when they are displayed in the churches in March each year.

How do I join? You may join the Roll after you have attended worship in one (or both) of the Parish’s churches regularly for at least 6 months. You should then fill in a pink application form (available at the back of either church) and hand it to a
Warden.

How long does my name stay on the Roll? The Roll is updated once a year and is completely replaced every 6 years.

Ann, Electoral Roll Officer

1. How do you spend most of your time?

Going for Dialysis takes up most of those three days. This time of the year is spent on household duties, reading and watching the TV. I look forward to warmer days when I can get out into the garden, go for gentle walks and visit places and
exhibitions of interest.

2. What’s good about coming to church?

Firstly it gives me a place and time to praise and thank God for all the good things He has given me, such as bringing me back to good health after some potentially fatal upsets, a loving wife and family and a contented life. The other good thing is meeting friends in church where there is a loving and caring family of like worshippers.

3. What frustrates you about the world?

People who cannot find something good in others

4. How do you understand God working in your life?

I believe that God achieves his Will and performs his ‘miracles’ through the use of people, which means we should be listening to Him, but as I am more of a Martha than a Mary I guess I am not tuned in enough.

5. How do you find peace?

By quiet contemplation and prayer. This is more likely achieved when alone digging a garden bed.

6. How would you like to see the church in 5 years’ time?

I would like the church to build upon the recent growth in attracting the younger people, and by that I mean the parents as well as the children and youth, without neglecting the more elderly. I felt uplifted by the presentation given recently by the Rector setting out the proposals of the Project Team, as I felt it to be the most positive step taken following the years of study and discussion.

7. What do you like about living in Wilmslow?

Wilmslow has a pleasant atmosphere attracting genial like-minded people. I claim to have three homes, one where I eat and sleep, the church and the Wilmslow Guild for Further Education, in each of which I can relax and find good friends. We are
situated within easy travel distance of good countryside and places of interest.

8. If you had a fire what 3 things would you rescue?

One thing that does stand out that I would like to save is ‘Albert the Vulture’. The lady artist carved this with a chainsaw out of two large pieces of tree trunk. I would not get it out on my own so I have assumed that two firemen will save it for me. I would bring out myself three watercolour etchings of kestrels and eagle owl.

9.Briefly describe 3 interests that you have

In no particular order, my interests are gardening, the drama group and reading historical biographies. Gardening is fairly straightforward. The drama group provides another group of friends and the intellectual challenge in working out how to present a play. On the last mentioned interest, during my work I watched local politicians arguing their proposals for change, so I like to compare national and local leaders and politicians with those of the past.

10 What is your favourite Bible passage?

I do not have a favourite passage as such but 1 Corinthians C12 V4 – 11 on the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit for the common good had a big impact when I first studied it. It reveals that each of us has something to offer (see question 4).

Geoffrey

Journeying features numerous times in the both the New and Old Testaments of the Bible. While they are undertaken for a variety of reasons, we read that they are ultimately directed by God and for a divine purpose.

Jacob was the younger of the twin sons born of Isaac and Rebekah. He was his mother’s favourite. Isaac was about to pronounce his blessing upon Esau, his older son, through deception Jacob impersonated Esau and received his father’s blessing. Esau hated his brother for the deception and resolved to slay him. Rebekah learning of Esau’s resolve, urged Jacob to flee to her brother, Laban, in Haran.

When Jacob begun his journey to Haran it is calculated that he was only seventeen years old. He stopped in Luz the first night where he was given a vision of the ladder and the ascending and descending angels. There, God confirmed the promise given to his fathers and promised him protection on his journey and a safe return home. In recognition of this divine presence Jacob called the place Bethel.

After a month in Haran, Laban asked what Jacob required for his services. Jacob asked for Laban’s daughter
Rachel on the conditions of seven years of services. At the end of this time, which seemed to Jacob ‘but a few days for the love he had for her’, Laban availed himself of the customs of the country to substitute the elder daughter, Leah. Jacob had to work another seven years before he got his beloved Rachel.

At the end of fourteen years, Laban induced Jacob to remain for another six. As Jacob increased his own wealth
during this time, Laban was not happy, so a separation was deemed advisable and so Jacob departed with his family and property to return to Canaan. When Laban discovered this, he started to follow Jacob but God warned him not to interfere with the latter’s return.

Jacob sent messengers with a friendly greeting to Esau, but they returned with word that Esau was on the way to meet him with four hundred men. This caused much alarm, Jacob divided his people and flocks and herds into two companies, and so if one was attacked the other might escape. Jacob also prepared a present from his vast fortune for Esau, hoping it might pacify his brother.

There was a night that Jacob spent in prayer in which the angel of the Lord wrestled with him. It was following this encounter that, through his faith, his name was changed from Jacob to Israel, ‘wrestler of God’.

