There and Back Again

Here are the first of Dad’s many letters, written to his Mother when he was in India. There are well over a hundred letters and some of them were written before he travelled over to India. There are also a couple from Mum to Grandma, also sent from India.

Spending some time transcribing these two letters and reading some of the others, I really get to be in Dad’s world as a young man. I can just imagine him sitting in his room and writing to his Mum and, having lost his own Dad when he was a young boy and being one of three sons, I can easily imagine how fond of his mother he must have been. His letters to her are certainly affectionate, always ending his letters with kisses! I also like the way Dad writes his letters, considerate and sometimes funny.

I have chosen these two particular letters to post first, because they are at the beginning and also the end of Dad’s time in India, which seems fitting for this blog. But there are plenty of letters in between, so I’d better get scanning & typing!

There isn’t a date on the first letter. I have a letter which is postmarked Faversham, Kent 24th November 1943 and then an Air Mail letter which is dated 18th June 1944, Bangalore. So he must have sailed over to India somewhere between those dates? Watch out Sherlock!

No date.

My Dear Mother,

I hope that you are keeping in the best of health and that you received my last couple of letters alright.

Up to now things have not been too bad although the pitching and tossing is rather trying. Quite a few have already been leaning over the side and some did not get that far. It is very windy at the moment although the sky is a lovely blue. I think we are on an ex luxury liner and I wish it still was although up to now we haven’t found cause to grumble at all.

We can buy plenty of jam, condensed milk and chocolate and shirts and stockings. We are also able to buy tinned fruit and cheese which help to fill us up. The entertainment isn’t quite the same as it is in London but we hear music and local talent through loud speakers, so we do not do so badly. There are also films for us to see once a week.

The tossing and rolling isn’t so bad now as we have got used to it and are ‘old salts’ now. The hammocks were very strange at first but I am now finding them very comfortable, and as we go to bed early we get a good nights sleep. During the day, there is not very much to do. We do a little physical training and have lessons on Hindustani.

By the way, I found a spare soap coupon, and as we do not need them to buy soap now, I am sending it to you so that it will not be wasted. We all got a tin of damsons today and with a little condensed milk they are going down very nicely. It is supper time now. We generally have a good hearty meal for supper but not quite as good as some I can remember.

I have been writing a few lines at different times but as our daily work doesn’t alter very much, there isn’t a lot I can say, so I may as well finish this letter and start another one.

Remember me to our Arth and Les and all Aunties and kind neighbours.

Keep your chin up.

Love Harry.
xxxxx

Sunday 3rd November 1946.

My Dear Mother,

Well, here is the last letter I will be writing you from India!!

We are sailing for home on Wednesday 6th November 1946 on the ‘Empress of Scotland’, which is supposed to be a pretty fast ship so you can expect us to arrive Home about November 22nd. It sure won’t be long now!!!!!

We are bringing most of our luggage with us but some of it has to go separately and should reach home 6 weeks after we do. I had to pack everything so as the things we want come home with us. Your carpet is coming with us. We are bringing some more nuts & raisons etc. also. I hope you have received the three food parcels, we sent you, by now. I saw some ‘camp’ coffee this evening, so got a bottle of that too!! I’ve got a bottle of Port, and if there is any room, when I have finished packing, I’ll get some Brandy.

If you can get the turkey, we should have a very good christmas, and I sincerely hope the food parcels will help towards a cake, or pudding, or something or other. Still, we can always save the Wedding Cake until Xmas! I hope the banging around on the ship doesn’t break it up, although we had a carpenter make a wooden box for it.

We were so glad to hear that you have now got a radio-gram. I have still got a few records myself, so it’ll be all music at Windy Bank, in the future. Seeing as we will be home so near to Christmas, I may as well stay away from work until the New Year, and then hope for a good job. Ray seems to be unlucky!!

Anyway Mother, Arth and Glyn, I’ll be letting you have all the news shortly, so I won’t make this a long letter.

It’s been a long time, but as Ada always says, “Tempus Fergis” - “Time waiteth for no man” and so here’s to the time when No 14’s “alarm clock” bangs on the stairs and shouts, “come on Harry you’ll be late for work.”

