The Daily Mail: Read the full story - Click Here
We don't actually own our own photos, we simply look after them for future generations
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Friday, 29 October 2010
How an old photo sparked teacher and pupil reunion after 50 years
A PHOTO that appeared on a Portadown website has reunited a teacher and her former pupil after more than 50 years.
Mrs Mona Martin, who lives in Margretta Park, had found some old photos, including one of herself as a young teacher (then Miss Kennedy) with her class at Hart Memorial PS, taken in the early 1950s.
Her husband Bertie duly sent the photos to local photographer Jim Lyttle to include of his website of images of Portadown past and present.
Little did Mrs Martin know that one of the pupils pictured, Gordon Mullen, now living in Australia, would recognise himself and begin a chain of correspondence that culminated in a recent reunion in Portadown.
Said Mrs Martin, “We had a message from Gordon to say how thrilled he was to see the photo of his old school ‘especially Miss Kennedy who I was seriously in love with’!”
Gordon, married with a grown-up family, recalled that his teacher, on whom he had such a big crush as an eight-year-old, had red hair.
The pair, with their respective spouses, met up at a recent reunion at the Seagoe Hotel, before the Mullens went on to visit an uncle in Armagh, and then on to Scotland and London, where they have a son.
Said Mrs Martin, “We had a lovely dinner together and it wasn’t one bit awkward. We just seemed to click.
“What I remember about Gordon as a child is that he was always so well-dressed and clean and tidy. He used to wear a little, V-neck pullover.
“We had some good laughs in the classroom. I was just out of Stranmillis teacher training college and I was young looking so maybe I didn’t seem as old or strict to the children as some of the other teachers did.
“If one of the children said or did something funny, I would have laughed with them.”
The then Miss Kennedy taught at Hart Memorial PS for around 10 years before getting married and giving up teaching to devote herself to married and family life.
Her husband Bertie duly sent the photos to local photographer Jim Lyttle to include of his website of images of Portadown past and present.
Little did Mrs Martin know that one of the pupils pictured, Gordon Mullen, now living in Australia, would recognise himself and begin a chain of correspondence that culminated in a recent reunion in Portadown.
Said Mrs Martin, “We had a message from Gordon to say how thrilled he was to see the photo of his old school ‘especially Miss Kennedy who I was seriously in love with’!”
Gordon, married with a grown-up family, recalled that his teacher, on whom he had such a big crush as an eight-year-old, had red hair.
The pair, with their respective spouses, met up at a recent reunion at the Seagoe Hotel, before the Mullens went on to visit an uncle in Armagh, and then on to Scotland and London, where they have a son.
Said Mrs Martin, “We had a lovely dinner together and it wasn’t one bit awkward. We just seemed to click.
“What I remember about Gordon as a child is that he was always so well-dressed and clean and tidy. He used to wear a little, V-neck pullover.
“We had some good laughs in the classroom. I was just out of Stranmillis teacher training college and I was young looking so maybe I didn’t seem as old or strict to the children as some of the other teachers did.
“If one of the children said or did something funny, I would have laughed with them.”
The then Miss Kennedy taught at Hart Memorial PS for around 10 years before getting married and giving up teaching to devote herself to married and family life.
READ FULL ARTICLE : CLICK HERE
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Harold Wreglesworth reunited with lost family photographs
Harold Wreglesworth, 70, of Holgate Road, came to our offices in Walmgate to collect the albums after reading an appeal in The Press for remaining family members to come forward.
Mr Wreglesworth said he read the article and noted the names mentioned in it were like those of his own family.
Then, when he saw the photograph alongside the story, he realised it was no coincidence.
The photograph albums, which were initially thought to belong to the Edwards family, which owned Edwards’ convenience store on the corner of Ash Street and a newsagent in Poppleton Road, actually belonged to Mr Wreglesworth’s aunt and uncle, Emily (Em) and Harold Brown.
Em Brown (nee Noel) lived in and managed the shop in Ash Street, so she was good friends with the Edwards family.
She was also a keen photographer, explaining the many photographs of them and the shop.
The albums also include many photographs of Em’s sister Phil, and Phil’s husband Harold Wreglesworth – Mr Wreglesworth’s mother and father – and their three children; Mr Wreglesworth himself, his brother, Noel, and his sister, Phil.
Mr Wreglesworth said: “Em was a fanatical photographer and her other claim to fame is she was one of the fastest knitters in York. She knitted socks for two or three members of the Poppleton Road junior football team.”
“We don’t have that many old photographs,” said Mr Wreglesworth, as he turned the pages of about 30 years of his family history, including their annual daytrip to Scarborough. He said they brought back many memories both happy and sad, but that he was pleased to see them.
Many people wrote into The Press with their memories from Ash Street during this era, including Eileen Gray (nee Scaife), of Beaverdyke, who lived on Poppleton Road between 1935 and 1961. Mrs Gray recognised Em Noel, who she used to keep company in the shop and was then her bridesmaid when she married Harold Brown in about 1946.
The furniture shop SM Gawthorne Ltd, incorrectly labelled as Mr Edward’s shop in the photograph albums, actually used to be based in Petergate.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Almost Lost forever...
A recent posting on the 'The Age of Uncertainty' Blog (http://ageofuncertainty.blogspot.com/) highlights the plight and near death expereince of a wonderful collection of 19th century photographs.
View full online collection: CLICK HERE
Someone at work came across a wonderful album of photos from the 1860s. They took one look and promptly threw it into a bin. Minutes later, a forklift truck was due to empty the bin's contents into a large skip, which would then be transported to a plant that pulped paper products and turned them into useful things, like lampshades and road surfacing material.
Luckily, by sheer chance, somebody else was curious enough to pull the album out of the bin and when they saw the contents, they brought it straight to me. As soon as I opened the pages, I knew that this was an exceptional find.
As with almost every album I find, there are no names or places, although judging by the stone walls and dales, I think that it comes from the north of England. There is only one date - 1863 - but even if there wasn't, the fashions are quite clearly mid-Victorian.
This is the England of Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Wilkie Collins.
View full online collection: CLICK HERE
Monday, 25 October 2010
PhotosReunited.com is coming to a town near you…
Photos Reunited.com appreciates just how important your old photo memories are. We also realise how difficult it can be to make the decision to package them up and send them by Courier or recorded delivery with the Post Office to a company such as ours to have them digitally scanned.
Digitally scanning your old photographs offers tremendous benefits that range from, creating digital copies that will protect your photos for many generations to come, easier access to photo restoration services and not least of all you are able to share digital images via the Internet with all your family and friends.
However, for many, these benefits are simply not worth even taking slightest risks (and the risks are extremely low) that your photographs could be lost or damaged while in transit to and from the digital processing centre.
In order to alleviate any concerns and to ensure that the benefits of our services are made available to as many people as possible we are launching the Photos Reunited Photo-Protect Clinics. We will be taking our equipment and expertise on the road to host Photo-Protect Digital photo scanning clinics across the UK.
The Photo-Protect Clinic’s will be held at local village halls, libraries, social clubs, British Legion clubs, church halls, and similar venues throughout the UK. If you attend one of the clinics you will have the opportunity to meet members of the Photos Reunited.com team who will be available to discuss any specific photo digital scanning requirements you may have. In most cases we aim to fulfil all your scanning requirements while you wait…we may even provide you with a nice cup of tea!
If you would like us to come and visit your local town or village then simply let us know by emailing us on: EMAIL
For more about the Photo Reunited.com Photo-Protect Clinic’s please visit our web site Photos Reunited.com or Blog where full details including dates and venues will be published and updated.
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