Roots, shoots and stories

 When I first visited Cramond Kirk and its churchyard a few years ago in search of my McAra ancestors, I came across a large gravestone, listing some family members and their dates and places of death, two of whom I can associate with the topic of 'Boats'.  The stone itself was erected many years after the deaths of the people listed and some of the dates were definitely inaccurate. James McAra, the first name on the stone was certainly not dead on the stated date - he was, in fact, living in Tasmania having been deported for the accidental killing of his brother, my 3 x great grandfather (More details about that are given here :  James McAra  ). However, it was not the dates that drew my attention, it was one of the places mentioned as place of death. James' son, Archibald McAra, was listed as dying in Valparaiso, Chile! McAra gravestone in Cramond Churchyard. Inscription unfortunately not too clear. That came as quite a surprise. When his father James had been convicted a

My husband Martin's dad Jan grew up on a farm in Poland in the 1920s and 30s and he might not even have seen an automobile (car) in his early years. However, after WW2, he found himself in Scotland and couldn't return to his native Poland as it was now occupied by Communists. Within the space of a few years,  he opened his own business. This meant he had both the need for and the finance required to buy a car. Over the next two decades his electrical retail business became increasingly prosperous. In 1972 he and his wife Teresa, decided they and some of their family would take a trip to Poland. They reasoned it would be better to go by car rather than fly. This would require two cars of course. Jan, now a successful businessman, was known for being a bit ostentatious, showing off his new found wealth, particularly in the form of cars. At this time he owned two Rolls Royces and a Triumph TR6 sports car. The car he chose to use to drive to Poland was his classic Silver Cloud Roll

 At 2 a.m. on the 10th of February 1940, Janina Stepek and her three children, Jan, Zosia and Danka were woken up by loud knocking at the door of their home in Eastern Poland. It was the Soviet Red Army and Ukrainian Militia, the Soviets having invaded Poland some five months earlier. The family were ordered to pack what they could and be ready to leave within thirty minutes. One officer, in an act of kindness, told Janina to pack as much as they could for cold weather. They were taken by cart to the nearest train station, along with the entire population of the village. There they discovered that the inhabitants of many villages had been similarly forced to leave their homes. After several hours in the freezing cold, they were bundled on to cattle trains. Each wagon took fifty people, crammed together. There was no toilet, there was a stove in the centre of the carriage and there were some shelves which could be used as beds for some. The doors slid shut and locked everyone in, leavin

My mum would have been 28 years old, when she received the news that her cousin Andrew Adams had been killed in action in 1943.  Andrew, aged only 22 at the time of his death, had been a Royal Airforce pilot, in No. 37 (Bomber) Squadron. (Volunteer Reservist) In February of 1943 the squadron was based in Gardabia, Tunisia, running its tactical operations from there in new Wellington X aircrafts, forming part of the North West African Strategic Air Force. Vickers Wellington bomber    Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1333375 These craft were medium sized twin engined bombers. They usually had a crew of five. The bomb load comprised more than one fifth of the total weight of the plane. Anyone interested in the specifications of these aircraft can read about them here  .  On one of his missions on the 19th of April 1943, following a raid on Creteville, Tunisia, the aircraft piloted by Andrew developed a fire in the engines and he was forced to ditch the plane into th