Bored? Pick up a Book or a Newspaper to enjoy a Good Read!

What can be more relaxing  than curling up with a good book - as in this week's Sepia Saturday prompt photograph?   

 

 For my father, newspapers were his favourite form of reading.  He left school  at 14 years old  to become a delivery boy at a local grocer's shop and ended his working life as a sales director of a small company in Scotland - very much a self-taught man. Politically  he was unashamedly Conservative, avid reader of "The Daily Telegraph",  was a member of the local constituency party helping at fund raising events, delivering election leaflets etc.  He often wrote letters to the local newspaper on political issues - much to the concern of my mother who did not like the brickbats that he could receive in return.  

 

My Mother was a reader as well and felt she learnt most of her history knowledge from her favourite  historical fiction.   

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In the 19th century Reading Rooms were a symbol of  Victorian self-help and the  desire for education.   They were warm, dry and largely free,  where you could read newspapers, and borrow books.   It was thanks to such facilities being available, that many a Victorian  went on to achieve a position  of eminence in a wide range of f

 

In Earlston, where I live in the Scottish Borderss, Major Baillie of Mellerstain Estate  was the instigator in 1852 in setting up the Reading Room when he offered an initial donation of of 50 books.   

 

                         

 Earlston Reading Room in the Market Square next to the  Corn Exchange (with the belfrey tower), c.1920. 

 

 Major Baillie set down the following conditions:

• That the inhabitants of Earlston and its vicinity be invited to become members, without distinction  as to religious denomination, or political opinion, and whether they do or do not belong to any abstinence or temperance society.

• The Reading Room and Recreation Room shall be open every day except Sundays and New Year's Day from 9am to 10pm. 

• That the newspapers and other publications shall be such as may be generally  useful and acceptable.  Works gifted or loaned should be of a good moral tendency and be approved of by the committee.  

• That no intoxicating liquor be consumed on the  premises on any pretence whatever

• Members will not be allowed to whistle or sing or make any undue noise or run up and  down the stairs or rooms,  or quarrel with one another  or use bad language to the annoyance of other members.  

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 From an early age, after school visits to the local library,  I played at being a Librarian and remember one Christmas being delighted at getting in my stocking a date stamp.  I made up issue labels for my books, and dragooned my family into being customers, so I  could enthusiastically stamp away.   

 

The Cutting Edge I rather fancied  working in a newspaper library (this was before the days of the Internet.) The nearest I came to it was   a post at the College of Education in Edinburgh.    The role involved setting up for the Modern Studies Dept. project files of ephemera - mainly press cuttings, and compiling source lists for students. I got to look through all the quality daily papers - a great job and nothing boring about it.   . 

 

I did my best to counteract the stereotyped image of a dowdy librarian who did  nothing  but stamp books all day.    Yes,  I did conform a wee  - the glasses did it!     

 

 

 
Does anyone remember the Smirnoff vodka advert? The librarian (dowdy clothes, hair in a bun and of course wearing spectacles), whips off her glasses,  loosens her hair shaking it into a tousled look, shortens her skirt, undoes her top buttons  - and gets a new look and new life with Smirnoff of course!     I can't say that was me, though I did have a spell at  wearing contact lenses.

 

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 So not surprisingly,  I did my best to foster the love of books in both my daughter and granddaughter , taking them to the local children's library and enjoying the Rhyme Time sessions.
  

Granddaughter took an interest in newspapers at an early age! 

 

 

Granddaughter enjoying a  book with her Papa  

 

 With books you can never get bored, as you can escape into  another world, away from your present  day situation.

 

Image courtesy of Pixabay 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity  

to share their family history through photographs

 

Click  HERE to find out what other bloggers have found

in this week's prompt photograph

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Stand by Your Car! - Sepia Saturday

Cars and their proud owners is this weeks’s theme  from Sepia Saturday - a popular topic  and I revisit photograhs from my family collection and those of my local heritage group - Auld Earlston. 

My parents wth my Aunt Fran in the middle, with my brother and Imyself.  I have my pigtails  pinned on top of my head, Austrian style.  I presume  my Ucle Fred was taking the picture. 

Band of brothers - my father with his older  brother Fred c.1960s 

 

Dad again, John Weston (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 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.

 

A happy photograph of my father  with a later car. 

 

 

A photograph from my cousin's collection on his Oldham Family  

 

 

  Baker's Van in Earlston 

 

From Baker to Butcher  - with a rather rickety looking vehicle  belonging to Donaldson family  in Earlston - no relation!  

