"For the Times they are a Changing"

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Back here,

I mentioned how I had three great boxes (IKEA Jean tells me)

of old family photographs to wade through.

Just look what I found.

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Bernards Great Grandma.

Now a few of you said, "please show us more", so here are a few of

some of the more interesting ones.

I promise not to inflict on you, dozens of pictures of me building

sandcastles at Weston-super-Mare,

nor lots of little babies,

or boys in school caps!

The lady above cannot be accurately identified,

but is very probably the same as the one below.

This lady (below) IS my Great Grandmother,

on my Fathers side.

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Thankfully my Aunty had written on the back.

Here she is again with our Aunty Gladys aged eight.

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And with interesting little comments.

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"All her lovely dresses & bonnets she used to

make herself."

Now this one below has to be my all time favourite.

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Just look at that vintage pram.

And who is it, and who is in the pram?

Aunty G. tells us all.

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Dated - July 1905.

Well the brother in the pram is not my father,

as he was not around in 1905.

It would have been David or Norman,

my fathers elder brothers.

I need to dig much deeper now to get all the dates of

Birthdays and tie this all up.

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This is that 'thoughtful' Gladys as a young lady,

who thankfully provided

all this useful information to make what are just photographs,

turn into our family history.

Thanks Aunty G.

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Yesterdays Birthday Boy

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Here's a post which is bound to upset my brother Adrian!

Not keen on cats you see.

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But it can't be helped because yesterday was Wesley's Birthday.

Fifteen years ago these two little 'terrors' arrived

to liven up Hazel's previously peaceful existence.

'Pride & Prejudice' was on the telly at the time,

and I named them 'Lizzie' and 'Darcy'.

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However, I wasn't very happy with the name Darcy,

so I needed to think of something new.

I thought of Rupert, but he didn't really fit the part.

I though of Compo, from Last of the Summer Wine,

but he didn't seem scruffy enough!

So he ended up with Wesley, the old car enthusiast,

from the same series.

Here is is yesterday, lazing around in the sun,

with a tummy full of steak mince!

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Ginger cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair,

Top of piano, window ledge,

In the middle, on the edge.

His sister Lizzie, died a couple of years ago,

we think, from a heart attack.

I had them at seven weeks old and Hazel actually

didn't seem to mind them all that much.

Here is Wes. pushing his luck,

with a four year old Hazel.

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And here they are fifteen years on,

still the best of friends.

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I posted up a similar one to this earlier,

with Wes. giving Hazel a good licking.

This is the first time however,

I have managed to catch them doing a 'double act'!

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In Search of Snowdrops.

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As some of you noticed,

I repeated this year my 'Snowdrop post'

from Great Missenden.

So on a sunny Tuesday, a couple of weeks ago,

I went off in search of a different location.

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I stopped off for a picnic at the village of Sydenham.

It is on the way back from Thame market so I didn't go too far out of my way.

Now Sydenham is not in Buckinghamshire,

but just over the border into Oxfordshire.

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It is a very attractive village, having a good selection of timber framed,

brick, flint and wychert (a clay-like material)

cottages under thatch and old tiled roofs.

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This one is dated 1797.

I was wondering how many times it had been re-thatched

in those 214 years?

Further down by the little stream I found a few snowdrops.

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Probably planted by the residents.

The name 'Sydenham' by the way,

means 'at the wide hamm or meadow'.

And here's a few in some-ones garden.

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One of my 'better' photos I thought?

And then on over to the flint and stone St. Mary's Church

with its oak shingled spire.

This is much older than those cottages above,

as it dates back to the 13th century.

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Now when I got home I read up on the village and the Church.

I seem to have done things the wrong way round here,

because I read that the Church door had a very unusual keyhole.

It was cut out from an old sundial.

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I remembered reading about this in one of my books on clocks.

Did I take photo? No!

Do you think I can find that picture in my clock books? No!

I must remind myself to read up on a place

before setting out.

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Anyway, the Church was home to a sweet little organ.

One manual, four stops and two candle holders!

Years ago it would have been hand pumped

by a boy around the back.

He even had his own little seat (picture right),

so he could take a rest between hymns.

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And, as in all true English villages.....

The Pub. Right next to the Church.

And........

right next to the Pub was.....

the

Village Information Centre.

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Housed in the now defunct telephone box!

(Shame I parked the car in the wrong place)

and

shame about the keyhole photo - if I come across it,

I'll post it up.

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Birthday Wishes

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"Grrrrracky Hirthday DD"

See, I hadn't forgotten.

Have a wonderful day Dumpling.

cheers....Bernard {{hugs}}.

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Looking on the 'Positive' Side.

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My sister has been custodian of the ‘family-photo archives’

since dear old Dad left us in 1999.

Being eleven years younger than I,

she was at a loss to identify many of the relatives and friends in the old photographs.

So, they have been delivered to ‘your truly’ for an identity check!

Not a dozen or so.

Not a hundred or so in a shoebox.

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But three great big boxes.

One box contains our Grandfathers photos, the second, Fathers

and the third a load of photographs rescued from our father’s sister, our aunty Gladys.

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This is going to take me months and months I can see, but it is a ‘labour of love’ and I am grateful that these were saved for future generations.

I wouldn’t mind betting there are going to be many, many sepia faces of tightly laced great-aunties that I do not recognise either.

My paternal Grandfather was a chemist and a photographer. I still have one of his old cameras. My Father was also a keen amateur and I still have one of his old cameras. So you see there are in addition to these old prints, hundreds and hundreds of negatives.

I did a blog way back in March 2009 about the old cameras.

In order to view and maybe print from these, I have lashed out on a new scanner.

My Canon printer/scanner only does positive copies, but this Hewlett Packard model has carriers for slides and negatives, in both colour and B&W in 35mm, and many other larger formats.

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So this week I have been scanning and viewing

some of my pictures from over fifty years ago.

There was Grandfather in his chemists shop.

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There was my Mother, astride a pony, on holiday in Devon. - 1935

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Shock and horror! Mom and Dad in drag? - 1937

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Bernard’s bare bum! - 1943

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And there I was in 1961 on holiday with my first (serious) girlfriend.

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And no, - it didn’t last.

But at least the negatives, photographs and the memories do.

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