Once Family Home

After a bit of a treasure hunt I found this photo among several others, which Paul had been given by Auntie Helen (mum’s twin sister, our oldest living relative).

This is Rookery House, just on the edge of Rookery Park in Erdington, Birmingham. It used to belong to our great grandfather, Ernest Welcome Richards (on Mum’s side of the family)
It is now an apartment building!

I was following a trail given by Auntie Helen saying that a book had been written about Rookery House. She thought a copy was to be found at Erdington Library. So, despite the rainy, cooler weather, David helped me call an Uber for a ride into Erdington.
I met up with Daniel, who is staying at Paul and Felicity’s apartment in Erdington.
After lunch at Oikos Coffee, we visited the library, which was located just across the street. A very helpful librarian called Michael, looked up the title of the book on the computer -“Rookery House, Erdington, Birmingham: a short history” by Geoffrey Hitchman
He found that there were 3 copies of the book - two at Birmingham City Center Library, and one at Sutton Coldfield Library. The only problem was that Sutton Library has recently closed and they were in the process of disbursing their stock of books to other libraries who wanted them. So Michael very kindly said he would put in a request for that book to be sent to them. I could go see them next week and might even be able to give me the book, or at least make a micro film of the book for me.
Another obstacle here though, because we leave here on Thursday. However, Paul very kindly was willing to go talk to Michael when he gets back from Church Summer Camp. So we are making progress!

After another Uber ride back to our campsite, where David had stayed behind to study, I returned to enjoy a nap.
David cooked a lovely dinner and then we watched an episode of The Last of Us and now to bed.