A Church, A Footall Team & the Search for Lost Photographs - Sepia Saturday.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt image shows a barge on a river with, in the background,   a large church building.    

Cue for me to featured a church linked with my father’s childhood in Broseley, Shropshire in England’s West Midlands.  Situated on  the banks of the River Severn, Broseley lies across the river  from its more famous neighbour Ironbridge, noted as the birthplace of England’s 18th century Industrial Revolution. 

 All Saints Parish Church in Broseley  was built  in 1845, replacing a previous structure.   It has been described as "the finest early Victorian church in Shropshire".    The tower rises to over 93 feet amd can be visible from  along the Ironbridge gorge.  

I’m,

 

 

River Severn flowing between Broseley and Ironbridge
Photograph by my brother Chris Weston

 

 

 

The famous 100 feet span of the Ironbridge, linking Broseley  and Ironbridge, was completed in 1779.   My grandfather Albert Ernest Weston had a 35 minute walk (one way), crossing the bridge to Coalbrookdale where he worked in the Power House.  Photograph by my brother Chris Weston. 

 

This was the church where my father sang in the choir from the age of seven.  My father John Percy Weston was born in Bilston, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire  on 15th April 1912 -  a momentous date in many ways  as that was the night the "Titanic" sank on its  maiden voyage.   Dad was the second son of Albert Ernest Weston and Mary Barbara Matthews with siblings Fred, Madge and Charles.   

Dad was named after his mother’s brother who had died two year’s earlier.  But Dad rated his middle name of Percy, or even worse when corrupted to “Perce”, whcih he seemed to be known as locally  He almost made me believe as a child that his middle name was actually Philip,  the name of the late Queen's husband.  

At the age of seven the Weston family moved to the neighbouring county of Shropshire and to the small town of Broseley, across the River Severn from Ironbridge. Dad always regarded Broseley as his spiritual home  and had written down for me memories of his life there.  

 

 

 

He recalled in Broseley,

 Dad wrote : "We lived in a a house that was unique since it had an indoor flush toilet..... Our house was next door to the Wesleyan chapel, and when we were in bed, we could hear the church choir practising.  

We had a "palace" organ double keyboard.  Mum was very musical and Dad, who,  as far as i know  had never had a music lesson,  played in Coalbrookdale Brass Band and could also play the violin.  Mum would play the organ on a Sunday night, and Dad the violin  and we sandf hymns along with them". 

 

 Dad worked at Coalbrookdale, in the power house. It was 35 minutes walk, no buses.  On a Sunday if Dad was working on what he called “grinding the vales in”, I came home from church at noon and had to set off to the works with his dinner, come back for mine and the go to Sunday school and church at night."

 

In Broseley Dad with his older brother Fred joined the  church choir at the age of seven and remained a choir member wherever he lived, with a love of hymns and sacred  music.  Listening to Sunday Half Hour (hymn singing on the radio) was part of our Sunday evening ritual when I was growing up - as was TV's "Songs of Praise". 

 

Dad' brother Fred Weston, but sadly there is no similar photograph for my father John Percy  Weston. 

 

 My father often mentioned that a photograph had been taken of him as a choir boy and also as a member of his school winning football team (his great passion). But these were unfortunately thrown out on the death of a relative. Dad felt quite bitter about that, soI set out to see what I could find.    

Through Google I established there was a Broseley Local History Society  and  I contacted it o see if they held any pictures of the church choir and the football team   in the 1920s.  I met with Immediate  success! 

 

 

 

Dad is the first figure on the  third row from the back.  

 

 

  

 

The Society website featured transcriptions from the local newspaper at the time the Weston family lived  in Broseley.  The frequent reports on church activities presented a picture of what Dad could have well been involved in,  with singing in  Stainer's "Crucifixion" his favourite memory,  

 

 

 The inscription written in the prayer book presented to my father, here named as Percy Weston.

 

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In Dad's own words  "When my school team entered a cup competition. I was vice-captain and we got to the final - and won the cup, the first ever for Broseley.   One of the supporters took a carrier pigeon along with us and set it loose at the end to let Broseley know the result and to prepare a welcome, as we were bringing home the cup! " 

 

Broseley Historical  Society  put my enquiry on their online newsletter.   I was delighted to hear  from three members of the society with more personal memories of the pigeon story  - and even better  a photograph of the  football team itself with my father identified as Perce Weston. Vice Captain  on the right of the middle row - the team is identified on the reverse with Dad named as Perce Wes.  The date 1926. 

 

 This is the  earliest photograph I have of my father and I was so grateful  to the Society for filling this gap in my family history.   My father retained his love of football all his life and was an avid watcher of matches on television,  right up to his death at the age of 91.   

 

And  an important lesson from this - don't forget the value that can be gained from contacting local societies. 

