Let me tell you about how my family ended up in West Bromwich. Both my parents were born in Jamaica. They lived in a Parish called Saint Elizabeth on the South West side of the island.

My mother, Ivorine Colberta Ebanks was born at Flagaman in the district of Pedro Plains. My father Renford Hodgson was born at Tryall in the district of Southfield. There will be much more written about ‘Southfield’ throughout the blog.

Although Pedro Plains and Southfield were adjacent and quite close to each other, my parents never actually met in Jamaica. They came Seperately to England in the mid 1950’s. They met each other through the connection and friendship of their Uncles, Cecil Hodgson and Everith Ebanks. In 1957 they married at Oldbury Register Office before settling here in West Bromwich thereafter.

‘Yours truly’ is the 3rd eldest of their six children. I was born in February 1961 at Hallam Hospital in the parish of West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England.