All our Love,

God Bless,

yours affectionately

Nancy & Harry xxxxx

P.S.

I have got my Captaincy back, so as I will get my release leave (3 months) at Captains pay. Hx

A day in Ooty park.

Mum has her brother-in-law Pat Burke to her right with Dave in front of him, and my cousin Ronnie is standing behind me. This was taken in 1967 when we had had one of our many days out in Ootacamund (Ooty). We would usually always end up in the huge park there (as in the photo),and would while away the rest of the hot day with a picnic or the adults would 'rest their eyes' whilst Dave and I used up our endless energy playing.  But mostly we would go to Ooty for a horse ride.  The horses would be brought to us on the street from goodness knows where as I never once saw them stabled.  One time when I refused to ride a heavily pregnant mare, another horse which was loose and grazing by the roadside, was caught and tacked up for me.  I still wonder even today if it was even their horse!  But only aged 11, I was just so keen to be around horses and just wanted to ride one whenever I could.
Pat was Doris's husband and they had 2 daughters, Patricia and Pamela.  Pat owned and managed a tea plantation, but came to England later on and was a good friend of Dad's.  In her earlier years, Doris had her own hairdressing business.
 Ronnie was the son of another of Mum's sisters, Norine.  She married Noel and they also had a daughter Noeline.  They divorced and Norine later met and lived with a man I only ever knew as 'Doc Martin' (no not Martin Clunes!)  Sadly all have passed away now except Ronnie who I think is living in Australia?

Ada, Derek, Mum and Keith.

Left to right is Aunty Ada, her husband Uncle Derek, Mum and Keith.  One of Dad's Mum's sisters was Aunty Min who had 2 children - Arthur and Ada (Chamberlain).  Gran's other sisters were Mar (Martha?), Eve (Evelyn?) and Jen I think.  Does anyone else know, is this correct? Aunty Mar never married but I think Auntie Eve was married twice, but possibly 3 times??(Cyril being the last husband whom she survived)   But Aunty Jen I think may have been married, and I think may have lived in an isolated cottage without electricity and running water?, on the road from spital crossroads leading to Raby Mere....or have I got this all wrong?  Things Mum or Dad ever told me years ago are now fuzzy with my poor memory!!  But hopefully this blog is going to solve all these issues for me/us and future generations.
Getting back to Ada and Derek  Cotton - they had 2 children, Dennis and Pat.  I remember the Birthday parties at their house in The Weind, with lots of party games, jelly and cream and running madly around the house and garden. (Poor Ada!)  Just to diverse for a moment - one of Pat's friends who lived across the road from her, Jenny Green was always at those parties.  Jenny married and moved away and so lost touch with Pat and myself, but many years later, her youngest son met, courted and moved in with my middle daughter Katey, and they had a son, Philip.  What a surprise for both Jenny and I to meet again after all these years and to now share a Grandson!!
But for poor Pat, she and Dennis very sadly lost their Mum to cancer.  She was too ill to even attend Pat's wedding (married to Paul..surname?), even though St.Andrew's church is literally across the road.  Pat's happiness that day must have been overshadowed by her Mum's terminal illness, but her wedding day celebrated at the Hulme Hall was a lovely time shared by all their family and friends.

The Story of Port Sunlight

If this post was about the story of Port Sunlight then it would be a long post! I am of course talking about the book ‘The Story of Port Sunlight’ published by Lever Brothers in 1953. Our copy of this book was kept next to Dad’s set of ten encyclopedias in the bookcase next to his chair in the front room. No one could get to the bookcase when Dad was in his chair! I would always show this book to friends and say “that’s me Dad, right there!”

I think Dad started working for Levers when he left school. He then left to join the army, went over to India, married Mum and they came back to live with his mother in Port Sunlight and he went back to work for Levers again. He took early retirement (his own request) at the age of fifty and opened up a small business opposite Bebington Station which he ran for fifteen years before his final retirement at the age of sixty five. I had just started secondary school when Dad started this business and because of it, I had a lot of friends at school..... he opened up a sweet shop!

