There and Back Again...A Hart Family Tale... Part 4 York, Church History

Our first adventure from Manchester was a day trip to York. With a long history from Romans to Vikings through the dark-ages to modern times York is a neat place. Both times I've been there it has been cool, blustery and cloudy. We were able to get into a free city tour. This is done by local volunteers who just love their town. Our guide could have been a hobbit. His York accent was cool and Charles enjoyed his explanations of word origins... how and why we have meanings today. We had dinner at a pub and 3 of us had fish and chips. We wandered around town a while just enjoying the oldness of the place. Lori and Meg got their first experience in having to pay to use a public toilet. 40 pence each (that's 80 cents) to relieve yourself. Charles and I had no problem... I guess they figure guys will just find a tree rather than pay. The York Minster is one of my favorite churches in England. Meg really enjoyed taking pictures with all the different angles and lightings available.

One minor reason for going to England for me was to allow Lori and the Kids to see a couple of LDS Church history sites. My 3rd great grandfather was an LDS Church leader named Heber C. Kimball. He was the first missionary from the church to go to Europe. Most of his time was spent in the north in the Preston/Liverpool area. One area of particular interest are the villages of Chatburn and Downham. These are near the town of Clitheroe. When we went through Clitheroe we visited the castle there. In Chatburn we had ice cream at Hudson's where 9 years ago I had ice cream with my mom and the Kimball Family group when we toured England. In Downham we visited an OLD church and wandered through this quaint village.

In the US we have signs on the road indicating that "Children Playing" or "Deaf Child", etc. Well, in England they take care of the old people with signs that say: "Elderly People" with a drawing of two old people stooped over. See the picture.

We went over to Preston where there is an LDS temple. During my first trip there I attended the open house for the temple as well as the services of dedication (when it is consecrated and closed to the public). One purpose of that trip with the Kimball group was to donate a portrait of Heber(our group's common grandfather) to the Church. It now is in the Missionary Training Center in Preston.

While in Preston we found a nice Indian place to eat. We drove one some narrow windy roads and got to see some great country side.