General Chat

" Tut " indeed Linda .....I've been saying that to myself all day ....lol

I hadn't realised you are one of those lovely helpful folk in a tourist information place .

Do you kiss them first like a celebrity fisherman here in Oz does, Amanda? lol

You've both driven Tec away - we were chatting nicely until you two came along.

S x

He will be shining a torch in the garden for the dog Sue.
I just volunteer two afternoons a week Amanda, it is very interesting work and gets me out of the house

We have been in so many tourist information places in the UK and never once came across a bad one. Everyone has always been so helpful.

Linda - you mentioned awhile back about finding out in the Stockton Registrar Office where some gravesites are. Can they tell you where the various graves are in the cemetary?

S x

No Sue , I don't kiss them , I actually hold them at arms length and squeal a lot until OH comes are lets them go . It's quite an amazing scene generally and positively hysterical if one ends up on the floor of the boat !!

I hope we haven't scared Tec off , I bet he's in his kitchen thinking about supper .

Good Evening Amanda.
Good Evening Linda,

Hope you wore your sailors outfit Amanda - pleased you got the biggest eel. I watched an item on tv the other day about eels, getting quite scarce apparently, and have an amazing life cycle, traveling 4,000 to spawn. Someone had a smoked eel business.

Linda I hope the tourists didn't take all the leaflets today. Our local TIC closed down because the Council withdrew its funding, it was mostly run by volunteers anyway, and was always very busy. Lovely modern purpose built office now sits empty in the middle of the town - progress?

Sue, I can understand how excited you and your brother must have been to receive that photo.

Tec.

Yes Sue, if you know the cemetery and the burial date, or death date, they can tell you the exact plot and they have a map, so you can find them. If you want to find any, let me know the details and I will go for you

Hello Tec ......yes Eels are amazing creatures , I think they are getting scarce but in our area they seem to be plentiful still . It's incredible that they swim so many miles to spawn , I beieve they have to return to the Sargaso sea ( not that I know where that is ) .

And no , I didn't wear a sailor outfit ....lol

Lol Amanda,that is so funny, I can just imagine you.

Tec, the same is going to happen here. This is the only one left in the whole area, the others were all de networked. They still exist because they are small offices inside other buildings and are run by volunteers, but they don;t have computer access to the on-line accommodation booking system for instance.
We now cover a very large area, but the council are wanting to sell the building and close it down. It is all up in the air at the moment

OH has so many ancestors in Durham Road Cemetary. We did find his grandparents plot and he was upset to see it neglected so we cleaned it up and asked the groundsman if we could plant a rose and he said yes. I will get together a list of OH great grandparents as I would be particularly interested in where they are buried. Then we can pay our respects on the next visit. Thanks for your offer Linda. Do they charge to make a search?

S x

I'm really shocked with hearing that the powers that be are shutting down so many Tourist Information places .....it makes no sense to me at all . This country should be doing everything it can to promote it's tourist trade .
Whenever we holiday we always go to the information centres for leaflets and local knowledge .

No they don't charge Sue, I did go once before for someone in Australia and they were extremely helpful.
If you do me a list, I will sort it out after i get back from holiday.I can find the plots for you and photograph them, then you will be able to visit them next year when you come over

Can someone tell me what a "parochial chapelry" is, please? I have found some of OH's ancestors baptised in a parochial chapelry in Barnard Castle.

Thanks Linda - there are loads but I really would only want the great grandparents and a couple of others.

S x

Sometimes they had chapels in an outlying village Sue, especially in a large rural parish such as Barnard castle. Sometimes they were mainly used as chapels of ease ( for keeping the coffin in prior to burial) others were more like mini churches and did conduct baptisms,

Amanda the Sarrogassa Sea is the other side of the Atlantic off the Eastern Seaboard of America - long swim.

I can't understand them shutting the tourist offices either - they provide such a valuable service to the visitors, and this area is almost totally reliant on the tourist industry. Our local office was computerised and in contact with many B&B businesses.

Tec.

A long swim indeed .....a bit of a miracle really that any of them make it back there !

It is the same here Tec, the tourist industry brings in a huge amount of money for the local economy. We have a live online booking system for the accommodation.It is all down to the massive cuts that need to be made and tourism provision is not a statutory obligation for councils,so it is an easy target

I would have thought that in a lot of places tourism is the main " industry " , it really seems ridiculous to cut back on the very thing that generates money !! I really don't understand the stupidity of it .

I'm going to be heading off to bed , I could do with an early(ish) night to replenish me . Have a good day in the Land Down-under and pleasant dreams to you fellow Brits .

Goodnight Amanda - best sleep off that headache:-))

Linda - you have a pm.

S x

There was talk of the local Chamber of Commerce, run by the shopkeepers etc, taking it over, but nothing seems to have come of that. I suppose it's all tied up in Council red tape. Annoyingly there are signs all over town pointing the way to the office, but when you get there it's closed down. There are always people peering through the windows - how silly.

Tec