Stephen: Back of photo has “Mrs M. Patrick, D.1. San Remo Towers, Boscombe” in Nanna’s hand.
Caro: Nanna’s mother died 1913.
Stephen: Nanna’s mother died aged 42.
Bel: Mother with ‘boyfriend’ – another female muse.
Bel: Nanna trained as a mental nurse at KCMH [Kent County Mental Hospital?], possibly with her friend Lillian. This looks like Nanna on the left.
Stephen: Three nurses sit holding and close to a woman in a frock. A fourth nurse sits slightly apart on the left and mugs to camera: both characteristic of Nanna.
Robert: Almost certainly at Chartham and it is my grandmother Janet in the frock.
Stephen: The bouquet suggests a wedding. Nanna claimed it was someone else’s, but the large bouquet in her hands makes this unlikely. The uneasy-looking man on the left would be Frank Mills, Bel’s father. He and Nanna were together for 4-5 years but he refused to leave his wife and they separated before Bel’s birth. Nanna never divulged anything about him and to her death insisted to Bel it was “none of her business”.
Robert: My mother found this photo in my grandmother’s collection and sent it to Bel believing the man might be her father. I wonder how you found his name? My grandmother, like Aunt Mary, knew his identity but similarly refused to say who he was.
Bel: Nanna & Lillian? Or her friend Violet?
Stephen: Both coat and hat resemble those worn by Nanna in image046.
Stephen: From Nanna’s effects. Subjects unknown, one in uniform, the other in street clothes. The vehicles and clothes suggest the 1920s or 30s; Army uniform changed before 1939. Scene is a spacious crossroads with a market cross. Shadows on the footpath indicate a garden to the right. Down the far road the buildings end after a little way: looks like a small town or village on a major road. The scale of the buildings perhaps suggests England rather than Scotland. The two men in the picture are near to each other and in step but otherwise appear mutually oblivious; the uniformed man’s arms suggest a march step. Neither man looks at the camera: the shot appears to be candid. Perhaps taken by a street photographer, who might reasonably have hoped to be paid by the soldier.
Bel: Maxx aged 2
Stephen: Appears late spring or early summer.
Bel: Aunt Phemie [Euphemia] raised her own siblings from the age of 19 then her own family. A good woman.
Robert: L to R: Aunt Phamie, Ellen Heathcote, Mary (Nanna), Janet (my grandmother), Mary (my mother) on her lap, Margaret?, Bunty
Bel: returned: shop, sand, bucket & spades. Pat pointed to a peach and asked, “What does that remind you of?” Sleeping head to toes. Aunt Ann and Uncle Billy coming to visit. Nanna’s swimming lessons: handful of costume.
Stephen: The sun is on the left: the children are on a southern coast in early morning or a northern in the late afternoon.
Robert: Mother adamant that they never went to East Anglia and her parents couldn’t have afforded the trip. But they all did go several times to Tankerton and nearby, on the North Kent coast.
Robert Hayman-Collins: I believe the line up is as follows, left to right: Mary Collins (née Heathcote), Ellen Heathcote, Isobel (Bel), Pat, Ellen Parkes, Uncle Jack (Herbert Parkes brother), Herbert Parkes, Janet Heathcote (née Patrick), Mary Patrick, Euphemia Patrick
Caroline: I was going to take mum to see her cousin Mary when she moved to the Cotswolds but covid prevented it. I took mum to see Mary whilst her husband was still alive & they were still living in Maidstone so I guess 20 years ago. I liked them. Mary’s sister was Ellen, Ken’s first wife. Mary & Ellen’s mother was Aunt Janet, Nana’s sister. Possibly the one she moved south with to do nursing training. Mary & Ellen were some of mum’s cousins who she holidayed with in Norfolk. Euphemia (Phemie) was Nana’s eldest sister who brought up her young siblings when their mother (our great-grandmother) died. Phemie then had mum to live with her for the first (7?) years of her life until mum went to live with Nana. Pat (cousin to mum) lived in Selkirk and had Nana to visit – there’s a photo of them both at St Mary’s Loch where I sometimes swim. Pat’s son is Peter who still lives in Selkirk; I’m now in contact with. He’s 70 and Ian & I have been cycling with him.
Bel: Annual seaside holiday in Norfolk.
Robert: Mother adamant that they never went to East Anglia and her parents couldn’t have afforded the trip. But they all did go several times to Tankerton and nearby, on the North Kent coast.
Bel: Rented bungalow on East Anglian coast. I’m wearing a lemon-yellow knitted dress with furry edgings.
