MEMBERS of the Collyer family came from Australia, France, Wales and across England for a get-together in Elstead on September 30.

The 57 people present, aged from three to 93, were all linked to James and Hester Collyer, who were married in the church of St Mary the Virgin at Frensham in 1843. Many were meeting relatives for the first time.

James and Hester had six children when they lived at Millbridge, after which they moved to farm at Woolfords in Elstead, where a further seven children were born. James had been a master tailor in Frensham.

There were Collyers in Elstead until 1988, when James and Hester’s great grandson Bob, and his wife Connie, moved the surname back to Frensham.

Descendants of three of James and Hester’s 13 children, James junior, who farmed at Springfield in the centre of Elstead, George, who was a stockman in the village, and Joseph, a carpenter with links in Thursley, Headley and Rowledge, were present at the afternoon tea party in Elstead RBL hall.

The families of Eliza, Hester junior, Edith, Elizabeth, Ellen, Fanny and Albert have not been traced. A further three siblings, John, William and Edwin, did not have children.

Graham Collyer, who helped to organise the get-together, would like to hear from readers who believe they are descended from James and Hester. He can be contacted at [email protected]