This story of Jacob’s journey can also be seen as an illustration for the way our lives, our journeys, develop. From times when we have to be patient to the times we wrestle with our faith, unable to see God’s purpose for us.
As we approach Lent and the journey with Jesus through to the cross, let us take the time to look at our lives and identify those times when we found ourselves wrestling with God.

Sally

On Friday March 5th, there will be a United Service in St Theresa’s Church, Wilmslow, at 11.00am, to which all are invited; men, women and young people. The service this year has been prepared by the Christian Women of Cameroon, in Africa. Their chosen theme is: ‘Let everything that has Breath, Praise God.’

This should be a vibrant service of joy and celebration, and we do hope that members of our congregation, both from St Bartholomew’s Church and
St. Anne’s will be able to be present.

For those not familiar with this service, it really is quite special. Representatives from nearly all the churches in Wilmslow, work together to present the services each year, and a different church acts as the, ‘Host’ church. This year it is at Saint Theresa’s church, but next year, the Host church will be us!!

This is a global, ecumenical movement of prayer and action, led by Christian women, who call people together on the first Friday in March, each year, to
observe a day of prayer.

The service is written by a different country each year, and that country becomes the focus of the world’s prayers, on the day itself. The day
begins as dawn breaks over the islands of Tonga in the Pacific and continues across each continent, until the last services of this special day, are held in the Pacific again, on the islands of Samoa, circling the world in prayer for 36 hours.

If you have not been to one of these services before, we do hope you will perhaps bear Friday, March 5th in mind, because we would love to welcome you to this very special act of worship.

Janet & Barbara
(Parish representatives)

Williamsons all over the World – Part two of an ever expanding Williamson saga.

Since the first article on the Williamsons last year, my in-tray has been a bit busy. Apparently, there are more people interested in the Williamsons than we thought. So here is the next instalment of the Williamsons.

This part started about 2 years ago now, when I received an email from New South Wales Australia, referring to one of the people mentioned on the
Williamson’s stone last year. The lady in question Beverley, was researching her husband’s family history and had come across an entry in an online database the project had created.

So, after a few exchanges, we
established the following history:
Michael Rodney was born in 1949 in Macclesfield and had emigrated with his parents, Raymond Conway Williamson and Sheila Grantham, to Australia, when he was 17 months old. The two had married in Bollin Fee in 1948. Ray was going to spend his life living in Australia and Hong Kong before returning to Britain in 1980, where he lived with his wife for a while in Eglwysbach, North Wales.

He died in June 1982 in Wilmslow, during a visit to his relatives. His ashes are buried in the family grave in St Bart’s, with his father, William, and his half brothers and sisters, discussed last year. Sheila returned to Australia in 1983 to be with her son and his family.

Ray Williamson had two full sisters, Frances (1915-1992), who married Richard and lived in Macclesfield, and Enid Margaret (1922-1998), who married Charles Robert, and lived in Lacey Green, Wilmslow.

Frances had a son, Edward, who now lives in Australia and Enid had two sons, Stuart and Robin, and two daughters, Jennifer and Christine, one of whom lives in Derbyshire, while the other is (amongst her many other hats) one of the bellringers in St. Bart’s.

Frances, Raymond and Enid’s father (another generation back) in Fulshaw was William Williamson, (1857-1926), a councillor (of what?) also known apparently as ‘Willy the Whip’ (and I would dearly love to know where this name comes from). He was married twice: his second wife (and mother of Frances, Enid and Ray) is Frances Elizabeth Conway (1883-1953), twenty-five years his junior, whom he married on July 22, 1914 in St. Bart’s Wilmslow; the marriage certificate names James and Annie as witnesses. The Conways were originally from Thorne in Yorkshire, but by 1901 had come to Wilmslow and lived in Bollin Walk.

William Williamson, a joiner, was, at the same time, living in Ladyfield Street, with his first wife, Sarah Slater, and their ten living children, ranging in age from 20 years (George) to the one month old baby (Albert).
Ten years later, in 1911, the family were still in Ladyfield Street (apparently a house with 6 rooms), but now only 7 children were still at home, the youngest being 11 years old (Walter).

A year later, Sarah Slater, William’s first wife, was dead. He must have
originally met her when she was living with her uncle, George Slater, in
Alcock Green (now part of Fulshaw). George was then William’s neighbour. They married on 26 March 1877. Both Sarah and William are buried with their children in the grave discussed in the first article.

Frances Elizabeth Conway died in 1953 in the city of Chester two years after Ray left for Australia, but does not appear to be buried in St. Bart’s.

In addition, I know that there are other descendants of William Williamson in Wilmslow, one of whom I briefly met, while I was in hospital in Macclesfield last year, while another branch of the family appears to live in Canada and Derbyshire (and I am not quite sure, how they fit in yet). With a total of 15 children, this is hardly surprising and William himself, the son of yet another William Williamson & Ann, came from a family of ten children. So, it seems, there is still more to come on the Williamsons.

If you have any information you want to share (or I have misunderstood something, which is quite possible), please let me know.

Birgitta