After Sarah’s fathers’ death, an old sports bag was found in his attic, containing many letters from family and friends, all his school reports, together with diaries and photos from his time at boarding and accountancy school and subsequent emigration to Canada in the 1950s. Sarah initially intended to transcribe the letters and diaries for just her family but quickly realised the letters were something special and should be shared with a wider audience. As a keen family historian, she decided to weave all the information, together with her genealogical findings from twenty-five years of research, into a story capturing the huge changes of life in Britain, it’s habits and values from pre-WW2 to the early 1960s. These are all viewed and evidenced from unique, first-hand personal diaries, letters, and photos of one ordinary, Cheshire family. Rugby and Rationing is a unique and poignant story that gives a voice to one family’s hopes and concerns through the years and demonstrates how family traits can descend through the generations.