Robert: This is Swalecliffe near Tankerton on the North Kent coast. Back row: Bunty(?) and Pat, middle row Ellen and Bel, Mary at the front. Mum remembers these bungalows and said that Uncle Billy would be there with his car and she recalls having the car door closed on her fingers by accident.
Caro: Euphemia and her husband Gordon brought Mum up in Dundee until she was 7. She was the eldest of Nanna’s siblings and looked after all of them wen their mother died in 1913. Nanna would have been about 11 and her big sister 10 years older. Their youngest brother, George would have been only 2 or 3. Their father went on to marry his late wife’s younger sister.
Bel: Maxx – aged 9
Bel: Burns Supper at British Dental Association: JK was president of the local chapter. I am in a lace blouse.
Bel: Nanna in the [Gd|GS|68]
Stephen: Doubts about Boscombe. When were there wooden steps down to the sand? (Small children remember such things.) No sign of the cast-iron railings along the promenade. Looks like grass where railings should be. And mature – cedars? – quite close behind, where cliff vegetation has always been scrubby windswept bushes. Note the parasol: a feature unknown on Corporation deckchairs in the 60s. Provence? La Napoule?
Bel: Daddy – when I first met him – 1947! He cried in frustration at not having had the opportunities enjoyed by others he had grown up with.
Bel: Ma and me in the garden of Grace’s villa in the South of France. I bought the hat at Eze (ref Picasso: Mougins?) JK took the picture – photo mad.
Bel: Behind me are Dave Starmer’s mother & stepfather. Nanna’s dress was a beautiful purple velvet with gold embroidery and sequins. My evening bag was a present for my 18th birthday. Elizabeth at 12 had led her grandmother over the Pyrenees from wartime France. Brigitte was her younger sister. [Nieces of Grace?]
Bel: Maxx & Daddy at Festival of Britain, London ’51 (note the gloves)
Stephen: Another hand has pencilled on the back of the photo “I Please Gill”
Stephen: My christening
Bel: christening of your beloved
Caro: The location is clearly the bottom of Sea Road, approaching Boscombe Pier! The boy is Allan, son of George and that’s probably his mum pushing the pram (Nanna’s sister-in-law).
Caro: The man on the right is George Patrick, Nanna’s youngest brother, great grandfather of Max Tysall; his wife was Annie. Plus his two sons. Allan, the boy on the left had hydrocephalus hence his large head.
Stephen: Looks like the Chine Hotel at the top of the cliff, before the cliffs got stabilised with vegetation.
Robert: Think this is 1956 the year my parents got married, as your parents gave them their honeymoon at the hotel. Mum remembers meeting George and his family for the one and only time there. Mum and dad met them seated in the hall as they were waiting for a taxi to leave.
Bel: Xmas at Sorrento 1956 or 7 Nanna, Stephen & Jo cousin? cousin of Daddy’s
Stephen: In the nursery. Jo and I are wearing the cowboy outfits we got as Christmas presents.
Bel: S! – He’ll remember!
Stephen: Pokesdown, my first year. I am on all fours, right and front. Behind me and in focus is Lyn Dunlop. On all fours and centre is Caroline Carden; the hand on her head is David Halliday’s. Carol Clark stands front and left, her hand on the head of a boy named Robert. Standing at the back and centre is Tommy Warren. Richard Prentice is just visible behind the blurred girl with a hand on my head.
Caro: The man on the left is James Patrick, Nanna’s father. The man on the right is Nanna’s youngest brother, George. Man in the middle is George’s first son, William, with his son, Gordon, who was born in 1957.
Bel: Think that’s Jo – with Garry – next door!
Bel: Nanna when young – glam.
Bel: Whenever Reg’s cousin Dave played a seaside show on the coast – Ryde? Shanklin? – we’d go to see it.
Bel: I’ve only just noticed (Daddy’s) keys too [?]
Reg: Southsea, July 1962 my darling and I
Stephen: This photo has a tale with it: the monkey nicked something… keys?
Bel: We went on a fact-finding tour along the coast to survey the competition. We never found a hotel as nice as ours!
Bel: our back garden at Sorrento About ’63 – doesn’t C. look sweet?
Bel: En route to visit Jean – Stanley
Stephen: We stopped on the Hog’s Back, where there was a small zoo. My Bournemouth School uniform puts it after Sep 1963 and before Sep 1966. Caro’s size suggests earlier in this period.
Stephen: Winter caravan holiday. Our sweaters were golden brown and knitted by Bel.
Stephen: Winter caravan holiday. Our sweaters were golden brown and knitted by Bel.
