Where there is love, there is faith

I am Judith Ann Lion (nee Newman), the Webmaster of this site.  I was born in  Luton in April 1945, the daughter of Sidney Herbert Newman and Judith Hayes.   My father's family came from the Shoreditch and Hackney areas of London.  He  gained a BSc in Chemistry and worked in the Home Office for many years.  He  later became a Factory Inspector, working in Bedfordshire.  On his retirement  from the Civil Service, he became an Industrial Safety Consultant visiting  factories and advising on safety matters, and also working as an Expert  Witness in court cases.  My mother,Judith Hayes, was the daughter of Thomas  John Hayes and Mary Crofts of Buckley, Flintshire.  She worked as a Fitter for  Browns of Chester for many years and at the Vickers-Armstrongs Armaments factory in  Broughton during World War II.  By the time of her marriage in 1944 she was living  and working in Warwick.  I was their only child and although both my  mother's brother, Edward Hayes and my father's brothers Louis "Billy" and  Wilfred "Grog" Newman both married, none of them had any children.  I have  lived in Luton, Cranfield, Goring on Thames, Stevenage, Silverstone and  Midhurst, before moving to Dumpford in West Sussex in 1997.  I am married and  have two stepsons, one living in Sydney the other, a little nearer home, in  Suffolk.  I retired a few years ago from my job as a conference organiser, and  now fill my days with curtain making, photography and dog sitting.

There are both Croft and Crofts in my family tree as one of my grandmother's  brothers, Robert Crofts, decided to drop the 's' from the family name, so all  his descendants are Croft.  However I do not know whether any other members of  the Crofts family also dropped the 's' to become Croft.  If any visitors to my  site have more information about the correct spelling of the family name for  any particular generation, please do let me know.

History of the origin of my family names - well this is one site's version and  I am sure there are many other variations!

NEWMAN
 Coat of Arms: A black shield with three silver lions rampant, tongues red. Motto Translated: Where there is love there is faith
 Spelling variations of this family name include: Newman, Newmen, Newmin and  others.
 First found in Dorsetshire where they were seated from early times and their  first records appeared on the early census rolls taken by the early Kings of  Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.  Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were:  Alice Newman settled in Virginia in 1638; George Newman settled in Maine in  1630; Joe Newman settled in Virginia in 1635; along with John, Mountford,  Richard, Thomas, and Robert. 
 HAYES
 Coat of Arms: A black shield with a red crescent on a silver chevron between  three gold leopards faces.
 Motto Translated: Renew your courage
 Spelling variations of this family name include: Hayes, Hayse, Hays and  others. 
 First found in Sussex where they were seated from very early times and were  granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their  distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.  Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were:  David Hayes, who settled in Virginia in 1638; Francis Hayes, who came to  Virginia in 1653; Peter and Mary Hayes, who arrived in Virginia in 1637;  Richard Hayes, who settled in Virginia in 1635. 
 CROFTS
 Coat of Arms: Quartered erminois and red with a lion in the top left quarter. Motto Translated: To be, rather than to seem.
 Spelling variations of this family name include: Croft, Crofte, Crofts and  others. 
 First found in Yorkshire where they held a family seat from early times.  Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were:  William Croft who settled in Lynn, in 1650. Thomas Croft of Hadley settled  there in 1683. George Croft settled in Wickford in 1674. The widow of Thomas  Croft in 1704 married an Indian named Samuel Crofoot.