Hi, an update especially for Northern Lass.
Had a lovely visit today from Joseph and his daughter, and fortunately my Dad was as good as he gets when they arrived. Dad and his cousin haven't seen each other since my grandmother's funeral in the mid 60s I think and they both said they didn't recognise each other LOL. Jo's still got a lovely Black Country accent and I still find it hard to see how other people can hear it in my Dad.
I learnt a couple of interesting snippets today, the first was the name of the mine where my Gtgrandfather Joseph Bate had his accident which was Cakemore Pit. I found a mention of this mine on the Black Country Muse website so will need to follow this up.
Another bit was a bit more about another family accident - young Benjamin Bate who was killed working at Lenches and died aged only 13 or 14. Apparently it was a belt accident- the engine belt broke and hit him in the face killing him.
We looked at some old family photos and I showed one of Jo to him when he was a baby that he had never seen before. He seemed to rememeber the same names that Dad had remembered so there was nothing new to add to my labelling. I hope they both enjoyed their visit , I think Dad enjoyed it as much as he can enjoy anything these days. Perhaps he will stop calling out Joseph now in the middle of the night- we shall see