I am about to start researching my family history and piece together the family tree which hasn’t been done before. I’ve always heard snippets of stories and get to handle heirlooms every now and then but I’m thinking how interesting it would be if it was all brought together in one place, making a complete as possible picture of my family.

I’ve been considering this for some time now, hesitant though at the amount of work it will take but I’ve often wondered what will be available to my children’s children’s children when they look me up and whether it’ll be just hard for them as it will be for me. Although everyone owns a camera these days and snaps hundreds and hundreds of photographs, will they be available for people to see in the future? I’m not so sure. Now that digital is greatly favoured over print, more and more personal photographs are stored electronically but will they be passed on in the same way printed photographs are? I also think image and video formats will change so quickly that we won’t be able to view digital images that have managed to survive the test of time.

This is my grandad, who sadly is no longer with us but I appreciate seeing him more in print than on a screen. I also know that many family members before me have held that same photograph in their hands, probably wondering what the story is behind the picture whilst admiring his high waist band. Again something which is lost on a computer screen.

I love the betting odds scribbled on the back of the photograph. I’m really looking forward to finding out about the people who made me the person I am today.