By George Bonanos
Everything started last April when I received an invitation to a private ‘Families Open Day’ at The Hellenic Enclosure, at West Norwood Cemetery. In reality, it was anything but a families day.
It was truly a ‘Family Day’ and this was because practically all of us within the 200+ attendees, are somehow related to one-a-another. Thus, all of us being relatives, blends us into one vast family, whose ancestors have been contributing to trade and finance trough the last three centuries. Christopher A. Long delivered a speech lasting well over an hour, providing an account of the dramatic events triggered by the Greek’s struggle for independence, describing his audience part of “a select little group of about 1,700 living descendants of an inter-related Chiot and Phanariot diaspora”.
Thanks to this I paid my long-due respects to my relatives resting in the Zarifi, Petrocochino, Vlasto and Rodokanachi tombs.
Here is cousin Christopher’s full speech:
