This week's Sepia Saturday prompt iamge features two young women proudly standing in front of their car. Cue for me This week'sSepia Saturdayprompt photograph features two young women proudly showing off their car. Cue for me to show again a photograph which matches the prompt so well.
My Dad, John Weston (on the left) with his brother Charles. I was delighted to get this photogaph from my cousin, as it is one of the very few I have of my father prior to his marriage to my mother in 1938 . 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. He was a commercial traveller and in the 1930's 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 18 shillings 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."
A happy photogrpah of my father by his car.
A photograph of my elegant mother taken I suspect before my parents married in 1938. Mum never learnt to drive.
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!
My brother with his pride and joy - pity the car bonnet was cut off the image!
The
car that daughter and I hired on our trip to New England in 1996 - my first
visit there since I had spent a year working in Cambridge, Mass
1965-66. This was in Falmouth, Cape Cod where we stayed in this
wonderful cottage and made a magical trip on a beautiful Autumn day
sailing across to Martha's Vineyard. Happy memories!
I know - showing off in my mini skirt! c.1970. Those large dark framed specs are back in fashion now.
My cousin's little son, learning to drive at an early age! My brother had a very similar pedal car - but no photographs appear to have been taken.
********************
To finish - here is a snippet on Earlston life in “The Southern Reporter” newspaper of 24th March 1898 - with a MAJOR news item!
"MOTOR CAR - A motor car passed through the village on Sunday morning. The two gentlemen who were driving it left Newcastle-on-Tyne the previous day en route for Edinburgh. In this neighbourhood one of the tyres got damaged and it was resolved to put up at the Red Lion in Earlston.
This was done and the car when it reached the hotel, being stopped for a little while was quickly surrounded and examined with no small degree of curiosity, this being the first time such a machine has been seen in operation here. "
Earlston Market Square - date unknown - early 20th century?
****************
Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity to share
their family history and memories through photographs.
their family history and memories through photographs.
Click HERE to see how other Sepia Saturday bloggers were on the move with this month's
****************
How funny about the town folk being so curious about the first car ever seen in town. Now-a-days folks still gather to get a look at the old cars - especially those that have been 'dolled up' with neat paint jobs & etc. The unusual always attracts attention! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat collection of cars/drivers. That news story of the first car to be seen in Earlston gives me the impression it must have been a bit of a small town. These days the small towns may or may not have a stop-light on the highways. A gas station and grocery denote bigger towns oftehn. But the buildings, and having a hotel denote a bigger town, so they people still felt like being curious and going to have a look at a stranger's car-contraption!
ReplyDeleteFrom Scotsue - thank you, Barbara, for your comment. Earlston is a village, population 1800, with a small convenience store, baker, butcher, health centre, pharmacy, cafe, chippy, two take-aways, 3 hairdressers/barbers, plus three pubs, including the Red Lion Hotel in the Market Square the only one to offer a few rooms to visitors . (So not very big) . We also have a church, primary school and a High School serving a large rural area with around 1000 pupils. On the edge of the village is a petrol station and small supermarket. It is lovely place to live with a strong community spirit.
Deleterural aOn the edge of the village there is a petrol station and small supermarket.
Her
This was a perfect collection to share. Your father's story is a classic! I bet it got better the more he told it. wish I had a degree or certificate from the British School of Motoring. It sounds very impressive. My first real driving in the UK was two days after my wife and I were married. We were traveling to the Hebrides and my wife did not drive. Fortunately she knew road signs and rules, and was also a skilled navigator. So 30+ years later I've managed to drive over most of Britain without too much trouble, though sometimes I go round a round-about a few extra times. On our last trip my navigator simultaneously was giving directions using the car's GPS, her phone's map app, an A-Z atlas, and a travel guide!
ReplyDeleteYou look great in that mini skirt! I was struck by your caption about your mother never learning to drive. My paternal grandmother never learned to drive, either...but my maternal grandmother (who was about 10 years younger) loved being behind the wheel and was a fearless drive. In fact she and my mom's sister (Aunt Rita) drove cross country together! Nothing like a set of wheels to set women free.
ReplyDelete