Alda Lewis (nee Weldon)

Alda Weldon born abt. September 1916 (birth record is for December period, 1916 in Prescot, Lancashire). Married Robert Lewis in 1938 at Prescot, Lancashire.

I can recall visiting them in Prescot as I grew up living "down the road" in Whiston, usually visiting on a Saturday afternoon, memories of cups of tea and battenburg cake with the sound of laughter and the football results in the background.

They had two daughters, Margaret (born 1938) and Ann (born 1943) and the pair carried on the Lewis sense of humour even after Bob's death (October, 1993), Ann, recounts that she and her sister, Margaret, were waiting in the funeral home when the funeral director left them alone for a short while. They heard knocking and thought it was Bob trying to get a message through. They were creased with laughter as the knocking and tapping continued, when the funeral director got back, she apologised for the noise as they were having some maintenance done.

Bobs family was buried in St.Helens Cemetary and Bob had wanted a cremation instead of a burial. After the funeral, there had been some discussion about where his ashes would be scattered and Margaret and Ann thought it would be nice if his ashes were brought back to Prescot (only a few miles from St.Helens). Alda was unaware that they were making these plans and when she found out she thought they were bringing them back to the house! , Ann jokingly said that she could put them around her roses, in the end Alda wanted them scattered in St.Helens so the ashes were returned.

Alda died in July 1999 after a brief illness, Ann, recounts that her mum wasn't feeling too well and had turned yellow (jaundiced) so they took her to hospital, she was in no pain but within nine days she died.

Ann had visited Alda just before she died, she said that her mum was "like a marigold" with the jaundice but in no pain. Alda had said that it was probably something she'd eaten and that "it'll pass through", when Ann got home there was a phone call asking her to come back to the Hospital. She knew as soon as she saw the nurse that something was wrong.

Alda was diagnosed post-mortem with Cancer of the Pancreas.

Robert Lewis

Robert Lewis was born December 8th, 1913 in Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

The town of Sydney Mines grew up around the rich coal fields of Sydney Harbor and one pit, Princess Colliery, operated continuously for 100 years, from 1875 to 1975. In that time, Princess produced 30 million tonnes of coal.

The first mining took place in 1766 along the exposed seams of the harbour cliffs. When the General Mining Association took over Cape Breton coal mining in 1827, the area was simply known as "The Mines."

By the turn of the century, Sydney Mines was one of the top coal producing communities in North America. Workers came from Italy, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Austria, England, Scotland and Wales to work in the mines.

Many of the workmen imported by the General Mining Association were English or Scottish. I visited the town and found that the Lewis's are listed as English in the 1917 Sydney mines census for ward 3. The census lists them living at "new houses" and this would have been Guy Street and Cottage Street. They called these new homes miners cottages and this is how Cottage Street got its name.

They lived right on the Atlantic coast, breathtaking views of the sea contrasted with the darkness of a mining community. I stood there on streets that perhaps Bob played on, the Atlantic breeze in my face and I imagined that it was a hard life for the families who existed there, often owing all to "the company store" and for those that arrived in the Spring or Summer, a cold bitter Winter would await them.

I never knew this history of my Uncle Bob when he was alive, it would have been fascinating to hear of his childhood spent on the East coast of Canada.

There is a lesson there, talk to your relatives while you can.

Stanley Weldon and Arthur Hill

A great picture of Stanley Weldon and Arthur Hill.

There is no direct relationship besides the fact that Arthur Hill was the brother of Thomas Henry Hill (born October 12th, 1921) who married Marjorie Davies (born February 21st, 1923) on September 27th, 1945

Marjorie was the daughter of Alexandra Davies (born January, 1892) and Amy Gertrude Weldon (born abt. September 1890). Stanley Joseph Weldon was her 1st cousin.

Botanic Road, 2010

I was born in Liverpool and in 1957 we lived at 53 Botanic Road, time has not been kind to the old place and here is a very recent photograph. It is surviving while all around it become dust and developments, my infants and primary school, Clint Road is long gone, along with the rows of terraced houses parallel to Botanic Road, the shops on Wavertree Road have vanished and even the famous Botanic Pub is gone.

The only feature left from the picture below is shown here, I wonder how long the old house will survive?