Both Mum & Dad worked in the shop and they both became very popular, everyone knew Harry & Nancy. Dad was popular with folk who couldn’t afford to buy a full packet of cigarettes... he used to sell individual ciggies!

I can still hear the sound of sweets, of all shapes and sizes, being poured from their jars into the weighing scales! The shop was very small with little storage space and so Dad, after a visit to the ‘Cash & Carry’, would keep all his boxes of crisps, chocolates & sweets etc., on the upstairs landing at The Ginnel, outside my bedroom!! My friends liked to visit me at home particularly when Dad wasn’t there... but his boxes were!

Before living in The Ginnel, Mum & Dad lived with Grandma at 14 Windy Bank, opposite the Lady Lever Art Gallery. It was to his mother at this address, that Dad would send his letters when he was in India. Those letters are gradually being sorted, copied and transcribed and will soon be finding their way onto this blog... watch this space... they are so interesting to read. A really big thank you to our McCormack cousins for finding them!

In the photo of Mum (looking lovely I must say) she is standing between Windy Bank (on her right) and the Art Gallery. In the background you can just see The Leverhulme Memorial. According to the date on their old rent book, Mum, Dad, Keith & Rob moved into 35 The Ginnel in September 1952. Mum finally moved out of The Ginnel in early 2012 to live in a nursing home. So, give or take a few months, she had lived there for sixty very happy years!

Mum outside the Lady Lever Art Gallery
opposite Windy Bank

 

Anne and Dave outside Joville

This was taken infront of 'Joville' in Coonoor, South India, early 1967.  We had been watching our Aya/Iya? (domestic/cook) that morning separating the chaff and debris from the rice or grain, by shaking and tossing it vigorously in a bigger version of those baskets on our heads.  So Mum bought us one each from our visit to the shandy/shanty?(market) so we could help!!  The locals would always carry their produce or on their heads....imagine us walking out of Tesco with a carrier bag of shopping on our heads!!
Sadly we were in India because our Grandad was very ill and passed away only days after our arrival.   As soon as Mum knew how ill her Dad was, our Dad took out a £600 loan through  Lever Bros for us all to fly out there.  It was our first time we had ever met our Grandad, Sidney Austin Ince, who passed away on 3rd.February 1967. 

Cousins.

I remember this holiday well.  Dad had booked us all on a holiday to Bournemouth when Mum received a call from Doris saying she'd put 'Tricia and Pam on the boat to England and could they stay with us! So Dad quickly made sure the Guesthouse we were to be staying in could accommodate two more - and there we all are standing outside that very guesthouse.  Can you guess who's taking the shot?  The other girl standing behind me I think was called Mary and was the landlady's daughter.  I didn't particularly like her as she teased me a lot...but she had her own horse and I think Dave and I had an afternoon with her at the stable?  The Guest house was beautiful and overlooked a huge garden. I think 'Tricia and Pam will remember the date better than me.  They both went on to Nursing colleges where they both qualified and are still sought after today for their medical knowledge!

'Tricia is holding the family Chihuahua, Tiny....where Mum went, he went!!



Is this Keith??

Photo of Keith?
from Ian & John.

Is this Keith outside the flat in Liscard?
And Rob's pram in the background, and who's the cat!

Does anyone know anything about this picture?  I think it may be Keith, but not 100% positive.  It was given to me from Ian and John, as they have found lots of letters and some photos mainly from/of  Dad and Arthur to their Mum and each other.  The letters were all found in the loft of Uncle Arthur and Auntie Norah's home, 28 Brimstage Rd., Bebington.  Well done to them both for keeping everything as it gives us all a glimpse into our parents lives before they ever became our parents!  However, John and Ian's view might differ as they had to sort through every single item which must have taken a loooong time!  All the letters and pictures are now safely in the possession of Dave, who also now has the task of sorting through them and eventually adding them to this blog.

Welcome Baby Flis!