 

 

 My father John P. Wesston (1912-2003)

 

 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share their family history through photographs

 

Click HERE to see posts  from other Sepia Saturday bloggers. 

 

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Girls Together - SepiaSaturday

 

 This week's prompt photograph from the Sepia Saturday website  features a group of young women and girls, many in white dresses and with the elaborate hairstyle of the times c. 1900. 

  

A photograph from the collection of my local heritage group Auld Earlston.  The occasion -  an outing by members of the parish church choir, c.1907, with the women at the front relaxing with hats off, once they. Ǐdthey reached their destination. 

  

My paternal grandmother Mary  Barbara  Matthews(1876--1959)  with a similar hairstyle, c.1900.  She was the  3rd  child out of ten, born to John Matthews and Matilda Such of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire in the  English Midlands and masried my grandfather Alvert Ernest Weston. 

Did you spot in the prompt picture the young girl with the long loose hair sitting at the front ?

She  reminded me of my great aunt Jennie Danson, (1897-1976)  of Poulton le Fylde, Lancashire.   Jennie was the last born child, and only daughter born to my grandparents William Danson and Maria Rawcliffe.  By all accounts she was a feisty  individual who held her own in a household with eight older brothers.  This photograph was taken  c.1909  when Jennie was would be around 12 years old.  

 

 

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From  early 20th century hairstyles  to more groups of women and girls,  all similarly dressed. 

 

Land Girls gathering in Earlston for work on local farms  

during the Second World War, replacing men now in the armed services. 

 

 

 

 

Members of Earlston Girls Training Corps   

The first Girls Training Corps units were formed in 1941.with the aim  to prepare young people aged 14 to 20 (too young for official war work)   for service in their community and to support the war effort upon reaching adulthood.  

Activities included learning to act as bicycle couriers, learning morse code and airforce recognition, gymnastics, homemaking, craft-work, public affairs, land navigation, learning first aid and marksmanship,  firefighting, and assisting with air warden duties.Within a year of forming, over 120,000 girls had joined a GTC company.  The GTS was disbanded  in 1948.  (Source:  Wikipedia) 

 

On a happier note,   - below are Earlston's Girls' Club in  their production of  "Simple Simon" , staged with orchestra in February 1939 in the Corn Exchange, Earlston,   The large chorus took the part of villagers, sailors and native girls.    A  local newspaper noted that "all the players acquitted themselves in a very creditable manner, fully deserving the warm appreciation of the audience." 

 

 

 

 

 

 Below more dressing up here  by the Junior dancers in Staining Gala Day, Lancashire. c.1952, and I am the little girl kneeling on the left of the front row, with us wearing apple green satin dresses.     

 

The Village Gala was the focal event of the calendar where we lived.   All the surrounding  villages had the their annual gala day, when the  band led the Rose Queen in procession with her maids of honour and retinue to a field where she was crowned Queen by some local worthy, followed by dancing displays  games, stalls, craft competitions, refreshment tents - and sports.  A great community event that raised spirits after the war years.  

 

 

  

And finally my school photograph c.1955   at Devonshire Road Junior School, Blackpool.   I moved on from Infants to Juniors, where the boys and girls were in separate classes - When I was  there   boys were on the ground floor,  with playground to the back, whilst girls were upstairs with our own assembly hall, and our playground was at the front of the red brick building - and "never the twain should meet"!   I think we were the last council junior school to go co-d in Blackpool, following the death of the headmistress.

 Here I am the prim little girl second from the right on the front row of seats.   Uniform was not compulsory. but see the popularity of peter pan collars, and ribbons in our hair.  We are all very regimented with hands  in our laps and crossed ankles in our Clarks sandals.   The class here numbers 43 today the maximum class side for older primary school pupils is 33.  

 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share their family history through photographs. 

 

Click HERE to see favourite family photos from other Sepia Saturday bloggers. 

 

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Portraits of Life - Sepia Saturday

 A portrait of an elegant lady features in this week’s Sepia Saturday prompt image.  Rather than a head. & shoulders or hairstyles theme which I have done in the past, I have chosen to look at Portraits of Life. .

Portrait of Childhood 

 

 

 

Funnily enough I cannot remember having any favourite soft toys, (I was a dolly girl),  though presumably the one I am clutching in this studio photo must have been high on the list.  

 

 

Portraits of Friendship

 

 

Amy Dodd was a friend of George Danson,(1894-1916)  my youngest great uncle  who, as a stretcher bearer in the field was killed on the Somme in World War One.  

 

 Annie Jolly was a friend of my great aunt Jennie Danson (1897-1986)/  There were close links between the two families of Jolly and Danson.  

 

 Portraits of Faith

 

           

                  

1,  Dorothy Chisholm was confirmed in St. Chad's Parish  Church, Poulton-le-Fylde.  She  was engaged to John Danson, my widowed great uncle, but but he was killed in 1917 whilst in  army  training.    Dorothy never married, but the Danson family maintained contact with her throughout her life  and I have memories of visiting her in a bedsit with my mother taking her some of her home baking. 

