Glastonbury 2024 was amazing and one little gem was seeing Russell Crowe with his band 'In The Midnight Garden'.
Russell Crowe at the Glastonbury Festival
Later when I told Mum, she said that she'd been listening to him for a while, and did I know that my Grandad and Russell's grandad were probably acquainted?
Well no I didn't! And neither did I know that his Grandad was born in Wrexham, Wales, my hometown!
Russell's great-grandfather William Crowe had a greengrocers shop in the town, and his great-grandmother Kezia sold glass and china in the market. They lived on Salisbury Road, Wrexham.
This photo is held at the Denbighshire Archives and is titled 'Photograph of Open back delivery van of F. Crowe, Fruit Merchant, Wrexham'
In 1925 William and Kezia emigrated to Canada, taking 12 of their 13 children with them. Russell Crowe's grandfather John Doubleday Crowe stayed behind in Wrexham to continue the family grocery business.
The business appears to have suffered and John's older brother Frank, returned to Wrexham to help out.
William and Kezia Crowe with their 13 children.
Within a few years, John had emigrated to New Zealand where he met and married Lois Cunningham. Their children included Alex, Russell's father. Russell was born in New Zealand in 1964 and moved with his parents to Australia as a child.
Frank Crowe stayed in Wrexham and grew the family business to become Crofruit fruit and vegetable wholesaler with a large warehouse next to Wrexham general station. Crofruit continued trading until the 1980s in the hands of Frank's descendants, some of who still live in the Wrexham area.
My Grandad John Lee Hinton sold his excess potatoes to Crowe's greengrocers and later to Crofruit.