There's no mistaking the face of a proud Grandmother holding her first ever Grandchild, a Grandaughter.
 Felicity Jane McCormack was born on 10th. December 1977, the day after her Grandad's 54th. Birthday.  I think this picture may have been taken in Rob's and Sue's cottage?..or is it The Ginnel?  Can anyone recognise that wallpaper?  Obviously it's Christmas time, the giveaway not only being Flis's young age of only a couple of weeks, - but the festive tinsel adorning the wall behind everyone!
There's Mum holding Flis, me next to Keith in his pale blue denim shirt (still recognisable despite a b&w photo!), Sue as a proud first-time-Mum, standing next to Dad with his hand on Rob's shoulder, the proud new Dad!  And those of you wondering where was Dave and why wasn't he in this family photo  -   was this the beginning of what was to become his dream profession, photography.... he was behind the camera!!

'Can I hav a horse please Dad.....pleeeeeease!!'

Strangely enough, as I'm writing this post, my youngest daughter Laura (author of A Poem for Nanny) was today pony trekking over the Wicklow mountains in Ireland, with her boyfriend Damir!  So the love for horse riding has been passed down the family line as both Kerry and Laura have done a fair share of horse riding over the years.
Ever since I was little, I wanted a horse.  My first ever lessons were with Howards riding school, Cross Lane near Wirral Grammar school. My favourite pony was called Pandora, and I rode every Sunday afternoon for 30 mins costing just 4 shillings. (20p)  I did eventually buy my own pony, two in fact....but that will be another story with more photos!
 Dave thinks this photo may have been taken in Wales and unfortunately I can't remember...but nowadays that's nothing new for me.  However I do remember riding whilst on holiday in Ilfracombe, but think that may well be another photo...hopefully which will appear on this blog sometime in the future? 
Dave's horse isn't camera shy - that's quite a smile there....or is it going for the camera man?!!
What a difference to nowadays riders - no riding hats with chin safety straps, no riding boots, and feet out of the stirrups!

A poem for Nanny.

By Laura Murphy (my niece, Anne's daughter)

Every single second on this big old world 

In a father's arms a perfect baby's held

Eleventh of June in nineteen twenty two 

This baby was Nancy special through and through

I wonder if he knew then how many lives she'd touch

And that so many people would love her very much

Ninety happy years is a very long time 

To reach so many hearts she certainly reached mine

I've never met a woman as generous as Nancy

Her door was always open she was as kind as can be

I've never heard a giggle as infectious as hers 

Someone to make you laugh but who also really cares 

I am honoured to have known her as everyone will say

We'll miss her very much but she'll be with us every day

It's hard to lose someone as dear as Nancy

But instead of feeling down there's a different outlook to see

I believe that memories come alive all the time 

These make her spirit possible to shine

Every time we miss her we need to simply smile

And think about the good times for a little while

This is what she'd want for her family and friends 

So that her shining never ever ends

She'll be looking after us forever strong and near 

To help us through the dark times of sadness and fear

Nancy is with her family now and Harry, her sweetheart

It's a comfort to know they're no longer apart 

I'll always be so grateful for their influence on me 

Say it out loud we all love you Nancy.

Thank you Laura.

Nancy Nanny.

Fork Handles.

There are quite a few family birthdays in February, including cousins, aunties and uncles I believe. The four that were always celebrated with a family gathering are myself 18th, Anne’s oldest daughter Kerry 25th and Rob and his oldest son Steven both sharing the 24th. Mum used to ‘round us all up’ for these gatherings in February and also for a big one in Llandudno every New Year and of course I’ve lost count of how many family holidays we had at Pontins!

A place we went to a number of times was The Equestrian Club on The Wirral, funny, but I can’t remember exactly where that was and I’ve tried searching online but come up with nothing, is it still around? Dad would treat the whole family to a holiday in Llandudno most years in The Esplanade Hotel. It feels like we went there every year, but it was probably just three or four times? You had to keep an eye on Mum whenever we wandered near the Pier at Llandudno, the sound of falling coins from the amusement arcades would draw her in.... “do you want to have a go on the machines?” she would say “no, you’re alright Mum I haven’t got any change” at which point Mum would produce a bag full of 10p’s 20p’s and 50p’s that she would have got from the bank in New Ferry ready for the holiday!

I don’t know what year this photo was taken of our birthday cake but Mum hasn’t put any candles on it. She could have at least put four on, one for each of us, but maybe the shop had run out?!!