 

2.   My husband's great aunt Violet Hibbert, in her confirmation dress,   taken at  Frank & Hamilton, Ocean Road, South Shields, County Durham. 

 

3. My paternal great grandfather James Matthews (1844-1917) of Wolverhampton in the English Midlands.  John was a staunch Methodist who conducted the local church choir and I am proud to have the silver baton he was  presented with for his service to the church.

 

Portraits of Service in War 

 

                                    

1.  My maternal grandfather Willliam Danson  (1885-1962)  who was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in action iin World War One.  

2.  My great uncle George Danson (1894-1916),  William's youngest brother , who was killed on the Somme in 1916.   

 

 

          

 

 My father   John Weston  (1912-2003) of Blackpool, Lancashire often talked about his war experiences (a sanitised version I am sure)  and I am afraid it did provoke the reaction at times of “Not the war again, Dad”. It was only later that we came to realise what a life-defining period it was, and I persuaded him to write an account for his granddaughter.   I was also  proud to add my father's accounts to the BBC World War Two People's Story online.

Dad served in the RAF Codes & Ciphers Branch  and was seconded to General Bradley’s US 12th Army Group HQ. He landed at Omaha beach after D-Day and advanced via St. Mere Eglise, Avranches, Versailles, Paris, Verdun and Luxembourg through to Wiesbaden in Germany. Immediately after VE Day he was posted to Burma where he was for VJ Day. 

 

 

                                       

                                       

 

 1.  My uncle Harry Danson (1912-2001)  who was one  of the many rescued at Dunkirk in 1940 arriving home days later   still in the uniform in which he had entered the sea to reach a boat.  

 

2.  My aunt Peggy Danson (1922-1999) who served in the WAAF (Women's Auxillary Air Force, manning barrage  balloons. 

 

3.  My uncle Billy Danson (1915-1990) who served in the navy in World War Two.  

 

3.  My uncle Charles Weston (1915-1999) who was taken prisoner by the Japanese in Singapore and experienced the horrors of  forced working on the railway.  

Portraits of Success

                                  

My student days ended on graduation, - followed four years later by my brother - and look at those 1970's sideburns!  Both our parents left school at 14 years old,  and we were the first generation to go to university - something our parents were very proud of. 

 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share their family history through photographs.

  

  

 

Click HERE to see favourite family photos from other Sepia Saturday bloggers/  

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Trees, Seasons & Memories: Sepia Saturday

 Trees against the background of a misty mountain and in the distance a vintage car - all feature in this week's Sepia Saturday prompt image.   I like  photographing trees whatever the season and trees also make a lovely backdrop to family memories. 

 

On holiday in the Austrian Tyrol  

 Ramsau  is a small village near Berchtesgarten in Bavaria, close to the the  Austrian border.   The church of St. Sebastian was was built in 1512 and extended in 1692 in the baroque style. The footbridge crosses the Ramsauer Ache.  One of my favourite holiday photographs.  

 

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1973 - A favourite photograph with my daughter - with trees in the background  in Wilton Lodge Park, Hawick in the Scottish Borders .  

 

 

 

 

1975 - daughter a year older, with my parents  and. me in my mini skirt days! 

 

A special photograph,   as the only one  I have of my mother with her three granddaughters.   

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We have no shortage of trees  and woods in the Scottish Borders where I live - so enjoy these  calming scenes of nature at its best, whatever the season. 

 

 

A country lane with the Black Hill of Earlston in the distance.  

 

Springtime  on the banks of the River Teviot in Hawick in the Scottish Border.  

 

The Leader Water in Earlston where I now live.  The Water is one of the many tributaries of the 90 mile long River Tweed, which crosses the region. 

 

Daughter and friend having fun by the Wolfcleuchhead Waterfall in Craik Forest near Hawick.  

 

 

Sun shining through the trees in Cowdenknowes Wood, near our home in Earlston.  

 

 Autumn Gold 

 

Autumn in Dawyk Gardens near Peebles in the Scottish Borders  

  

 The Leader Water in Winter in Earlston 

 

We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful  part of the country.

 

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And finally  - not  forgetting  the prompt picture  with that vintage car , here is a misty photograph from my cousin's collection 

 

 

 

 My cousin's first ever car - a 1932 Morris Minor. 

 

The photograph was taken near Inverary in the west of Scotland on the "Rest and Be Thankful Road"  -  It gets its name as it was once a place where people  would stop, rest and be thankful that they have reached the top of their climb through the hilly pass between two glens (valleys).   

 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share their family history through photographs.

 

   

Click HERE to see favourite family photos from other Sepia Saturday bloggers/  

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