Kate Broad
It is always surprising what family research can reveal, for example, I am able to announce that I bring a touch of nobility to English Roots Finder as I am descended from Kings – Mr and Mrs Albert King of Bethnal Green, London. My links with royalty don’t end there – my grandfather was once pushed into a muddy ditch by a horse ridden by the future King Edward VIII. This has, of course, left my family with a fanatical obsession with the royal family – we each have sworn that, should a suitable ditch and member of the royal family be in reach, we will exact our revenge.
As a BSc (Hons) I have undertaken a large amount of research and am able to apply rigorous examination of results to ensure that they are accurate. Many family researches go wrong because links are presumed where none actually exist, because the researcher wants to prove a theory or show some kind of results. You won’t get that with English Roots Finder – we have a professional pride in getting it right.
I bring many other skills to our triumvirate of researchers. I can throw a ball quite well for a girl, spell banana in semaphore, have a theoretical knowledge of how to escape from a hungry crocodile and I have a husband who can hang a spoon from his nose.
Toni Neobard
I first became interested in family history at the tender age of 18 when I came across my husband to be. I was fascinated by his surname- Neobard, and wanted to know more about it. I have spent the subsequent 30+ years undertaking a one-name study mapping any incidence of the name and its variants.
Tracing my own ancestors I have turned up stories of heroism, folly and downright stupidity. Including survival from a sinking steamship, tales of murder, a pickle factory owner who gambled away his fortune and an uncle who decided to take apart a live cannon shell with a vice and a 6 inch nail – imagine my grandmother’s surprise when she looked into the garden just in time to see the shed explode and my uncle’s fingers fly through the air onto the lawn!
I have spent my working life with HM Customs and Excise (now HM Revenue & Customs). I have both worked and qualified as an Internal Auditor and Project Manager. These disciplines have also served me well as a family historian, ensuring assignments are properly planned and conclusions are well evidenced.
I am still married to my Neobard (Bill) and we have one son to carry on the, now almost defunct, Neobard name.
Like Kate I have a number of equally useless talents. For example I can: sex a toad; match one piece of boiled potato with another by taste alone; write backwards with ease; and I also know how to escape from a rampaging crocodile (trip up your friend – probably Kate if she was available at the required time).
Colin Piggott
I have spent my working life with Customs and Excise, having been a VAT visiting Officer, computer programmer and latterly a project and programme manager I’ve found that all of these activities can be applied to family history research such as attention to detail and good organisation.
Unlike Kate and Toni I have no special (useless) skills to brag about, but I do indulge in an eclectic mix of hobbies. These include horticulture, restoring classic minis, property renovation, making chutneys and jams and partaking in adventure days such as white water rafting, hovercraft racing, indoor sky diving, tank driving and have tank paintballing and hot air ballooning on the horizon.
I also have a penchant for British islands and hills, having seen most of the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Isle of Man, Lundy, Lindisfarne, Arran, Isle of Wight, Anglesey and having walked up a number of mountains including Ben More, Snowdon, and Goat Fell.
I have always had a close association with my maternal grandparents and my interest was piqued some 13 years back after having seen the locality they hailed from in North Essex with its rolling countryside, timber framed houses, castle and historic villages. I was especially interested in my maternal Grandmothers maiden name of Rulton which I have been able to trace back to the late 1500’s.
During this time the family has shown an amazing urge to travel - moving all the way from South Suffolk to just across the county boundary to their final destination around the Hedingham’s and Yeldham’s in Essex!
The Rulton family has no exciting stories and has always been rurally based with the men being agricultural labourers, and the women being straw platters. One did get adventurous and become a shoe mender! They have also shown a penchant for visiting the poorhouse. Likewise with my other family branches we are of humble stock but moved from North Essex into London and then out to South Essex with the advent of the railways, with most of my Fathers line having been platelayers on the railways.
