ON August 30, Looking Back ran a story about Hampshire resident Sue Woodward who was trying to trace members of the Bird family, who she said lived in and around Weymouth, specifically in Gallwey Road and Sunnyside Road in Wyke Regis.

At the time she believed that the family was related to her and she wanted to find out further details as she also recently uncovered long-lost relatives living in Canada.

Shortly after the article was published, Colin Bird contacted us with news of the family and we put him in touch with Sue. He later contacted us again with family details and some lovely old photographs.

Colin takes up the story: “The Echo ran Sue’s appeal for relatives of the Bird family in Gallwey Road and Sunnyside Road.

“Lots of different people in Wyke and at work were asking my siblings and me if it was ‘our Birds’.

“I thought it very well could be as the name is the same as my father’s.

“Contact was made with Sue Woodward via the Echo and we met up on September 9 after Sue hurriedly hopped on a train from Havant, where she lives. Sue was meeting some relatives the next day that she had traced after searching through the births death and marriages in London.

“Sue was eager to see a photo of Thomas Henry Bird her grandfather as she hadn’t seen him before and also wanted to share it with the relatives from Vancouver, Canada.

“I was lucky enough to have several photos after making contact with another descendant from the William Bird and Elizabeth Stone marriage – they were my great grandparents.

“A woman called Sally Hunt gave me all the photos except for the wedding one, back in 1996. Sally descends from a sibling of Thomas Henry and William Matthew, namely Emma Maria Bird. The wedding photo was given to me by my father Thomas Henry Bird (1915- 2008).”

The wedding picture is of Colin’s grandparents William Mathew and Eleanor Riggs, taken in 1902 at 18 Fordington next to the Bull Inn. Thomas Henry (aged 22) is in the uniform and is possibly a corporal, pictured back row sixth from the left.

Colin’s grandfather William Matthew is the bridegroom third from left front row. Emma Maria is holding the baby centre.

William Matthew Bird was the older brother of the Thomas Henry that Sue Woodward was trying to track down. Colin’s father was named after his uncle Thomas Henry and was well known around Wyke Regis as a carpenter. He worked for several building firms in his younger days.”

Colin added: “Sue and I share great grandparents – William Bird (1839 -1892) and Elizabeth Stone (1846- 1924). They married on March 17, 1867 at All Saints Wyke Regis, which makes Sue and I are second cousins, I think.”