Stephen: Winter caravan holiday. Our sweaters were golden brown and knitted by Bel.
Stephen: Visit to Brownsea Island just after it had been opened to the public.
Stephen: Hallam Barnes was a friend of my parents from their days in the Bournemouth Model Parliament. He and his wife May owned a cottage near Sennybridge in Wales that they sometimes lent us for holidays.
Stephen: I am wearing the uniform of Bournemouth School, which puts this between Sep 63 and July 66
Bel: remember Jo had just had her hair cut and curled – we’d photographed her before the waves fell out. Used opp. to photo you two before Caro’s bedtime.
Stephen: Outside the boarding house where we stayed on a summer break in Cambridge.
Stephen: Jo with new frock and hairdo.
Stephen: Jo with new frock and hairdo; me in Bournemouth School uniform.
Stephen: Jo with new frock and hairdo; me in Bournemouth School uniform.
Stephen: A summer walk along the Purbeck coast with a stop to swim at Dancing Ledge.
Stephen: A summer walk along the Purbeck coast with a stop to swim at Dancing Ledge.
Stephen: A summer walk along the Purbeck coast with a stop to swim at Dancing Ledge.
Stephen: Caravan holiday with the Wolseley 6/90.
Stephen: Caravan holiday with the Wolseley 6/90.
Bel: En route to visit Jean – Stanley
Stephen: Rest break at a roadside attraction on the Hog’s Back.
Stephen: Mum’s beloved red Austin Healey Sprite with the Speedwell conversion, on a visit to Axminster with her friend Pru.
Stephen: Mum’s beloved red Austin Healey Sprite with the Speedwell conversion, on a visit to Axminster with her friend Pru.
Stephen: Mum’s beloved red Austin Healey Sprite with the Speedwell conversion, on a visit to Axminster with her friend Pru.
Bel: b/fast – back garden Sorrento
Stephen: The breakfast table boasts my father’s electric coffee percolator. This circulated hot water through the grounds; left long enough, it produced a thick tarry liquid, electric with caffeine.
Bel: Caravan holiday. All of us had matching gold sweaters, like Stephen’s
Printer: KODACOLOR PRINT MADE BY KODAK LTD. MARCH 1965
Bel: Badbury Rings
Stephen: I am wearing my Canford School uniform, which suggests a ‘minor exeat’ one Sunday afternoon. The school dissuaded Bel & Reg from such visits, so this is probably my first term.
Stephen: Reg on the right on his and Bel’s return from Berlin, where they had been detained by the police for entering East Germany without a visa: “Kein Visa? Heraus!”
Stephen: Reg in the Japanese cherry tree outside the dining room.
Stephen: Seaside visit to Chaffeys with friend Sheila.
Stephen: An abortive trip to Ireland to recruit nursery nurses for the hotel
Stephen: An abortive trip to Ireland to recruit nursery nurses for the hotel
Stephen: Mum’s weekend break in France with her friend Sheila.
Stephen: Mum’s weekend break in France with her friend Sheila.
Stephen: Mum’s weekend break in France with her friend Sheila.
Stephen: Mum’s weekend break in France with her friend Sheila.
Stephen: Mum’s weekend break in France with her friend Sheila.
Stephen: Mum’s weekend break in France with her friend Sheila.
Stephen: Mum’s weekend break in France with her friend Sheila.
Jo: Can’t remember the occasion but was 1967 as I was 13, closest to camera with first boyfriend Christopher Stevenson 15. Stephen also 15 at end of table far side on left. Where was poor Caroline, at 7yrs old I guess she was home with the baby sitter!!! God I loved that dress, Mary Quant style shift long mini with white polka dots, white lace tights and you can’t see the three bar patent shoes under the table (my only smart outfit). Dressed to kill. My friend Isobel Horsepool (Izzy nagspuddle she got called at school) was 13 yrs going on 30 there!!
Stephen: My 15th birthday party. The band leader at this nightspot was a family favourite; his signature tune was “Summertime”.
Bel: 4 or 5 years ago. ‘Party’ at local municipal nightspot!
Stephen: My father took great pride in my boarding scholarship to Canford, a local minor public school. To my horror I had won a biannual scholarship from Bournemouth School. Only now occurs to me whether my selection had anything to do with my father’s position on the council.
Jo: Daddy’s election photo that I think Stephen took – to go on his leaflets for being elected Councillor in Bournemouth
Stephen: The Wolseley 6/90 was an ex-police car and bore a scar on the roof where the blue flashing light had been removed. The gear shift was short and on the R side of the driver’s seat. Something unspeakable had been done to the engine: the speedometer could be jammed on 110mph. Reg liked to say when parking it among the Jags and Bentleys at the council chambers that it was probably the only car there that had been paid for. He eventually sold it to Eric, our electrician. My father is wearing his Merchant Navy tie.
