This was my first venture into genealogy, I was studying for a Geography GCSE as a mature student and one of the coursework questions asked you to find a derelict building in your area, think of another use for it and also find out some of the history of the people who lived there.
Luckily there was an old Victorian building round the corner from where I lived and I soon found out that it was owned back in the 19th century by Abel Rollason and his family. The house was originally called Shepherd's Green house and stood in its own grounds back from the road. Abel owned a steel rolling mill in Erdington, Birmingham. Soon I was hooked on finding out more about the family and spent many hours in the archives section of Birmingham Central Library.
Eventually I traced part of the family in Australia and also one of the descendants came to see me, he lives on the outskirts of Birmingham. When I decided to leave the area I handed over all of my findings to him, however I wish now that I had kept it all and tried to find out more.
Sadly the house has now been demolished.