Scanned Images

The scanner had been sitting on a shelf in the rabbit room gathering fluff for a couple of years.  Yesterday, as a reward for moving all that furniture, we got it up and running.

So I carried the big box of photos downstairs and got to work.

And while I scanned I listened to Johnny Cash.

How many pictures of people sitting on settees does one person need? 

These- not a settee in sight-  were taken in Southport in 1991.

My Mother And Grandparents

My nephew, Tom Fairweather, asked me a few days back if I had any pictures of my grandfather Allen. I said I hadn't, but, having gone right through the big box of photos, I find I have this.



That's my mother on the far left and my grandmother in the middle. I'm guessing this was taken in the mid to late 30s- before the outbreak of War, at any rate- and that the photographer was my uncle Dick.

My Grandmother Allen

This is my grandmother Allen- a studio portrait. She hated having her picture taken- don't we all?- and particularly despised this one. Sorry, Granny, but your great grandson would like to see you.



She was born Mary Vectis Jackson. Vectis is the Roman name for the Isle of Wight- where she grew up. There's a family story- religiously passed down- about some Jackson relative who once shared the deck of the Isle of Wight ferry with no less a person than Alfred Lord Tennyson but was too timid to approach him.  

She trained as a woodcarver- I have examples of her work- married late and was widowed early. She was a lovely person- artistic, strong-willed and- from a small boy's perspective- lots of fun.

Family Heirloom

And here's the original photograph of Alfred Lord Tennyson that was handed down in my Grandmother's family.



And here's the inscription on the reverse. A. Colenutt is (I believe) Annie Colenutt, my grandmother's mother.

My Father's Family

My father with his parents, Cyril and Violet in 193?, captured by a street photographer.



Cyril and Violet (seated) celebrate their golden wedding anniversary at the Old Forge, Hallam, with my grandmother's sisters (l to r) Joan, Ethel and Kathleen, my father and- the gawky one in the middle- me.

The Bridges Girls

One more. This has to be my favourite.



That's my granny, Violet, in the bottom right hand corner. I'd know those eyes anywhere. Her sisters Kathleen and Ethel are sitting at the far left. I think Joan (dear Aunt Joan) may be the blonde kid in the middle.

They were the Bridges girls. Their father had a shop (millinery, I think) in Maidstone, Kent.

I don't know what's going on- amateur theatricals?  a fancy dress party?- or who the others are. The date must be round about the outbreak of the First World War.