news 2002

2002
Wednesday 25 Dec 2002	Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year
Friday 4 Oct 2002	Received a reply from Simon Harcourt-Webster of Lymington, Hampshire (UK). He is descended from Ann Mary (Hall) Powditch (one of the children of Samuel Powditch and Amelia Hall who married in Wells-next-the-Sea on 3 March 1830. Simon (Member No.7952 of Norfolk Family History Society) is interested in also finding out more about the James Race Hall family tree, and would appreciate any information.
Wednesday 24 July 2002	Alan Powditch, who lives in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, South Wales, sent me a 'clipping' re his part in their local charity pram race, the wording of which was as follows;- I AM WHAT I PRAM On 24 July, during Narberth Civic Week, we took part in the local charity pram push race, the route of which covered 12 pubs. Our team were called 'The Barley Mow Trekkers'. Our ship was the U.S.S. Barley Mow NCC-861530; and the engineers were Tina Dale, myself and Lee and Hazel Lloyd Green; the crew were Captain Steve Covel, Science Officer Mario Edwards and navigator Jamie Howitt. The Barley Mow Trekkers ran a good race to come in at Warp 2 to take second prize, and second prize for fancy dress as well. I would like to say many thanks to: Dave England, the owner of the Barley Mow; Peter Price for the loan of the wheelbarrow; John Dale for the use of his garden and Lee and Hazel Lloyd Green Managers for the use of their phaser. Alan Powditch, Pembrokeshire Congrats to all of the above - hope you raised a good few strips of latinum for your charity.
Monday 3 June 2002	Michelle Jouvelet from Sydney, NSW telephoned this afternoon. During our conversation she advised me that 'Vin' (Vincent Henry), husband of Jeanette Mignon nee Jouvelet had died in or about April 2002. (Refer either to Index to Tree I or to Tree I itself)
Tuesday 28 May 2002	Wendy Cook (the only child of Jack and Mavis Powditch of Scopwick, Lincolnshire) e-mailed to bring me 'up-to-date' with their family's news. "Sadly, on the 11th February 2001, my Mother died, and in June, my Father moved from Scopwick to Sleaford"
Monday 27 May 2002	(E-mail from Faye Edwards in Melbourne, Australia) "I am excited to let you know that we have a new little Grandson, Bennett, Alexander, Bobby, Edwards and he is just gorgeous. He was born on Friday, May 24th 2002 at 2.24 P.M. to Marzia Osellame & our son, Greg (Edwards). Their daughter Cristina who is now 4 years 8 months old is delighted.She won't leave her parent's side and is devoted to Bennett."
Sunday 20 May 2002	Had a long telephone chat with Carole Powditch (Santiago, Chile), as we hadn't spoken together for a very long time. Carole and family are well, even though she advised me that there are 'problems' within Chile re unemployment, food, external countries trying to 'muscle in' on Chile's resources, etc. Carole mentioned the original "MacKay School" which used to be on English Hill in ?Valparaiso, and which (then) had been housed in an "enormous old mansion". Carole's brother Robert ("Bobbie") first went there when he was aged 7 years old, obviously following in the footsteps of his own father (Bernard Hirst Powditch) and his father's brothers (Errol H Powditch and Wilfred Powditch). Although the MacKay School still exists in name today, it is now housed in a modern building, and not on the same site! What I am going to try and find out, is whether the school either has an Alumni of its old pupils, or whether it has retained its original School Registers, as I am sure that we would all like to discover more about the school years of our Chilean 'cousins'.
Saturday 18 May 2002	Sent an e-mail to Ian MacDowell (Chile) as he is coming over to the UK to visit his sister and other relatives, and I am hoping that he might telephone me whilst he is 'over here'. Ian and his sister Evie are descendants from the Dr John MacKay who married Caroline Powditch in Chile in 18.
Saturday 27 April 2002	I was going through my Powditch files, and came across a document I had acquired many years ago re a Mary Powditch of Hungerford in Berkshire, who, in 1783 took out Fire Insurance with Royal Exchange for two properties she owned in Burnham Market (Norfolk). As far as I am aware, Mary was the widow of the John Powditch, who died in 1775, and who was buried on 11 March of that year at St. Lawrence Church, Hungerford. (Source for John Powditch = Berkshire FHS, from St. Lawrence Par. Regs., and from the National Burial Index for England and Wales). Thanks to Esme Rubra (see 16 April 2002 entry below) and her information re John Powditch, I will now be pursuing that family and their Hungerford residency etc.
Thursday 25 April 2002	On checking for the ship "Royal George" for the year 1822 (I had put those details into the enquiry box on the Google search-engine), I found a French site (www.histofig.com) which contained interesting details re a ship of the same name, which had its 'Debut Service' in 1788, and ended its 'normal' life 'Fin Service Actif' in 1822. After that year, the ship became a 'ponton' (i.e. pontoon or hulk). Of even more interest (for me) was the word 'naufregus' which appeared against several other ships on the same web-site, principally because I had (years ago) received information re a Thomas Powditch who - when he married at Lowestoft (Suffolk) in 1725 - had been referred to as being a "naupagus" widower. Naufregus is the French word for "shipwreck". I am now delving more into this particular Powditch, the original entry re his marriage, and the reason why "naupagus" should have been used amongst the other words on the document.
Tuesday 16 April 2002	Esme Rubra (a descendant of the Chilean branch of the Powditch family) called to see us this morning. She very kindly brought four Powditch extracts from the National Burial Index for England and Wales (which contains over 5 million burial records from 1538 to 2000)
Sunday 10 March 2002	Received an E-mail from Barry Cairns in Victoria, Australia. He is interested in the history of William Powditch and his family, together with information regarding William's time in both Australia and New Zealand from c1820 to c1872