For the second time since I started this blog I have had to attend a funeral. This time it was not as unexpected as the death of my friend Clive, as my aunt Doris has passed away at the age of 84.
I must admit that in recent years I haven’t seen much of my aunt’s, uncles and cousins and have no recent pictures of Doris, but I do have a photos of my mother and her brothers and sisters taken in 1987, at yet another funeral, that of my maternal grandmothers.
L-R: Tommy, Doris, my mother Margaret, Audrey and Gwylim at my grandmother's house, Coventry 1987
Between them these five brothers and sisters had seven offspring. They also posed for photos in 1987. But the big mystery is –who owns the hand that can be seen between Simon and Julian?
There were some who insisted it was our grandmother waving goodbye!
L-R: Alan, Elaine, my brother Simon, Julian, myself, and Doris' sons John and David. Coventry 1987.
However I think it's an optical illusion caused by a wide-angle lens......
....if you look at the same group taken at the same time on my camera, you can see that John who has his hand on my shoulder could easily have reached behind Julian.
Well 24 years later how things have changed, Tommy has passed away, my mother is wheelchair bound and couldn’t attend, Audry was unavailable and Gwylim can only walk with a zimmer. Six of the seven cousins were present and after we had paid our respects to Doris, we had to have that photo taken again. Some have changed more than others in the last quarter century.
24 years later, L-R: Alan, Simon, Julian, John, Ian and David
My mother’s side of the family originally came from South Wales, but moved to Coventry in the 30’s as there was no work in the coal mines. My mother, Doris and Audrey were with my grandparents through the worst of the blitz, whilst all the houses around them were flattened.
The old Coventry cathedral after the Blitz.
My mother met my father when both worked in Sainsbury’s during the late 30’s and they married in 1940. They were still living in Coventry when I was born in 1951 but we moved to Kettering in 1955 and then to Derby in 1965, where my mother and brother still live. The rest of the family remained in Coventry, with the exception of Tommy (and Julian his son) who with his Navy connections moved to Torpoint in Cornwall. The following photos are from the internet.
Apart of course for the story of Lady Godiva….
…..Coventry is best known for the rebuilt cathedral, opened in the sixties. It still is to my mind an architectural marvel.
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