Jo: Trip to London - Hyde Park? Guess mum was taking the pic. I crocheted that beret to match my socks - 1967? What do you think Caroline? 1968?
Caro: sadly don't have any memories of this trip :-(
Stephen: Visit to Carnaby St and ‘Swinging London’. I had just bought my first hardback book (T.S. Eliot, Complete Poems, 25/-) and had my head full of it at the time.
Jo: Punting on Cam with Daddy - 1968/9?
Stephen: Mum had taken Jo & me on short summer breaks to Cambridge before; this was a family trip; we all stayed at the Royal Gardens Hotel. I remember the year from reading in The Guardian about the Troubles in Ireland.
Stephen: Punting on the Granta, probably on a family visit in which we stayed at the Royal Gardens Hotel.
Stephen: I took this photo, for my father’s campaign to be elected to Bournemouth Council, at the front door of the flat he had built for the family onto the rear of the hotel.
Stephen: Just possibly at the church at Canford School.
Stephen: Staff of the Chatsworth Hotel, where I was the sole male waitress that summer. I am standing in the back row. Seated left in the middle row and wearing a blue dinner jacket is the head waiter, Mr Oddie. I remember how shocked I was at lewd talk by my fellow waitresses.
Jo: Mummy and Daddy at Southbourne (Leigham Vale Rd?) soon after we had left Hotel Sorrento in Boscombe. 1968? ish?
Caro: we lived in a rented house in Queens Park South Drive for a year after leaving Sorrento, then moved to Leigham Vale Rd so may have been a year later i.e. 1970?
Stephen: I was 15 when we left Sorrento, which puts the move between Sep 1967 and Sep 1968. We were at Leigham Vale Rd when I had my summer job at the Chatsworth. That was in 1969: I remember considering going to the Isle of Wight Festival that year. The previous summer, 1968, I had worked at Le Bistro restaurant at the Lansdowne and commuted from Southbourne, so we were definitely at Leigham Vale Rd in the summer of 1968.
Bel: That’s not me.
Caro: It was taken outside 16 Leigham Vale Road in Southbourne around 1970, I think. It makes me smile noticing the fuschia bush to the right of the front door. I think Mum bought a pair of them at the New Forest Show and placed them either side of the door?
Bel: Maxx & her beloved sports car – circ. 1972
Stephen: Visiting from London, just back from summer in Greece
Stephen: Photographed shortly before cutting my hair short and applying for work programming computers.
Stephen: Looks like a passport photo. I bought the denim shirt on my return from Greece in Sep 1973.
Bel: Nanna visiting friends: a swimming-pool manager who married his best friend’s daughter. (They visited at Soberton Rd.)
Stephen: Walking the Cotswold Way with Catharina and Peter & Maria from Groningen, Netherlands
Stephen: Passport picture, early 80s, possibly taken in Australia
Stephen: Visiting my former neighbour Julia en route to the APL84 conference in Helsinki.
Bel: cutting her cakes!
Caro: Apparently Nana had made noises about Pop having a party for his 80th birthday so Mum did one for her.
Caroline: I’d be 23 and Des probably 27. I heard on Fri evening that my good friend of 40 years, Desmond in Hong Kong, had died on 15th Feb. I’ve been concerned for several weeks that he hadn’t responded to my messages then I checked his Facebook page again and saw RIP messages. Absolutely devastated and in shock for 24 hours. You may remember he came over from HK just for my 40th birthday party at Centreparc. I visited him in HK twice, lastly with Ian in 2017.
Bel: St Mary’s Loch, July./87 with Pat Ewart
Stephen: Jo and fiancé Alastair visited me at my surf shack.
Stephen: Impersonating Kevin Costner at Jorge Rosner’s farm. The Cadillac is Jorge’s.
Bel: Apr 1990
Caro: think also Dundrennan due to the pictures on the wall above Nana’s bed – don’t think she had these in the nursing home and she looks more robust than in later pictures.
Stephen: Photo by Stephania, who had just come to Sydney.
Caro: This is the rented house Mum & Nana shared at Dundrennan as I recognise the metal frame windows and Mum making DIY double-glazing for them on a cleverly designed removeable frame.