Another family holiday!

Dad, Dave, Mum & Anne
Butlins 1968/9?

Gosh, as you say Dave...look at that ashtray, and both Mum and Dad are smoking yet another!!  Dad smoked Capstan full strength and Senior Service whilst Mum was more 'lady-like' with menthol Consulate.  Mum only smoked a couple a day but Dad was on 60 a day!  However when he was strongly advised by his Doctor to quit, he did....instantly!  He gave up one day and just stopped....such willpower.  That's when he started swimming in Woodchurch baths for his good health regime..  He would bring you with him? and then pick me up from the stables and carry on to the pool. 
I think this photo was taken in Butlins camp in Barry Island.  I remember we arrived late and having checked in, Dad took us all to the entertainment/ballroom for a drink and look around.
Mum knitted my red cardy and matching skirt on that knitting machine she had and used for years!
Don't we look like bookends the way we are both sitting!
Dad always took us away on a family holiday every year without fail.

The Future Mrs Mac!

I’m curious about the number three! Is it the third in a series of photographs or was Mum saying she was going to be the third Mrs McCormack! Dad’s Mum would be the first of course but who was the second? Dad had two brothers, Arthur and Leslie or Arth & Les. Uncle Les was the oldest I think and lived in Canada but I don’t know when he moved out there or when he got married? Uncle Arthur lived in Bebington not far from Port Sunlight but I know he married after Dad. So who was the second Mrs Mac or is this photo just the best of three?!

Mum has signed her name as Nance on the back of this photo. To me, Mum was always Mum, and if ever asked her name I would say Nancy. I've always been Dave to my family but I will refer to myself as David, as I did when I met Sarah, and to her and her family I have always been David. Sue used to call Mum Nance. Dad was called Mac by all his pals and by Mum and her sisters when he was in India. Auntie Doris never stopped calling him Mac. I think Mum was surprised to find out his name was Harry when Grandma first used his name in one of her early letters to her in India! I also know Dad called Mum Incy (Nancy Ince) before they were married! A couple of times when Dad was in hospital, and later when he was in a nursing home, I would have a word with the staff when I would see his name written down as Harold... “His name is not Harold it’s Harry, it says that on his birth certificate, have you seen his birth certificate, does it say Harold?” Of course I’ve never seen his birth certificate either, but my Dad was a Harry and I get my grumpiness from Harry, thanks Dad!

Mum

Back of above print

By the way, I'm not always grumpy and I have Nancy to thank for that, thanks Mum!

Off to the Nilgiris.

Mum, Anne & Dave

Looking at the bare trees and how well wrapped up we are, I would say this was January, 1967 outside The Ginnel. On the back of the print, there is a Kodak stamp with the date May 1967. I think Dad took this photo just before we set off to India and it would have been printed when we came back in May.

Doesn’t Mum look smart. I can remember snuggling up to Mum many times when she was wearing that coat... I can smell it right now... mint imperials and ciggies!! I used to call it her bingo coat!

In the background is the Bridge Inn (pub & hotel) and Christ Church where Rob & Sue got married in 1972? Is that car Dad’s old Wolseley that used to have a lovely walnut dashboard?

After they got married, Rob & Sue lived in New Ferry (just up the road from Port Sunlight) with Sue’s Dad. I think the road was Winstanley Road? Not long after, they moved to Wales and lived in a cottage in Chirk near Wrexham. They had cats and dogs (Mush the dog was my favourite) and even a goat called Wilameena!? A mini Joville? I remember making a wooden sign for their cottage... the sign read... “The Nilgiris”

Rob & Sue's Wedding Day, Port Sunlight

Joville Menagerie.

Sidney Austin Ince.

My Mum, in a letter to her future mother-in-law, describes where she lived, Joville, as being a “wee farm”!

These photos are as much about Grandad as they are about all the animals. I wish I could have known him for longer than just a few days and when I was older. I don't know when he was born, but Grandad, Sidney Austin Ince, died on the 3rd February 1967. Mum travelled back to India in January that same year with Anne & myself, we stayed there for three to four months and I had my fifth birthday there. Anne tells me that Grandad died within about a week of us arriving. I guess the reason Mum went back over was because her Dad was ill and it must have been a difficult time for her, but also she must have been thankful for not getting there after he had passed away. Dad stayed in England with Rob & Keith. My brothers had also travelled to India with Mum, I think in 1953?

