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Monday 12 August 2019

The Pigeon Got There First - 52 Ancestors: Week 33

"Comedy" is the theme of this week's "52 Ancestors Challenge.  I cannot say I had  wide choice of comic moments in my family history,  but this story  from my father we found amusing.   

My  father John Percy Weston (1912-2003) had written down for me the memories of his  early life in Broseley, near Ironbridge, Shropshire.
"I was mad keen on soccer, so much so that I had a trial at Birmingham with the English schoolboys. My teacher took me in his car to that and to a second trial at Shrewsbury.
One Saturday when I was working as an errand boy, two directors from Birmingham Football Club came to see Dad and Mum to sign me on for the junior team  - they refused, saying I was too young to be away from home. I was not told about this until later and sulked for a month!
But a bit of glory followed, when my school team entered a cup competition. I was vice-captain and we got to the final - and won the cup, the first ever for Broseley.

One of the supporters took a carrier pigeon along with us and set it loose at the end to let Broseley know the result and to prepare a welcome, as we were bringing home the cup!  And the pigeon did get there first" 
The pigeon was obviously  an ancestor of Twitter!


Apparently a photograph was taken of the team's success, but no pictures of my father's early life passed down the family. I have only two photograph   of him prior to his meeting my mother in 1936. Family memorabilia (including Dad's church choir and football team photographs) were thrown out by a widowed relative.  How sad!

Unfortunately I only had a broad indication of the year for the event, which made tracing it in local newspapers difficult. In an effort to find out more, I contacted Broseley Historical Society who put my enquiry on their online newsletter.   I am delighted to say I heard from three members of the society with more personal memories - and even better I now have a photograph of the winning football team, with my father on the middle row right, identified as Perce Weston. I always thought he hated his middle name Percy, but he seemed to be known by that as a youngster.

This is the earliest photograph I have of my father and I am so grateful to the Society for filling this gap in my family history.   


My father retained his love of football all his life.   He was a great follower of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa and was an avid watcher of matches on television, right up to his death at the age of 91.

And an important lesson from this - don't forget the value that can be gained from contacting local societies. 



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1 comment:

  1. I love this type of story. It probably makes its rounds at every family reunion. I love that you've preserved it on your blog.

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