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Thursday May 4th, 2023
What a Night to Remember.
This was the night the Mc Neal’s held their first large family reunion, when the families of William Mc Neal & Louisa Beatrice Callican’s ten siblings came together at, The Ball Alley, Kip Hill, Stanley, Co. Durham.
Originally planned as a small gathering of the clan, I settled on a public house, nestled at the foot of Stanley bank, not far from the South Causey Inn & Beamish Hall & Mining Museum.
How wrong I was! I mistook, completely the huge response to attend.
I cannot thank enough, everyone who came to be part of this wonderful evening.
There were a great many Mc Neal descendants that came from, in and around, the Durham area. Some came from Northumberland, and Scotland in the north. They came from Merseyside & Oldham in the west. From Norfolk in the east, and others from Berkshire & Hampshire in the south. My niece flew in from Cyprus & my son & daughter-in-law followed me from Canada. Another niece who lives in British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada, also wanted to be included. Even on an eight hour different time zone, she joined in, via video chat. Really, there are no words to describe my love to you all, for the distances you travelled, to be part of this memorable, unique family reunion. It truly was amazing.
Cousins meeting cousins that had not seen one another for decades. Some seeing their relatives for the first time in their lives. All of one mind, one heart, one soul, to embrace one another, have fun & laughter together for a few hours. The weather was a little chilly outside, but inside the warmth of family enveloped us all.
I wish here, to thank the caterers, Amanda’s Kitchen for their fine food. Also the Ball Alley, for doing the best they could in dealing with such a huge crowd, while suffering staff shortages. It was my fault for chosing a venue that was not quite equipped to handle so many of us.
But from all the fantastic messages & emails I have received, I believe I am correct in saying “We all managed very well, and had the most enjoyable night”. So much so the concensus was, “When will the next one be?”
And I am pleased to say, “It is in the Cards”. Keep the end of May 2025 free,`for our biannual get-together. Exact date to be determined.
Hope drives us to places we never think we will see again. You all have given me lots and lots of hope that I will once more be among you.
This is our family website, created by my son, Robin, to give me a way of communicating with my family overseas & to keep me from becoming “old” too fast.
Please take a look at all the numnerous catagories on the Site. There are Tales, Recipes, Superstitions etc. along the top of the page & History, Thoughts, Travels etc. at the botton on the right-hand side. Browse through them all. Make sure you see everything, as some have more than one page of articles. Load all the134 recipes of delicious meals, deserts & drinks to be made, all with mouth-watering irresistible pictures. Popular Places has many different avenues to explore, Restaurants, Features, Festivals etc. as well as the 190 reunion photos you have waited so long for.
(It was hard to get photos to fit the space, unfortunately I lost some of the picture in my cropping.)
All free, to you, for a week.
Then I do hope some of you will join us.
The cost is kept low just to pay for Host fees, Security payment measures & Improvements as there is no advertising, nor media of any kind present. It is a marvellous way to simply & directly be involved with one another. You can send messages, daily texts, personal pictures, or write whole articles about something that interests you, without having to manuover the hords of unwanted paraphernalia on websites such as Facebook etc.
I write new articles as often as I can, to keep the site interesting and varied. And if you become a member your contribution would be greatly appreciated.
Whether or not, you join us, please let me have your opinions about the site, good or bad, & how we might make it more interesting for others. This would be very much appreciated.
Louise Mc Neal Fielder
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