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You can obtain them from Manchester central library archives.Viktoria

Having lived in Gent for 12 years I too love the town but I think Brugge is the prettier more quaint town of the two. Gent has "attitude" - after all The Count of Flanders built Het Gravensteen to protect him from the people of the town!  How did you manage with the Gentse accent and colloquial words?We found that each town and area had its own patois and it says something when on T.V. there were sub-titles for the regions as they don`t understand the Flemish from another area. However as we were in a lemish speaking area we did not resort to French and people were so pleased that we were attempting to speak Flemish that they forgave us our errors of grammar and made allowances--- in the early days I asked in a shop for sardines, they  were obtainable without skin and bones but I asked for sardines without peel and legs! It annoys me that in Brussels although it is in Flemish Brabant they will not speak Flemish. I refused to speak French and my husband used to go on The Bourse where all trade etc. was conducted in French but he too would only trade in Flemish and so th other dealers followed suit. There was so much snobbery amongst the older British ex pats who had been there for many years before the Flemish revival was properly on its way.They would not acknowledge street names,pretended they did not know where Kortrijksesteenweg was but mention Chausee de Courtrai and they knew despite both names being on the street signs. We enjoyed our time in gent and our children got very a good education which enabled them to do their A levels in one year when we returned. they had done 14 subjects to a level higher than O levels but not acknowledged   to be the same as A levels. Loads of homework and school on Saturday mornings !. They attended The Institute de Gand but again it was French orientated so we put them in The RIijkslagereschool in Mariakerke where we lived and then theAthenaeum near St.Pieter`s station . All this was 1965 onwards.I am sure you are enjoying your time in Gent and we found it a wonderful experience we would not have missed.Viktoria

Many thanks Jerry,I know Ypres very well because for 12 years we lived in Ghent and often went to Ypres because the Church in Ghent and St.George`s Church in Ypres shared the  same minister and we took my father to visit the cemetaries and memorials.When he died we got permission from the C.W.G.C to scatter his ashes at Hill 60. we know Zillebeke but not Zwarteleen-but we will find  it!! How did you get all your information ?What I have found out about the family is H.A.B.st.G`s father was a land agent in Ireland but they were pretty well - heeled given the size and number of properties they had. His mother Evelyn or Florence Evelyn had an affair with an artist,secret at first but then quite open.In the list of events in her life there is no mention of the death of her second son even though there are other things listed for that year .Perhaps she no longer lived with her husband. In the N.Y.Times account of her father`s death it seems whilst his other children were at his bedside Evelyn is stated as being at her house in England but they may have been estranged because she did not obey him when he asked her to finish the affair  at the request of his grand daughter, Evelyn`s daughter- Gardenia I think. I shall find it interesting to see exactly who placed the stained-glass window to his memory in Zillebeke Church. I think I told you it was closed when we went. which came as a surprise to people in the T.I.Oin ypres.I am new to this computer lark as you will be able to tell and it is a source of great frustration to me that following information kindly sent to me via this site I am unable to obtain the photograph which exists of H.A.B.St.Gand  and is most likely the one on the book I was too daft to buy when I first saw it in Ypres, but my daughter has a safe account and she is endeavouring to get it for me.I am beginning to feel more and more sorry for this lad. my dad was only just 19 when he went to the front and only 8 months later was taken prisoner for the rest of the war but it very probably saved his life but because of an untreated head wound-depressed fracture- he suffered from epilepsy for nealy20 years and then the siezures stopped and he and mum got married when they were nearly 40 so I know a lot about the trenches etc.We have taken our granndchildren to Ypres and hope to take them to the Somme and of course our own children were frequent visitors because we went so often to Ypres. Anyway thank you again I am most grateful.Viktoria.

Can anyone tell me how to search records when the surname I am researching starts with St.? In this case St. George. I have had a lot of help from RootsChat subscribers on the person I am tracing but last night there were a lot of problems with talkTalk and I have lost some email messages I think. If anyone was kind enough to send me a message thank you and if I don`t reply you will  know I have not retrieved them . I have been searching 2nd. Lt. Howard Avenel Bligh St. George who was killed on 15th November at a place near Ypres Belgium. He was only 20yrs old. He was in the 1st. Life Guards. Thanks to all who have already given me info Viktoria.Surname search