Most of my memories of India are very fragile. I can sometimes mistake stories I have been told about India and my time there as being my own memories. I was so young. Sounds, smells and even tastes can take me back there, but where exactly?

I have just two memories of my Grandad, seeing him lying in bed and his funeral. If I had known him when these photos were taken, then I would have helped him feed his chickens, play games with the dogs and talk to the birds & the cows!

"Bobby & Sally on the chair. Romeo in the background.
Poor little Bob, this was the last we had of him"

"Billy begging" 7th February 1956

Tilly? (Mum's younger sister)

"Romeo waiting for the ball"

"Nero, again isn't he sweet!!"

Could this be a young Mum?

Grandad with Keith and Rob, 1953?

Grandad talking to his birds!

"Daddy with Jock hanging on to his hand.
The boys are Johnston and his brother - the Walkers" 1958.
Anyone know who they are? Could Jock have been Mum's monkey?

"Yippee begging for cholum from Dad" August 1955
Yippee is a deer and cholum is millet.

Grandad with?

"I'm feeding the fowls at Joville" 1959

The majority of these old photos that I have inherited don’t have anything written their backs. But this collection of animal photos have detailed inscriptions, with some of them in Grandad’s handwriting.

Pets aloud, no pets allowed.

What must it have been like for Mum to grow up in the Nilgiri Hills of South India and then move to England and live with her Mother-in-law (who’d she’d never met before) and then in a flat with fleas, cockroaches, a shared toilet and a landlady who would steal your milk from your doorstep?! There would have been no shortage of milk and eggs at Joville, Coonoor!

Mum and her sisters & brother had animals around them all the time at Joville. There were cows, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, dogs, cats, birds and a deer! I have photos of them all and will post them soon. Mum used to talk about a pet monkey, does anyone remember what sort of monkey? She also talked about Nero a lot, an alsatian, and I think she was very fond of him.

Mum always had pets at The Ginnel too, cats, chihuahuas and a mad alsatian called Max who really was mad! Keith was fond of Max and used to take him on long walks & runs around the village. I don’t think Dad was too keen on all the pets at home, they just made him sneeze! Dad never sneezed without it being followed by a “dam” and a “blast” !

Dad would cycle to work everyday, from Liscard to Port Sunlight, which would have been about a 15 mile round trip. They must have been very happy to be offered 35 The Ginnel. I think they moved there in about 1952 or 53? When Dad arrived home from India, they lived with his Mum and brother(s)? in Windy Bank, Port Sunlight, opposite the Lady Lever Art Gallery. Keith was born there in 1947 and Rob in Liscard in 1951. Anne and myself were both born at The Ginnel in 1955 & 1962 respectively. I wasn’t actually born in The Ginnel, that happened at Clatterbridge Hospital, Bebington, but I always say I was born and brought up in Port Sunlight. Where do you say you where born?

A village soap opera.

I don’t know who is in this photograph with Mum (wearing the big belt), but it looks like our Keith holding the baby (Rob?) on the grass and Dad must have taken the photo. I’m not sure if it’s in Port Sunlight Village but there’s something about those houses that says it is?

The village was a sociable place to live, everybody knew everybody and they all worked for Lever Brothers. William Hesketh Lever built the village for his employees. There was a swimming pool (now a garden centre), theatre, post office and even an Art Gallery (worth a visit today if you like Pre-Raphaelite paintings). Lever believed that if his employees were happy at home they would be happy at work and make more of his Sunlight Soap for him!

‘. . . it is my hope, and my brother’s hope . . . to build houses in which our workpeople will be able to live and be comfortable. Semi-detached houses, with gardens back and front, in which they will be able to know more about the science of life than they can in a back slum, and in which they will learn that there is more enjoyment in life than a mere going to and returning from work, and looking forward to Saturday night to draw their wages.’

If I had worked for Lever Brothers, like my Dad, then I would have made a lot of soap, as I have many happy memories of growing up in Port Sunlight!

