Letter from the Editor

Dear Cousins,

I should have been delivering this to the printers wearing a Santa Claus hat, but here I am in sackcloth and ashes struggling to get there when they reopen after the New Year! However it gives me the chance to thank all of you who sent me Xmas greetings and to wish you everything good for the year ahead.

One reason for the delay has been a short visit to Sydney to celebrate the 70th Birthday of Kee's favourite cousin. I regretted being unable to meet-up with some of the 'cousins' in NSW but I couldn't very well declare open house when the house wasn't mine! We had a wonderful reunion with the Malaysian relatives but the jetlag after the return journey was awful; it seems to get worse and worse as I get older.

I have been enjoying quite a spate of new contacts generated by our website; some of the highlights are in the 'letters' section. I heard indirectly that Benn is currently busy sandbagging his Sacramento home against floods so he may be diverted from his website management for a while! Meanwhile Roger Blinko in NZ, has started up an interactive website which will allow you more person-to-person contacts for discussion and exchange of family history data. You can access it via <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blencowe-and-variations_family_history/>. If you have problems signing, in contact Roger directly at rogerblinko @ xtra.co.nz .

One thing you should be talking about is the 2007 Reunion, that's next year now! I suggest you consider an 11 day period. Friday arriving, Monday disperse, chosen between the dates Friday 22nd June and Monday 15th July. This would allow two week ends when UK members, who cannot get away from work, could participate.

I'm still hoping for a volunteer to take over this newsletter. It is really getting more than I can handle. Replying to welcome internet contacts takes time and I have reams of data pilling up to enter into the database. We may end up having to drop the newsletter and rely entirely on our website, which would exclude those of you who do not have a computer.

Jack Blencowe
Oxford, January 2006