While exploring new avenues of research to add depth and colour to his family tree, Paul Chiddicks made two discoveries that transformed how he saw his beloved grandad and his outlook on life

Paul Chiddicks

FRESH INSIGHTS INTO FAMILY HISTORY

Reader Story

Personal stories, real lives

Paul’s grandparents Horace and Eileen Chiddicks, c1940

In the bathtub in the family’s garden

This story does not go back many generations, as it relates to my humble grandfather and how two recent discoveries have given me a fresh insight and view on his life, and made me realise how different key events would have affected him.

Like many people when I started this hobby around 15 years ago, I quickly darted around record offices accumulating certificates and dates,swiftly expanding and growing my tree and,as each line and generation was exhausted,I extended further and further. I branched into my wife’s family too, collecting a mass of hard facts and data. As the web took off and more records became available,it became easier and easier to grow my tree and add more and more members.Like many of us I made all the usual pitfalls and mistakes, had the worst filing system, lost notes, duplicated searches and followed wrong lines, but gradually over time I honed and improved my genealogical skills.