Back in February my Nan (mums side) told us that the family in Wales are arranging a family reunion where my great grandmother lived, immediately we said yes we are going, it was something that had no question about it. My mum was born in Wales but hasn't been back for over 25 years, myself and my dad have never been, it was a chance to meet some more of the family as I met a small amount whilst a few of us went to London in 2010. Now I've been told soo many times I have a big family and a lot of cousins but because we live so far away from them its sometimes hard to believe. Anyway last weekend we drove down to Cardiff which has some beautiful scenery along the way and as soon as we got to our hotel that was it, there was the start of the crazy weekend. If we wasn't at the hotel or shopping we was at my mums cousins house, Karen. My nan, both aunties and cousin styed with Karen for the weekend so we popped round Karen's the Friday to meet and greet have a few drinks and catch up, a couple more of my mums cousin came round with their kids and all we did was laugh. Also we had noticed that Karen had a picture of my great grandmother and some of her children, it was so amazing to see how beautiful she was.
My great grandmother and some of my great aunties and uncle
Saturday was the day of the reunion at Butetown Community Centre, we arrived and my mum stood there for a few minutes just remembering how it was when she grew up and how much it had changed since she was last there. We all walked in and it was kind of like erm now what do we do because there was a lot of people there we did not know as there is two sides the family, Grahams (us) and Ernest. We came across a picture of a couple in Victorian times which turns out to be my great grandmothers parents and we sat there for a little bit trying to work it out which seemed confusing to start with but it was explained to us and that was where we all came from.
*Continue reading for more pictures*
After a while everyone was just talking and the most popular question was "who are you related to?" Apparently you can tell a Graham, which when me and my mum was talking you can see the males all have a look and the same the females which is quite bizarre when you think about it. The Grahams certainly took the dance floor at one point I think we was all dancing apart from my cousin (typical) and I think there is a video of us doing the Electric Slide, quite crazy!
Mum, Dad, Me, Lisa, Delicia
Anthony, Dolly, Anthony's daughter and her mum, Karen, my nan, Karen's daughter and granddaughter
Mum, Elvira, Preston
Preston, Curtis and his son, Isshiah, Fab, Alan
Mum, Anthony
Mum, Lisa, Dolly, Nan, Lisa and Karen (and yes there is two Lisa's)
Rhys, Karen, Isshiah, my Mum, Dolly, Fab, Marvin and my Dad
There is just some of pics that are all over the internet, I will try upload some more and get a good collection of them soon!
I had such an amazing time in Cardiff, meeting family, shopping (which is brilliant) and the city centre is just beautiful. I cannot wait until the next time we all get together because even though for a lot of us it is the first time we have met or haven't seen each other for a number of years it was like we have met before or like yesterday that everyone had seen each other. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family. xx