Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sepia Saturday 85 : It's New Brighton ... And It's Sheet


Moving on to the next photograph in the recently discovered family stash : hopefully it will not give rise to the controversy of last week. I can say with some certainty (based on a penciled annotation on the back) that it shows my mother, Gladys, my brother, Roger, and my father, Albert. Roger was born in 1943 and therefore I assume the photograph was taken in either 1946 or 1947. This would make it at least a year before I was born, which is strange as I can detect my own particular mark of the composition and execution of the photograph.

As far as place is concerned, I suspect it was taken in either Bridlington (on the east coast of England). or New Brighton (on the west coast). For decades the location of the annual family seaside holiday would swing between these two extremes with the regularity of Foucault's Pendulum. It may not be much of a clue, but the car in the background seems to have a registration number of GNC 766 and under the old system of localised registration, NC was one of the registration strings allocated to Manchester. As Manchester is nearer the west than the east I would put my money on New Brighton, but no doubt my brother will write in and say Bridlington.

You may recall that in a comment on my Sepia Saturday post last week, Roger simply said "it was fork" and challenged me to recall a family story. The story relates to an argument between my grandfather, Enoch, and his wife, Harriet Ellen. One night, the story goes, they were looking out of their window at a storm which was passing over Bradford. "That's fork lightening", said Enoch to Harriet. "Nay Enoch, it's sheet lightening", responded his wife. "Now I'm telling thee Harriet, it's fork", countered Enoch. "It's not, it's sheet", she replied. "Well, I'll say no more to thi, let this be an end to it" said Enoch, .... "but it's fork".

You can see many other Sepia Saturday posts by following the links on the Sepia Saturday Blog

27 comments:

  1. Sheet....fork.....lightning still terrifies me!

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  2. That’s a great story Alan, and the picture is charming.

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  3. Are you certain it's not the Promenade des Anglais in Nice?

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  4. Great story and fabulous photo, Alan! It really is very good composition. I'm glad someone bothered to mark the photo, though. Two weeks of controversy in a row ...

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  5. Great story. I love the last line "I'll say no more but it's fork" Typical married couple.

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  6. I don't even know the difference between fork and sheet lightning. Maybe they are two ends of a continuum and that is what caused the difference of opinions.

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  7. And then there's jagged bolt, balls, elves,blue jets, red sprites, triggered, the list goes on and on. But of course only sheet and fork in Yorkshire sepia....

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  8. Something just does not ring true here. I thought that in Yorkshire it was always the woman that had the last word.
    Shame they don't make cars like that any more.
    On the question of car number plates the system we have in the UK now has taken all the fun out of collecting car numbers.

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  9. Fork or not, what a darling photo and that hat is just too cute! It's an adorable photo from childhood! As for hearing about a seaside holdiay yes!!! It reminds me of going to my aunt and uncle's house in Grand Haven, Mi that was my seaside holiday...very much fun! Thanks for another glimpse into that grand stash of yours!

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  10. Glad you filled us in on the fork story!

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  11. Love the fork story, and how it has found its way into the family's sayings. Your photo brings back memories for me too - perhaps we all have a similar one lurking in our family albums.

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  12. Well I have never heard of fork but have heard it called sheet lightning. Right now it is sheet lightning in Ky. Great shot.
    QMM

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  13. What a great story! It only needs a Google Blogger ap that plays a the voices in regional dialects!

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  14. I love the lightning story Alan.

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  15. Thank goodness my name's on the back, otherwise you'd be claiming it's you again. As for location, Morecombe is a possibility.

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  16. We have had a lot of fork and sheet here in atlanta this summer.

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  17. The collective memories of the scouse contingent of the HMS Conway ex alumni e-group (HMS Conway was moored at New Brighton before being taken to the Menai Straits) is that it's the front at West Kirby, and I must say I have to agree.

    Somewhere around here - http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=west+kirby&hl=en&ll=53.370118,-3.187194&spn=0.013852,0.042272&sll=51.532818,-2.376483&sspn=0.007221,0.021136&z=15&layer=c&cbll=53.369703,-3.186807&panoid=j9OqL07FYqQYvAfXlxtQMw&cbp=12,163.05,,0,0

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  18. Lovely picture, lovely story.

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  19. Great stuff, Alan.

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  20. i see their arguments had a comedic angle... we can see where you got your sense of humor.

    love the pic. a fine memory...
    :)~
    HUGZ

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  21. Pencilled annotations have been known to be wrong.... In our family they cannot be trusted.

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  22. I hate to say this but I just can't stop myself. Could he possibly have meant "forkin' lightening"? Oh, sheet, that would have definitely been the last word.
    Barbara

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  23. What a great story. And the photo is so charming-reminds me of Christopher Robin.

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  24. Your brother looks like Christopher Robin! So perfect.

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  25. your brother was a cute little fellow.

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  26. Wow an electrical storm for sure. That is a cool photo of the three of them. Little did Roger know that his only child syndrome was about to end.

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  27. Is It My Imagination ,but, I don't see Parents & Children holding hands as much these days.....(?)Although,to be fair, its hard to hold hands when driving a 4-Wheel Drive!

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