Well I’m just blown away by the excellent articles in this issue’s Family Tree. From Chris Paton’s rigorous round-up of a vast collection of records to help you trace your ancestors’ whereabouts and land records in Ireland; to Lisa Edwards’ extremely poignant and perceptive investigation into the lives and homes of some of her kin who lived life literally on the breadline in Victorian Liverpool. They are lives that I recognise from several branches of my own family tree – and it makes you just stop and think about how relentlessly harsh it must have been for them, and just how lucky we are to be here today.