 

 

 

Andrew Taylor & Sons, Ironmonger & Grocer in Earlston,
  - listed in a Directory of 1931.  

 

Back to Family 

 

A photograph of my elegant mother taken I suspect before my parents married in 1938.  She never learned  to drive. 

Like Mother, LIke Daughter 

 

 

Fast forward to 1968 (this photograph was dated)  - I am surprised that my father allowed someone to sit on the car.

 

 

This was my husband's first car  - a silver grey Ford Escort, bought just a few weeks before we first met in 1970. He 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 sat on top of the car for this photograph - not something he has allowed since!  But he did spread out the tartan rug for me. For once I am quite in fashion with my  miniskirt, peter pan collar blouse,  and 1970's striped  coat! 
  

 

By 1972 we had graduated to a bronze Ford Cortina (right)  and this reminds me of the time when we were planning for the birth of our daughter - so a larger car was called for with room for the pram and all the baby paraphernalia etc.   This photograph was taken  near  Smailholm Tower in the Scottish Borders.  

 

 

 

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! 

 

 

My mother outside our home in Edinburgh, c.1960s

 

 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 far background of the historic Forth Rail Brid 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!

 

 

The car 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.

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And Finally - to early days of the motor car  as described in a report in “The Southern Reporter” newspaper of 24th March 1898.

"MOTOR CAR SPOTTED IN EARLSTON  - 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. 

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. "

It was obviously a newsworthy event! 

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Sepia Saturday gives bloggers an opportunity  

to share their family history through photographs.

 

 

 

 

Click  HERE to find out what other bloggers have found

in this week's prompt photograph.  

 

 

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Happy Families Together - Sepia Saturday

 This week's Sepia Saturday prompt photograph shows a happy group of family or friends enjoying life as they strode along what looks like a seaside promenade. Cue for me to feature more happy family groups.    

 

I was reminded of our  seaside holidays in the 1950s and the photographers who plied  their trade along the promenades,  taking snapshots of people strolling by - hence the term  "walkies"  - as opposed to the current trend for   "selfies"! 

You paid money and either collected  the photographs later at  a kiosk, or could arrange for them to be posted home to you - just hoping they would arrive and this wasn't  what we now call a "scam".  We often did our best to dodge the photographers and not get caught by their hard sell.  

Above - Dad, brother   and myself (as usual with my eyes shut on a photograph),   wearing a dress. made by my mother - little blue and green flower print with a big white collar, and my hair in its usual pigtails fastened with ribbons.  We are all casually dressed for the summer,  but look at the older man behind - in his suit, collar and tie, waistcoat and trilby hat.  

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Before the days of popular indoor flash photography, no pictures exist of my family celebrating birthdays and Christmas.  So weddings  were the main opportunity for group photographs and each tells a unique story.  

A  happy family group of my mother's  Danson family  - Edith, youngest daughter Peggy, my grandparents William and Alice, son Harry   and my mother Kathleen, with youngest son Billy missing. The three sisters enjoyed fashion and made their own clothes on a treadle sewing machine (the house did not have electricity until the mid 1950's! 

This  photograph was a puzzle, as I never asked questions about it when I could have done.  My guess as to the occasion rests on Uncle Harry wearing the carnation.    Was this his short-lived wartime wedding?  Through snatches of conversation I picked up as a child, I became aware that he had at some time married and was divorced - all very hush, hush  in those days, swept under the carpet and certainly never openly mentioned. 

It was only after his death, I found the papers confirming a marriage on 11th June 1940 and divorce in 1947.   The marriage date is significant as Uncle Harry was one of the thousands of troops evacuated from Dunkirk on the flotilla of small ships  between 27th May and 4th  June 1940. Yet here  he was married some ten days later.  

This happy photo looks to have been taken on the same occasion - my grandmother is the older lady on the front row - on her left my mother and my aunt. 

 

 

 

 

I have very few photograph of my father's family and this one is a rarity that only came to me  through a distant connection of my cousin.  It is 1930 and the wedding   of my  Uncle Fred Weston.  My father (looking very serious) is on the left, holding that large hat with his younger brother brother Charles behind.  I guess that one of the bridesmaids must surely be Madge the only daughter of the family.   My grandmother Weston is in the cloche hat next to Fred, and is that behind  her my grandfather with his face partially hidden?  I just don't know.  

 

  Onto 1938 and another post-wedding photograph.   This is the only photograph where I can identify my  paternal grandfather.  It was taken in the garden of my mother's home,  after my parent's wedding  with Mum's  parents (William and Alice Danson) on the left and my father's parents on the right (Mary and Albert Weston)

 

All smiles for my parents on the left with Mum's sister and Dad's brother on the right.

