May unearths roots to Family Tree

An innovative education programme will encourage people to get in touch with their waterway roots - one Sandbach girl researched her family

May Roberts, a year 8 pupil from Sandbach High School, discovered a nautical branch to her family tree - her great-great grandfather , boatmaster George, who plied his trade along the canals of Cheshire and the Potteries, delivering goods for the salt trade and pottery industry. Spurred on by this revelation, May uncovered the further information that a distant relation had once worked on legendary flyboat called Saturn - the only working example of a Shropshire Union horse drawn flyboat in existence. And to complete the family circle, May paid a special visit to Saturn on 17th June ahead of the Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival to launch a new education resource for teachers, group leaders and families, based on discovering waterway family histories. You can download this resource from our website by going to www.wow4water.net/grownups/resources/Exploring Family History Fact File.