Michael Dalton gives his personal account of the Dalton Genealogical Society’s Annual General Meeting and weekend gathering for 2009 held in Lancashire, England from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd August 2009.
Friday, 21st August 2009
Kate and I arrived at the Swallow Hotel at Samlesbury near Preston in Lancashire in the late afternoon after a journey from Warwickshire where we had stayed the previous night. We came through torrential rain on the M6 motorway – it always seems to rain on Fridays when we are travelling! However it brightened up in the early afternoon and this gave us the opportunity to revisit the villages of Croston and Rufford, both of which have strong Dalton links.
The Swallow Hotel felt familiar as we had stayed there previously for the Annual DGS Gathering in 2004, so we were soon settled in and enjoying a swim in the indoor pool. At 7.00 pm delegates met for a pre-dinner drink and then 15 of us sat down for an enjoyable dinner and the opportunity to catch up with each other’s news.
Saturday, 22nd August 2009
After breakfast, it was a 9.00 am departure for Oswaldtwistle and the Library & Research Centre of the Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society, which John Dalton, Editor of the DGS Journal and organiser of the weekend, had arranged as the venue for our AGM. We were joined there by other delegates who lived locally and were not staying at the Swallow. We are most grateful to the LFHHS for allowing us to use their Centre, which, although small, is well organised with a good stock of books and journals and excellent computer facilities with PCs connected to the internet.
Howard Dalton explains an intricate genealogical point to Jane Dalton
These provided the opportunity for delegates to explore various websites including our own DGS site at www.daltongensoc.com. I was able to explain different aspects of what is available and, in particular, on the Family Tree DNA website, demonstrate how genetic distance can be used to identify how far back to look for a common ancestor. I was able to talk to small groups from three genetic families in the Dalton International DNA Project as follows:
• Genetic Family E was represented by Edna Redpath, her grand daughter Hannah Redpath, and Margaret Deyes. They all descend from Daltons of Croston, Lancashire.
Cousins Edna Redpath and Margaret Deyes in earnest conversation
• Genetic Family Y was represented by John Dalton and Audrey Dalton (wife of David Dalton) – this group is descended from Daltons of Oldham, Lancashire.
• Genetic Family Z was represented by the two Howard Daltons (Howard from near Pickering in Yorkshire and our past Treasurer and Howard J from Poole in Dorset, our minutes secretary). Their Dalton ancestors come from Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire respectively and there is more research work to be undertaken to establish how they might be connected.
This informal time focusing on how the internet helps the family historian proved very valuable and was over all too soon.
The Chairman preparing for the AGM
At 11.15 am, after coffee and Sheila’s very good homemade gingerbread, I opened the Annual General Meeting.
The full minutes of this meeting will be published in "Daltons in History" next month. I was able to give a very upbeat report on the Society’s activities since the last AGM in June 2008. The undoubted highlights were the gatherings in Birr, Co Offaly, Ireland last year and in Orange, New South Wales, Australia earlier this year. The Journal and "Daltons in History" are flourishing and our website is ever expanding. The DNA project continues apace and our finances are in good health. None of this can happen without the dedicated effort of all our officers, committee and other helpers. The AGM gives me an opportunity to thank them all for what they do. All the present officers and committee offered themselves for re-election and were elected again unanimously. With much to report and discuss, the meeting concluded just in time for the arrival of hot Lancashire potato pie for our lunch and delicious it was too. Well done Sheila!
Queen Street Mill Textile Museum
In the afternoon we all travelled over to the Queen Street Mill Textile Museum at Harle Syke on the other side of Burnley. Here we were treated to a fascinating tour of the last surviving 19th century steam powered weaving mill.
Delegates viewing the weaving machines - there are 380 of them
As we were taken round, we all thought about the conditions that workers in the mills had to endure and remembered that the livelihood of many Dalton ancestors in the Oldham Dalton branch of the family depended on being employed in places such as Queen Street Mill.
The steam engine that drives the whole mill
After a cup of tea we returned to the Swallow Hotel and readied ourselves for the AGM Dinner, described on the programme as “with a Lancashire flavour”. We all enjoyed an excellent dinner and then the Lancashire flavour became clear. John, suitably attired in a waistcoat that his grandfather might have worn, regaled us with reminiscences and readings about life in the mills as his forebears had known it – and all in John’s inimitable Lancashire accent!
John Dalton in costume... but which era!!
Full marks to John, and a round of applause, for this further insight into what the mills meant to so many. After dinner we were able to retire to the lounge, and continue our discussions and chat. A very sociable group made it an evening to remember.
Sunday, 23rd August 2009
A leisurely breakfast this morning and departure for Thurnham around 10.30 am. Kate and I wanted to visit Glasson Docks and Cockersand Abbey before meeting up for lunch at the Thurnham Mill Inn.
Datails of Cockersand Abbey
Chapter House at Cockersand Abbey looking westwards
Unfortunately it had not proved possible to book lunch at Thurnham Hall itself owing to a large christening party taking over the dining room. Never mind we had a very good lunch at Thurnham Mill and met up with John Regan, the local historian who had agreed to take the party on a tour of the Hall and then Cockersand Abbey. Kate and I were not able to stay for the Cockersand Abbey visit as we had to travel south to Cheshire to meet up with friends and a canal boat – hence our visit in the morning!
Thurnham Mill for Lunch
Then to Thurnham Hall
Our local historian gave us a fascinating tour of the outside of the Hall and, with his impressive knowledge of the history of the Daltons of Thurnham, he was able to give us a good insight into how the Daltons lived at Thurnham Hall from the mid 16th Century until 1973, when with the death of Alzira Dalton, the line came to an end.
John Regan, our local historian, explains the history of the Hall to delegates
The North facing facade of the Hall tells a story
Thurnham Hall and Cockersand Abbey are inextricably entwined with Dalton family history and over the years much has been written about both. It would be good to have a more in depth article from John Regan, and perhaps we can persuade him to write one for us. I hope so.
We were joined by a duck and her young family....
....but they decided that perhaps the history of the Hall was not for them!!
So concluded a most successful weekend. Although it was attended by a relatively small group of DGS members, the intimacy of the group enabled us all to get to know one another better and share that unique experience which is a Dalton gathering.
John and Sheila Dalton
Again, many thanks to John and Sheila Dalton for all their thought and hard work which made it such a success.