Another wartime picture of my grandmother, Alice Danson with her youngest daughter Peggy who served in the  WAAF on a barrage balloon station, her son-in-law my father, serving in the RAF Code & Ciphers Division   and,  with his Italian born wife, youngest son Billy who served in the navy.  I presume my mother was the photographer. 

 1946 and the families gather for a postwar winter wedding of my uncle Charles Weston.  I am the shivering little bridesmaid holding up my giant posy.  My father and mother (looking very elegant) stand behind me, with my grandmother Weston to her left.  This marked a period of happiness for Charles after years in a  Japanese prisoner of war.  The wintry weather did not stop the smiles!

 And finally another memorable family group as this is the only photograph I have of my mother with her three granddaaughters together, taken in 1981.

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Sepia Saturday give bloggers an opportunity to share their family history and memories  through photographs

 

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Hairstyles to the Fore: Sepia Saturday.

A head and shoulders portrait  of a young girl features in this week's Sepia Saturday  prompt photograph.  Cue for me to look at hairstyles of my family down the ages. 

 

         

My paternal grandmother  Mary Barbara Weston, nee Matthews (1876-1959) 

 

Nana Weston was born in Wolverhampton in the English Midlands, one of 10 children born to John Matthews and Matilda Such.    Her sister Fanny died tragically when her apron caught fire whilst she was carrying a candle, and she died from her burns.  Brother Arthur died in the First World War at Gallipoli,  leaving a young widow and 3 children. 

 

Her hairstyle is typical of the  1880s and 1890s.  

 

My other grandmother Alice Danson, nee English (1883-1945)

 

 

 

 

I never  knew Alice as she died when I was a baby. For many years she was my major brick wall, until last year I discovered  she had been born in a Liverpool Workhouse, though she  quoted another birthplace   in the 1911 and 1921 census returns. This photographs is part of a large family photogaph taken in 1916 as my grandfather was setting out to war.  

 

 Again her plain no nonsense hairstyle was typical of the times.

 
The impact on the First World War on the changing role of  women saw an abandonment of the  traditional long hair styles of the Victorian - Esdwardian  period to the new short styles of the bob, finger-wave, Marvel wave, shingle and Eton crop, with their popularity continuing well into the 1930's. 

                                          

My great aunt Jennie Danson (1897-1986)  who sacrificed her long plait for the new look, without telling her mother.  This is one of my favorite photographs in my family collection. Jennie by all accounts was a feisty woman  - she needed to be to hold her own, growing up with eight older brothers whose ages,  when she was born,  ranged from 3 to 20. 

 

  

 An elegant unidentified portrait in my husband's collection - thought to be a relation of his aunt Annette.   

 

 

My mother Kathleen Danson - Jennie's niece.

My mother again - with more waves this time

In the 1930''s and 1940's,   a  softer look crept in, with curls and waves all the rage, and during the war the "roll" was the defining style.  This was the age of trying to emulate  Hollywood glamour, despite the realities  of life during the  depression and war.  

My aunt Edith Danson

 

 

 

Another new look for my mother who seems to have adopted an Austrian style, with what looks like  plaits  over  her head.  She was always very proud of her distinctive widow's peak.  

Below some typical 1940s looks from my aunt Peggy Danson (in WAAF uniform), my mother and finally  my husband's elegant aunt Annette.

Pigtails to Pony Tails  to Perms characterised  my look from the  1950s onwards.

 

 Pigtails complete with kirby grips and ribbons.  

On village gala days and on special occasions, my hair was wound into rags overnight  to hopefully create ringlets - which soon fell out.  

By my early teens my hair was long and worn now in a pony tail. It was washed with a final rinse of  vinegar and rain water - my mother's idea of a beauty treatment -  and it took ages to dry in front of the fire as we had no hair dryer.

 

There is a pony tail hiding behind this Plain Jane look  What is it about moving from childhood to teenage years, as this is the only family photograph I could find.  No holiday snaps, no school photos - nothing.  

 

 I became a librarian, so had to work hard at counteracting the traditional dowdy image.  So here  is the young professional look for my first job - worn with a   mini length sweater dress  and long necklace  - all the rage then.  

 

By the late 1960's,    vanity prompted me to try contact lenses and they proved a great source of stories with friends as we recalled  tales of losing them.  I remember one occasion where I was scrambling around on the floor of a pew at church, (not praying) but  trying to find this miniscule lens.