My Life in Five Photographs - A New Blog Challenge

Alona has issued a  brilliant new challenge of inviting us to show our "Life in Five Photos".    More details can be found  HERE. 

The challenge of course is choosing just five, but here is my contribution


1.  My first photograph with my elegant mother. 

Following the deaths of my parents,  I found a number of letters they exchanged  in 1944,  whilst my father was serving in the RAF as a Cipher Clerk in France.   In one  letter, Dad  asked for a "Photograph of Baby" - and this was the result!  

So the photograph reminds me of my father's war experiences through D-Day, the entry into Paris, onto Luxembourg, the bitter winter of Battle of the Bulge  and entering Germany, before being posted  to the Far East just after VE Day.

At the age of 14,  my mother was apprenticed as a tailoress and continued to make her own clothes  well into her 80's.   However I cannot remember Mum having anything but grey hair which she wore in a French pleat.  So this photograph is unique in showing her lovely brunette hair and the "widow's peak" which she was so proud of.  

2.  A Happy Family.  

We were the typical 1950's family  Dad worked as a "commercial traveller"  - nowadays called a "sales representative", and Mum stayed at home looking after all things domestic and also running a small dressmaking business from our spare bedroom.   

I look about nine  years old, and my brother five.    My hair was in plaits and I am wearing my school blazer and the standard style of Clark's sandals.  The photograph I am sure was taken by my aunt, and godmother, who often joined us for trips, picnics and holidays. 

3.  Working Life

A big jump through my teenage years (hardly any photos and none I would care to show),   and my student days where the highlight was taking part in the annual Gilbert & Sullivan productions.

I studied history and then Librarianship & Information Work and my first proper job was working on an exchange scheme  in the USA  in Radcliffe College Library in Cambridge, Mass,     I ended my time there by taking the Greyhound Bus around the States, on a $99 Dollars for 99 Days ticket - a wonderful experience to look back on.  

Apart from one major blip (redundancy!),  I have had a good  working life - I benefited from a stimulating training programme which has stood me in good stead in various ways,  and I still meet regularly colleagues I worked with over 15 years ago.   My final post was in the local Archive, local & family history centre - and how many people can say they had a job linked to their hobby!

The image above is a rare look, where I am spruced up for a photograph taken for a work Annual Report.  You can tell it is the 1980's  and the age of TV's Dallas, Dynasty and Charlie's Angels,  with big hair and shoulder pads all the rage.   Less glamorously, I was also likened to Deidre Barlow of "Coronation Street" soap opera fame.  The big specs did it!   This style involved too much like hard work and did not last long. 
 

  4.  Married Life
I could have shown a photograph from our July wedding day, but my husband looks rather shell shocked at the event - and it poured down, so we have no pictures outside but just in the hotel where we had the reception. 

However these were not omens for the future, as here we are celebrating our 40th Ruby Anniversary on a much sunnier day in the Austrian Lakes, one of our favourite holiday destinations. 

5. Daughter & Granddaughter Delights 
Having a daughter and granddaughter, of course, have been major milestones in my  life, so they just had to feature.  They help keep me young - or should that be younger?  

So what five photos reflect your life?  
I look forward to seeing them 

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