I was born in Bryn, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire and George was born in Bowdon, Cheshire. We are from similar backgrounds which was working class.

I am an only child whereas George had an elder brother and two older sisters.

In Ashton-in-Makerfield in the early nineteen hundreds lived Lord and Lady Gerard. He was born in 1883 and was married to his cousin May Gosselini in 1906. My mother talked of Lady Gerard delivering money to the poor on a certain day each year and also going to the schools with presents for the poorer children. The Gerards lived at Garswood Hall a very palacial residence. In earlier years one of the Gerards went to Maryland and started a colony there and I am in touch with a lady in America who is a descendant of the Gerards. She lives in Arizona.

My mother's family all lived in Downall Green and went to the local school and church which was Holy Trinity in Rectory Road. My Aunty wrote an article for a local magazine called Trinity Sunday 1920. In it she wrote about Jelly Sunday. The women stayed up all night baking and making jellies for the hordes of relatives who descended on them for the day.

If you were chosen to walk under the banner or hold one of the ribbons it was a privilege for little girls who attended Sunday school regularly. The dresses were blue and my Aunty had a bouquet of blue iris but only black shoes. Everybody else had white shoes so she made a fuss. Grandma said they would have to do but Uncle Tom Aunty's older brother gave her some money to get some from Charlie Shaw's shoe shop in Rectory Road. He had sold out except for a pair two sizes too big - anything was better than black so she bought them and had to shuffle her way round Downall Green. If she lifted her heels she would have walked out of them.

My father was a Cabinet Maker, Upholsterer and French Polisher and mother helped him with the three piece suites. She had an industrial machine and prepared the covers which Dad used to finish the suite. I often watched him and was fascinated when he was french polishing. I would keep the fire at a constant temperature in his workshop as the polish would bloom f it was damp or cold.

My mother was Doris Lowe from the Lowe family as seen in the picture of the three sisters. I have attempted to put a family tree on one of the other pages but will extend it later. My father was Ernest Nicholson and his father was born in Upholland. The Nicholson family llived in Orrell and Uphpolland for most of their lives. My grandfather James Nicholson married Esther Chadwick from Wigan and they went to live in Downall Green Road. My grandfather was a pit supervisor working fown the mines in the Ashton area. He wasn't so grand as a mine manager - they only worked on the surface most of the time.

My grandfather Thomas Lowe was a coffin maker in the 1920's. My Aunty watched him make the coffin - he would saw grooves into the widest part to make the wood bend into shape, then the moulding round the lid, the tacking of braid round the top edge varnishing and screwing brass handles and ornaments and finally a name plate. My grandmother or one of the older daughters would line the coffin with white satin and also make the shroud. Often he would act as Undertaker and ordered the coaches and black horses, put on his black suit and bowler and officiate at the funeral. His youngest daughter who was artistic printed the brass plate for the coffin when she was about twelve years old. She still retains an interest in art and has painted some beautiful landscapes.

I have one daughter who lives in Todmorden and she has two daughters and a son.

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