It’s New Years Eve and the time for reflecting on the past. What did you manage to achieve in your family history in 2013? Michelle Nichols

Congratulations Michelle, and thank you for taking on the lists and what a good idea to start off with each of us reviewing 2013. Reminds me of the line/s in the Christmas carol, "So this is Christmas, and what have you done" etc. My great plans to revisit Audlem - a small village in S.E. Cheshire - home of one of my (non-convict) paternal 2x great grandfather (John Herring - druggist) and the Lancashire part of Todmorden ( the line dividing Lancashire and Yorkshire apparently goes through part of the township of Todmorden) - home of my 3xgreat grandfather (Simeon Lord) had to be put on hold due to a 3½ month hospitalisation thanks to the "flesh eating bug". But prior to hospitalisation, I purchased a DVD - Victorian Pharmacy (ABC on line) - a 4 part simulation of a Pharmacy in the Victorian era. Recommend this for anyone who had a druggist/pharmacist ancestor during that time or who is interested in daily lives of people who lived in those times. Now I know why he gave his occupation on one census as "druggist and green grocer"!! I've been trying to find out what happened to John Herring's wife and 2 of his daughters. No UK records of marriages; deaths or emigrations. Poof!! They'd just disappeared. But a search of immigration records on Ancestry.com.au revealed them in "my own backyard" so to speak. They had emigrated to Victoria, where the eldest son was now an Anglican minister. Plans for 2014: Hopefully resurrect the plans to revisit Audlem and Todmorden. Read 2 books I've been given - one about the family in Todmorden and the other about the Lords and Victoria Downs in Qld. Find out where John Herring's eldest daughter is buried. There has to be a missing graveyard in that village. Joan Nichols