About Us
We are Andy and Katrina and we started this business in 2018. Originally it was just going to be Katrina offering a genealogy research service but, wanting to find a way to make ourselves a little bit different, we designed beautiful trees to present your four or five generation family pedigree in. That then developed into gifts for families in the present time to celebrate and treasure each other because our lives and the people in them are precious.
In addition to our theme of celebrating family relationships, we wanted to design gifts for anyone else who has an impact on our lives, like teachers, and friends who should also be appreciated. Friends, of course, are like the extra family we choose for ourselves. So we extended our gift designs to include teachers and friends too.
Andy & Katrina
Katrina has worked as a genealogist for 40 years working on her own tree as well working as a consultant to help others with theirs. She is a qualified adult education tutor and teaches courses and is a public speaker on family history research. Her love for family history stems from being brought up by her maternal grandmother as well as her mother. Growing up, she would love hearing her nan tell stories of what her life was like growing up in early 1920's and living through the Second World War etc.
Andy has a retail background, formerly as a company director and director of senior management training in the East of England for a large, nationwide retail group. He is also the main carer for his special needs son. He loves to chat to people and has a very quick, witty sense of humour! He also loves to cook and is very good at it.
The kids think he should go on Masterchef! And dare I mention that he is an avid Liverpool supporter (having grown up there and having his tree roots well grounded in the area!)- but don't let that put you off haha!
We both feel that families are really important and something to treasure, we are a blended family ourselves, each of us with 3 children from our previous marriages. Although, like ours, our living families are constantly changing - moving away from each other, relationships breaking up, new ones forming, births and bereavements and so on - our past family is constant, it won't change any more. Knowing our family history, therefore, gives a sense of stability, belonging and grounding that is often missing in today's society and we think that is why so many people are drawn to finding out their ancestry.
Archie Bear
Pets are family too! Archie bear is our rescue dog who joined our family in June 2018 when he was 3 years old. He's a staffie and the sweetest, cutest little bear ever. He often comes to the market and shows with us and loves nothing better than for passers by to come over and fuss him.
He's very intelligent too (there's a big brain inside that big head) so he likes to help us all he can - usually by trying to lie on the laptop when Katrina is working! He is our alarm clock to make sure we take plenty of breaks - which usually coincides with walkies, dinner and bed time!
We actually think he's related to Chewbacca because he makes a similar noise when he turns over in his sleep!