Stephen: Photo paper suggests same roll as image006
Stephen: Wedding, Bilgola, Sydney, NSW
Stephen: Mountain training in Korea. Just below the summit on the highest mountain on the South Korean mainland, completing 11 peaks in a 36-hour forced march wearing inadequate Timberland boots and the red socks cousin Susan gave me. Complete sense of humour failure at this point.
Stephen: Found on tartan-framed keyring of Bel’s. Setting looks like a domestic interior; suit suggests a formal occasion.
Miki: Cannot remember whose baby that is!
Caroline: 2016-04-19: Rare visit from Ken a couple of weeks ago, together with his youngest, Anne (also our cousin of course). They stayed overnight and we had the next day out together. Ken was in good shape and was fun to spend time with.
Caroline: We called him Cliff Richard of HK as he loved tennis, music and never seemed to age.
Caroline: 2018-08-28: At mum’s request, I took her shopping for a mobility walker today and she got one. We walked through town and it has at least doubled her walking speed, hurrah! I’ve warned her against over confidence whilst she gets used to it. The path down to Cusack House is probably the worst risk! I’ve heard they are planning to re-lay it. We went on to lunch at Hilliers Gardens where I took the photo. She has it in time for her Sidmouth holiday, starting next Tuesday. Ian & I are taking her down but staying in a different part of town and largely having separate holidays – have one day out together and a meal. Her hotel is right on the promenade and the cafes and shops are a few steps away.
Caroline: 2018-12-16: Recent South American adventure – rounding Cape Horn and King penguins.
Caroline: Taken at Abbeyfield coffee morning.
Caroline: We had a reasonable few days away and she walked a lot, enjoyed the food and everyone enjoys being beside the sea. Sidmouth is compact and level and the hotel is right on the promenade. However, I think she finds staying away hard work and am not sure she’ll want to do so again.
Caroline: 2019-09-14 I took Mum to visit her friend Bunty yesterday. You may remember Bunty? She’s now 101 and moved from Abbeyfield Twyford a couple of months ago to a new Abbeyfield near Southampton Airport which offers higher levels of care (at a much higher cost!). Her eyesight is reducing and she can no longer sort her medication herself, hence her move. The new place is more like a hotel, very nice but I think Mum is currently better off where she is, for now anyway.
Caroline: 2019-01-21: Mum has been doing her exercises 4 times a day, giving me text updates daily when done. Physio is pleased with her progress, has doubled her reps and her increased movement is evident. She has been using the ice-packs on her shoulder but now they are no longer needed. Next step will be when mum can manage to undress without the carer and she is nearly ready for that if she chooses the clothes carefully. She can’t put anything on over her head as her arms don’t go up very high currently. The physio says the arm and shoulder joint are ok, the muscles need to get stronger. She loves her new coat. Lightweight, easy to get on and cosy. Only £39, reduced from £99. Fits well and looks good. She did have gloves on most of the day, just not at end of trip.
Stephen: Bel met her honorary (great?) granddaughter.
Stephen: Aki & Safi with Miki in our kitchen.
Stephen: Lunch at Bel’s home at Abbeyfield with a rare visit by Ken. Photo by Miki Yamanouchi.
Caroline: The Winchester Socially Distanced Choir sing to Bel on her 90th birthday. The lady in the wicker chair to the left is Sarah James, the manager from Abbeyfield. The lady in the striped top sitting on the grass is our Choir Leader, trying to get her boogie box started to give us some backing music to have half a chance of keeping in time with each other being so spread out!
Caroline: Mum singing along to the Winchester Socially Distanced Choir.
Stephen: Wheelchair walk and a pub lunch shortly after lockdown ended.
Caroline: Mum joining in making Christmas cards this morning. She said she wasn’t keen initially but really enjoyed it.
Stephen: Mum playing table tennis from a wheelchair.
Jo: Coming down off mountain today. Just by Swiss border.
Caroline: The finish line photo after 60 miles 🚴♀️.
Stephen: Jo & Caro rode from Whitchurch to meet Miki & me in Stockbridge; we then all rode to Chandlers Ford to have lunch with Mum before riding back.
Stephen: After visiting her dentist in Winchester we wound up in Stockbridge for lunch. (The last time I saw her.)
Caroline: Me with cousin Peter & his wife Margaret in their conservatory at their house in Selkirk this afternoon.
Jo: On my tour of Burgundy.
Stephen: Wild swimmers!
Caroline: We had friends to visit over the weekend and hiked up Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall yesterday near Moffat.
Caroline: A visit today from Tim & Helen (Douglas) & baby Arran.
Stephen: Caroline is a step-grandmother!
Stephen: Mum’s funeral was followed by a reception at her local pub in Chandler’s Ford.