Having Fun Down the Generations - Sepia Saurday

Continuing this month's Sepia Saturday theme of Fun, I take a look at Fun Down the Generations - from my granddaugher  to her ggg grandfather .

 Granddaughter having fun on the swings  in the park - the nearest photo I have  to this week's prompt fairground image.

Christmas Day - but there is as much fun in the box as with the presents - a photograph I could not find when  I was looking for it for an earlier recent prompt.

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 Jumping for Joy!  Granddaughter never happier than when jumping, climbing, or running. 

         Daughter having fun.  playing hide and seek at Hermitage Castle in the  Scottish Borders

Winter Fun on a misty hill as daughter and her Dad enact "The Hills Are Alive" - look at that nifty footwork!  Our dog has dashed out of the picture at this sight - spot the red dog lead around my husband.  c.1990's.

 

I loved playing at dressing up.   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 local 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.  

Here is a picture of the junior dancers at  the Gala Day at  Staining, near Blackpool, Lancashire around 1950, and I am the little girl kneeling on the left of the front row. .

 

 Much older - enjoying a drink in a Munich  Beer Garden in Bavaria, Germany.

I first saw this photograph amongst papers after my mother's death. She is the second figure in from the left - looking very trim and elegant in that boyish costume. 

 

But what are they dressed up for?  There is a  clue on the back - with the name of  a photographer in Stirling (Scotland). That means it was taken  after 1961 when we moved north from England.  

 

I do know that Mum went  to Stirling to take part in some regional events for the Townswomen's Guild - or was it WRI (Women's Rural Institute) -  and these clearly are all women.  Was it a play?  Mum was never interested in acting and I cannot see her delivering lines in a play. But she enjoyed singing and joined a choir wherever we lived.  So  was it a choral performance?    Italian or Spanish, judging by the costumes?  Is that a bride & groom in the centre with the "priest" alongsid?  Gilbert & Sullivan's "Gondoliers" came to mind, but there are no gondolier hats.  I shall never know!  But it shows you are never too old to enjoy dressing up

My mother , Kathleen Danson (standing) playing with her sister, my aunt Edith  in the garden, c.1913. 

 

My father, John Weston is on the right of the middle row, 

My  father John Percy Weston (1912-2003) had written down for me the memories of his  early life in Broseley, near Ironbridge, Shropshire.

"I was mad keen on soccer, so much so that I had a trial at Birmingham with the English schoolboys. Then I found out  that two directors from Birmingham Football Club came to see Dad and Mum to sign me on for the junior team  - they refused, saying I was too young to be away from home. I was not told about this until later and sulked for a month!

But a bit of glory followed, 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."

Apparently a photograph was taken of the team's success, but no pictures of my father's early life passed down the family.  Unfortunately I only had a broad indication of the year i.e. 1926  for the event, which made tracing it in local newspapers difficult.   I contacted Broseley Historical Society who put my enquiry on their online newsletter.   I am delighted to say I  heard from three members of the society with more personal memories - and even better have a photograph of the winning football team, with my father on the middle row right. This is the earliest photograph I have of my father and I am so grateful to the Society for it. 

 

Some  humour even in war time - as illustrated by the photograph of my grandfather William Danson, that shows the camaraderie that could exist amongst soldiers in World War One. 

 

The photo  intrigued me when I first saw it as a child. There was no Scottish connections at all on my mother's side of the family, so why was Granddad wearing a kilt and a tammie?   The story was that he became friendly with some Scottish soldiers, and as a laugh he had dressed up in one of their uniforms and had his picture taken to send home.  It must have been taken in France as the reverse of the photograph  indicates it is a "Carte Postale" with space for "Correspondance" and "Addresse".

 

 

 

This is the only photograph I have of my great grandfather James Danson (1852-1906), the bearded figure on the left,  sitting merrily in the ancient stocks at Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire.  By all accounts of his family, he was a bit of a ne'er do well, but clearly having fun in what could well be a staged photograph.

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Sepia Saturday gives an opportunity for genealogy bloggers   to share their family history and memories through photographs.

 

 Click HERE to see how other Sepia Saturday blogger have related their family stories for this week

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