Happy Memories that Last - Sepia Saturday

 "Happy Memories That Last"  is the theme of this week's prompt photograph from Sepia Saturday  which shows a  very smiley couple sitting on the running board of a car.   Cue - images of my family on happy occasions  with cars as the backdrop.

My parents with my Aunt Fran in the middle, with my little brother (very angelic looking here!)  and I - c.1950.  I have my pigtails  pinned on top of my head, Austrian style, and skirts for little girls then were always  held up by straps. I presume my Uncle Fred, Dad's older brother,  was taking the photograph. 

 

 Band of brothers - a very genial photograph of my father again with his brother Fred.
 

 

Dad, again  (on the left) with his younger brother Charles. I was delighted to get this photograph from my cousin,  as it  is one of the few photographs I have of my father prior to his marriage in 1938  to my mother, and it means a lot to me.   John and Charles were close as  brothers and often went on motoring trips together. Here looking very suave in a smart casual style of the day.  c.1936.   My father was the first on either side of the family to drive a car, which was part of his work as a commercial traveller.  

But I cannot resist in this blog sharing my father's memory of his first car, told in his "Family Recollections " that he wrote down for me.   In the 1930's he got a new job with instructions to pick up a car at Derby and drive 90 miles north  to a new position in Blackpool.

"I had never driven a car before.  On Boxing Day, I went to the British School of Motoring and said I wanted some urgent lessons.  When I told the instructor I was driving to Blackpool the next day, he nearly had a fit.  I collected my car - a four door Morris saloon which I was expected to buy on hire  purchase at 18shillings per week.  It was a traumatic journey with me being  a complete novice, having had no proper tuition.  There was no heating, no radio of course to help pass the time, and the windscreen wipers kept seizing up.  I had also been told that the tyres were awful for punctures.  Still I made it, as darkness fell - just as well, as I wasn't too sure about the lights!"

 One of my favourite photogrpahs of my mother, taken prior to her marriage in 1938.  She looks so elegant here. 

 

 Fast forward 30 years on, to 1968 (this photograph was dated)  - my mother this time atop of the car - I am surprised that my father allowed someone to sit on the bonnet.

The car as the backcloth c.1957 for this family picnic with a family friend

 

Mum and my Aunt Edith   - they were very close as sisters (born only a year and a week apart)  and Edith was also my much loved godmother.  Here taken c. 1965 against the background of the historic Forth Rail Bridge  (featured in my last Sepia Saturday post) and the tower of the new Road Bridge, completed in 1964.  This was most likely a Sunday outing which my father enjoyed doing, but look at their formal wear  - hat, gloves and court shoes for just going out in the car!

 

 My brother (the tiny tot in the first photograph)  with his pride and joy - pity,  though,  that the car bonnet was cut off the image! 

 

I have shown this photograph before on my blog, but it fits this week's theme so well. because of the happy memories it represents.    This was my husband's first car - a silver grey Ford Escort, bought just a few weeks before we first met in 1970 - you can tell the decade from my mini skirt!  My husband  was always proud of his cars and looked after them well.   This brings back memories of our engagement. It must have been love, that he actually suggested I sit on top of the car for this photograph - not something he has ever allowed since!  But note  the thoughtful touch of the tartan rug! 

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Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity 

to share their family history through photographs

 

Click HERE to see how other Sepia Saturday bloggers 

were sharing happy family memories.