Hi all, I have just joined this list so I thought that I should introduce myself. I have lived in Australia for the last 36 years, however I was born and bred in Blackley, Manchester LAN. My paternal grandfather was Harry WATSON born in 1886 in Heywood LAN the son of James Johnson WATSON and Sophia HEATON. On Harry's marriage certificate in 1908 he gave his occupation as "stamper and insurance agent' but by the time his first child (my father) was born in 1911 he gave his occupation as "professional acrobat". Once in conversation my father mentioned that he was born in Northampton "because his mother just happened to be there at the time" and that his sisters were born in different places too. When I questioned him on this he told me that his father was a trapeze artist that travelled around the country performing in the music hall. My grandfather later had some kind of injury that prevented him from performing so he became a theatrical stage manager and my grandmother kept a boarding house for theatrical people. Sadly my father died at a fairly early age before I had shown an interest in tracing my family history so I am not able to get any more information about Harry Watson. I do not even know if he performed under his own name or whether he was part of a troupe of trapeze artists that worked together under a stage name such as "The Flying Foxes" or something of that ilk !! When my grandmother died in 1975 she was described on her death certificate as being the widow of Harry Watson retired theatrical stage manager of Rochdale LAN. The Rochdale address no doubt was where my grandfather was living when he died as my grandmother spent all her life after his death in Middleton LAN. I have yet to trace Harry's death, but I suspect that it was somewhere in the 1920s as family heresay has it that he died before his youngest child was born in about 1926. I would be interested in any suggestions as to where old music hall records could be kept. Regards, Lynda. . Tony & Lynda Langham Gold Coast Australia http://www.ozemail.com.au/~tonylangham/Mainpage.html