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Thursday 8 August 2013

Sepia Saturday - Doorways to Life

Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity to share their family history and memories  through photographs.
 
I had no contraption photographs in my collection, so my eyes alighted on the rather dilapidated building in the background.  I toyed with Arches but  settled on on Doorways as my theme.








My mother Kathleen Weston, nee Danson, was a dressmaker and here she is  modelling one of her dresses, outside the family home in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. 


                  



 
At the doorway of St. Chad's Church, Poulton.  on the occasion of my parent's wedding in 1938.  Mum and Dad are on the left of the group, with Mum's sister Edith  and Dad's brother Charles.  
 
 
 
Outside a guest house in Blackpool, a lovely Danson family group of my two aunts (Edith and Peggy)  grandparents (William and Alice Danson), uncle Harry  and mother (Kahleen) .  I think this is the occasion of my uncle's wedding in 1940, just after he had returned home from the evacuation off Dunkirk.   Missing is younger son Billy who was serving in the navy.
 
 

A happy photograph but a sad tale.  Here is Dorothy Chisholm, on a ladder in a doorway pruning a plant. Dorothy was engaged to my great uncle John Danson, a widower whose wife had died at the age of 21, and  whose daughter Annie lived with her grandmother.  John died in 1917 whilst in army camp, but the family always retained their link with Dorothy, one of the many women after the war  who never married.  I remember visiting her in bedsit with my mother and aunt when she must have been in her 80's. 
 
 
 
Some doorways that attracted my attention (and camera) when on holiday:
 
 

 
Kirkcudbright in south west Scotland  is  on the estuary of the River Dee, which flows into Kirkcudbright Bay on the Solway Firth,   The name Kirkcudbright means ‘Church of St Cuthbert’.

Kirkcudbright today is a picturesque place with a working harbour, castle , broad streets  and elegant civic buildings and town houses., such as this one here. It is also know as "the artists' town", through its  association with the Glasgow art movement - ; the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish colourists making a base there 1880-1910.




Detail on two imposing doors in Prague.


 
 
 An impressive doorknocker in Warsaw
 
 
 
An intriguing door in Krakow, Poland.  I have no idea who the heads represented. 
 
 
 Back to a happy family shot  with my daughter enjoying
an autumn (fall) holiday in New England.  Pumpkins add such a cheery image.
 
 
Click HERE to see other Sepia Saturdays contributions.
 

24 comments:

  1. That's a nice twist on the prompt! Poor Dorothy - but what an interesting pose.

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  2. Yes, poor Dorothy - but how lovely the family kept her in the link. We have a 'relative' like that. Why not! If they're nice likeable fun people, why leave them out simply because they're no longer linked, by law, to the family?!! I really liked some of the interesting doorknockers, doors & doorways you included in your post. An interesting take on the prompt!

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  3. What a fun group of photographs! The photo of your mom modeling the dress she made is especially fun. And those heads on that door in Poland. Very interesting indeed.

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  4. I am so tickled to have happened on your delightful blog!
    what an interesting array of doors! for some reason, I am drawn to doors. how lucky you are to have these beautiful vintage photos! I hope you either frame them or put them in an album that won't damage the photos. I've done a bit of both of my family's vintage treasures.

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  5. What fun. From bricks, to pretty ladies, to doors, to pretty lady and a pumpkin. Just delightful

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  6. I like the one in front of the doorway of St. Chad's Church - so very much of the times.

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  7. What lovely photos of doors, you found some lovely ones to take pictures of
    Another dressmaker, I to have included a dressmaker in my post this week!
    Jackie
    Scrapbangwallop

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  8. Sue,

    I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2013/08/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-august-9.html

    Have a great weekend!

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  9. Clever! This makes me think Alan and Marilyn should use doorways as a future prompt, hint hint.

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  10. On holidays I'm always the one lagging behind the group because I've stopped to photograph doors and windows.

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  11. Doorways -- what a great response to the prompt! I know that the architecture of windows is called fenestration, but what is the architecture of doors called? They are beautiful!

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  12. A great collection of doorways. I am always attracted to photograph doorways too. Love the dress designs of the 30's they are so elegant. Your old family photos remind me of my parents era too.

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  13. Who would think that doorways could be so interesting. Lovely.

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  14. I am intrigued by that door in Krakow!

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  15. A great collection of doorways. I particularly love the shot taken outside the boarding house in Blackpool as I must have several in my family collection just like this. Those little walls always look the same!

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  16. A great collection of doorways. I particularly love the shot taken outside the boarding house in Blackpool as I must have several in my family collection just like this. Those little walls always look the same!

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  17. Doorways can be an interesting photo subject both by themselves and with people.

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  18. I wonder who all of those heads are on the door.

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  19. Fascinating and enjoyable post!!!

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  20. I did think of the doors and archways too but had so many contraptions I had to take the hint and hope that a future prompt would involve doors, etc.
    I did like the dressmaker reference - I've been trying to get my ex dressmaker mum to read and maybe write a blog and she liked your post - another little step forward for her!

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  21. Doorways feature in US photos, but I think more often in Britain where the house fronts are nearer the street. We get the family posed next to the car and the driveway.

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  22. Too bad for Dorothy (and John too...).
    Love that second door from Prague.
    Remarkable metal work.
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  23. Very enjoyable. My blog this week was on a sewing them so smiled when I read about your mother.

    The photo of Dorothy is lovely, although it is a sad story. I think it is great that the family continued to involve her.

    Very interesting doors too.

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