Who’s in the photo? Could it be the Ebbrell family who used to live next door at number 33 and later moved to Riverside?

Village neighbours?

He ain't heavy.

Me & my brother Rob!

Written in pencil on the back of this photo is the date 19th March 1963. That means I am one year, one month and one day old! I look big for a one year old baby?! Me and my Grandad (Mum’s Dad) met for the first time, in India, when I was 5 years old. So in 1963, he would only have ever seen photos of me that Mum would have sent over to India, and perhaps he had seen this one of Rob & me, as he used to call me ‘Big David’!

I was also born on a Sunday, like Mum & Dad! There are a lot of birthdays in February in my family. We used to all get together, usually on The Wirral somewhere, and celebrate with a cake big enough to take all our names and the candles!

Rob & Dave.

Big David.

Card from Grandad.

Turn it over.

Old photographs can tell us so much, but without someone to tell you when or where it was taken or even who is in the picture, then they can hide many things. The few photographs of my Mum & Dad’s that do have some writing on the back, are a real treasure amongst the many photos of the anonymous faces of my distant relatives. Even when you know who is in the photo, it’s great to be able to turn it over and read a date and place and sometimes even who took the picture!

With digital photography now, times & dates are embedded into all the pictures we take, and if you post your pictures on the social networking websites, then faces can be tagged so everybody knows who everybody is! But if you take a photograph today, and get it printed to put in a family album, then get yourself a good quality pen or soft pencil, turn your print over and write on the back the date and place and who is in the picture. Your relatives will thank you one day!

Back of print.

Mum & Dad with Rob.
Photographer: Keith McCormack!

Earthworms and sunshine.

Yesterday was a special day.

Mum’s ashes were buried in Dad’s grave at Landican Cemetery. Reverend Thomas Carmichael was there to give a blessing. He also held the funeral service for Mum, and Dad, at Christchurch, Port Sunlight. He asked me if I wanted to lower Mum’s casket into the grave myself and then bury it, I did, I’ll never forget it. I wasn’t expecting that but was so pleased, honoured, to have done it.

I live far off in the wild

Where moss and woods are thick and plants perfumed.

I can see mountains rain or shine

And never hear market noise.

I light a few leaves in my stove to heat tea.

To patch my robe I cut off a cloud.

Lifetimes seldom fill a hundred years.

Why suffer for profit and fame?

Shih-wu (1272-1352)

As this blog is a family archive, I feel there should be a record of where Mum & Dad are buried:

Harry and Nancy McCormack are buried at Landican Cemetery

Woodchurch

Arrowe Park Road

Wirral

CH49 5LW

Grave number 409 section 5.

Mum & Dad's Memorial.

The four of us.

Harry & Nancy had four children. That’s me with my sister Anne and a long haired chihuahua! I remember that wallpaper! I must be about six years old so that would make it around 1968? We’re standing in the ‘front room’ of 35 The Ginnel, Port Sunlight. The house belonged to Lever Brothers, which is where my Dad worked, and that house remained in the family until just last year (2012) when Mum moved into a nursing home. Mum lived in The Ginnel for nearly sixty years I think, I will have to check. Mum & Dad remained tenants the whole time they lived there, turning down the opportunity to buy it. The house now belongs to the Port Sunlight Village Trust and has new tenants in now. Very strange to think of another family living in our house!

Dave, Anne & Doggie!

Back of above print.

This is Robert and Keith standing outside The Ginnel. Rob looks to be about three maybe? Keith would be about seven. Must be 1954? The front door has been a few colours over the years, it looks black in this photo. Levers would always paint the outside of the village houses. Am I right in thinking they painted the insides as well, even wallpapering at one time?

35 The Ginnel looks like a grand detached property! It is in fact an end of terrace with just a back yard. Dad built a fish pond in our back yard and stocked it with fish he used to catch from a local angling club, but that's another story! I remember playing out in the 'backs' behind The Ginnel. There used to be allotments there and Mum would send me to buy some vegetables from the old man with braces on his trousers and a black bicycle. What was his name?

Robert & Keith.

35 The Ginnel.