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Some research projects begin with a name on a family tree. This one began somewhere I have known since childhood, and has gradually grown into something much bigger than I expected. Sutton Coldfield Cemetery on Rectory Road holds a personal connection for me. I have family buried there, and over the years I have visited often as a relative and family historian. Long before Stories In The Branches, I was wandering its paths, looking for ancestors and photographing memorials. T

I didn’t set out to become a family historian—it found me. At around 15 or 16, I was drawn into my family’s past through something simple but powerful: a Victorian photo album my mum kept, alongside old documents and a family Bible. Inside was a photograph of a young boy who, we later learned, grew up to become someone notable in the entertainment world. But beyond a shared surname, we had no idea how he was connected to us. That mystery was enough. The search began—and over