Monthly Archives

August 2013


Who’s Who? 1981

Name that face! Welcome inside the home of Eileen and Ken Dale upon the occasion of their 40th Wedding Anniversary. They married in Bourton in 1941 and now it is 1981 in Waltham, Grimsby. The gang’s all here – although some in heavy disguise. There are many faces which are easy to spot. And some which are not. Maybe you can help. This is

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WIN A TRIP TO BOURTON!

WANTED: Top Toddler Pix Have you got a favourite picture of a top toddler? Even if it’s yourself. Come on, let’s see it! MASSIVE PRIZES MAY BE WON including… A trip to Bourton-on-the-Water by Ryanbus A guided tour of Bourton’s hottest nitespots Luxury hotel phone numbers Your own bag of chips….And more, more, more… Here are some of the website’s own favourites. You probably

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This Sporting Life: John Waite

This Sporting Life From his earliest days, John Waite showed he was gifted in sport. Football, cricket, athletics. It didn’t matter which kind, he seemed to come out winner with no need to try too hard. Well, that was the impression he gave, that it was all so natural. He could run, he could bat, he could bowl and he could definitely kick a

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John and Ann Minchin: Earliest Photos

John and Ann Minchin. These are wonderful images of John Minchin and his wife Ann, the grandparents of Eileen, Peggy, Nancy and Thelma. They come thanks to Simon Bartram – a great-grandson of John and Ann, through his grandmother Florence (1894-1987). Florence was the youngest of John and Ann’s children, and a sister of Bill Minchin. The photos were passed down through Simon’s parents.

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Thelma and Reg Clark

  Thelma and Reg Clark: Another Country. From the moment Thelma Minchin stepped off the train onto the station platform, she must have felt she had entered a foreign country. Urban not rural, industrial not agrarian, loud not genteel, bomb-sites not fields, malodorous with fish rather than scented with flowers and vegetables and harvest. Instead of golden Cotswold stone, there were rows and rows

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May Wood and Bill Minchin: Drama of the Early Years

How May Minchin Recovered from Childhood Tragedy. This is the oldest photograph the site has at present (August 2013) of May Minchin. It shows May Wood – who later married Bill Minchin – sitting on the knee of a woman, probably her Auntie Ada, and looking like a porcelain doll. May is one or two years old so it dates from 1893-94. Alongside her

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Susan Dale and John Waite: the Early Years

  Susan and John’s Early Years By the early 1950s, the house in Harrington Street had served Eileen and Ken Dale well. They’d bought it for £450 to get a foot on the property ladder. Their son John had been born on the kitchen floor. He and Susan had attended the local schools. But Ken and Eileen were aspirational and had never intended to

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The Minchin Sisters

LORD HELP THE SISTER! Although it could never be called unpopular, being a sister seemed to come more into fashion during the Fifties and Sixties. In Britain the harmonious Beverley Sisters were a ubiquitous presence on the new black and white television screens which were invading the living rooms. In America, their equivalent was a trio called the Andrews Sisters. Not to be left

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