April 2011 - Genes Reunited Blog

The second programme of Long Lost Family on Thursday 28^th April was incredibly emotional from beginning to end. 

The first episode of Long Lost Family told the stories of Jennifer Wilson and Karen Lloyd.  Both had emotional tales, telling how they had never felt complete once they knew a close family member wasn't in their lives.

With the average cost of a wedding around £18,600 there’s no wonder fewer people are getting married these days. According to the Office of National Statistics in 2009 only 21.3 out of 1000 men aged 16 or over married. The level for women was even lower at 19.2 per 1000. In 2009 a total of 231,490 marriages were registered in England and Wales. In 1895 there 228,204 marriages, but the population back then was much lower. This is a substantial drop compared to 1972 when the number of registered marriages peaked at 480,285. In fact, in 2009, the marriage rate (i.e. the proportion of single population that actually got married) was at its lowest level since records began in 1862. The figures show that more than two-thirds of marriages were actually civil ceremonies. There were 155,860 civil ceremonies in 2009, or 67 per cent of the total. There were 75,630 religious weddings, a fall of nearly 3,000 in a year. Religious ceremonies have declined by a quarter since 1999.