When I was fourteen I fell ill and was not well enough to return to school for many months, my parents both worked, so my Dad would drop me at my Grandparents house while he was at work. I spent a lot of time talking to my Grandparents and looking through their old photo albums. Tucked in the back of one of the albums was a hand written family tree of my Granny’s side of the family, which my Grandad had put together from information that had been passed down the family. I was fascinated by both the old photographs and family tree, so I had my grandparents tell me what they knew about their family history.
Years later after I had lost both my Grandparents started to research my family tree; I wanted to include the pictures that they had shown me. When I asked what had happened to the photo albums my family did not know, but started looking for them. Eventually the albums turned up in my aunts attic. I was given the albums to take care of, I scanned the photos in then, made my first attempt at restoration and gave copies to other members of the family. My interest in genealogy continued and I researched all the branches of my family tree, seeking out and restoring any old photos that extended family members had tucked away. This is where my interested in restoring old photos began, in preserving my own family history.