I decided to do this following the death of my father, James Blundell at the start of 2003 - it seemed a good way to archive the research into my family that his death has prompted me to undertake.I had always had a close relationship with Dad, but, as he died, I realised that so much that he had seen over his 94 years was gone with him. He was the last surviving person in so many of the photos of him as a child and a young man and I thought about all he had seen and never told me - or told me and I had forgotten. It's still strange to think of him gone, after growing up with him for nearly 32 years. He lived through 2 world wars and saw so many changes in the world and yet never seemed lost within it. He was a kind and generous man and had so much love in him, I know he will be missed by everyone who knew him.

I am hoping to research both sides of my family, the Blundells and the Owens on my side and the Johnsons and Harris's on my wife's side. I hope that it will become a record that will inform our son, Dylan of his family history as I have become concious of how fragile my grasp of who I am in relation to the past is, and I don't want this for him.