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Group photos

ChrisM said:
Interesting as formal group photographs are, my real favourites are those group images where the subjects are almost completely unaware that they are being photographed.

This one is amongst those in my collection which I like best.
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bless. thanks to men like that.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Aston Swimming Club in 1914. They won the Flying Squadron League, so I expect some of these men went on the join the RFC - or might even have already been in service. Look at all those medals, a very successful team. Viv.
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You will be pleased to know that Aston Swimming Club are still in existence althought we only have a senior mens water polo team.
 
How the other half ...... although perhaps not quite what it seems.

Around 1920, Eastcote Hall, Knowle - home of the Delingpole family, Black Country industrialists.

Back row....
x - Nell Delingpole - Bert Delingpole - Bob Jeff - Mr. Webb - x - Bill Delingpole
Middle row ....
Elder sister of Bert Delingpole - Vincent Young - Gwen Young (my father's elder sister and thus my aunt) - "Mary E." - Mrs Webb - x - Bill Delingpole
Front row.....
x - my father - my mother - son of Bill Delingpole
Foreground....
One unfortunate tiger

Unknown, happy occasion, very formal in terms of dress. How on earth my parents could afford to be there and dress up like that, goodness only knows. They married at around that time, lived in "rooms", eventually got allocated a council house in Erdington and, like many others, struggled to make their way throughout the twenties. But at Eastcote they caught a glimpse of a rather different life and during hard times could probably look back on a happy and privileged evening. I never asked them about this photograph - just another regret.

Chris

EascoteHallGroup1920.jpg
 
ChrisM said:
The preponderance of officers and NCOs in the group won't reflect the overall make-up of the Erdington unit of which they are all a part. These men have been on a Home Guard weapons training course – artillery guns, anti-tank weapons etc – and they will tend to be men in the unit with a degree of authority (and perhaps a responsibility for passing on their new knowledge to others when they rejoin the unit).

There is so much interesting detail in this image. For example, look at the number of men with Great War experience, shown by their medal ribbons. Survivors to a man. 25 years earlier several of them would have been in the trenches, hoping they would survive and enjoy a lifetime of peace. Just 25 years earlier – the equivalent, for us, of 1994 and to me the day before yesterday. And now here they are, back in uniform, for Round 2.

Chris
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Being ex-army I can't help but notice that there seems to be different shades of Blanco on the gaiters of the men in the photo. Given that the officers will have had their own colour, some of the Other Ranks look like they used black polish. Unusual, seeing that they're all from the same unit.
 
I think that this is an active area of debate amongst HG historians and especially re-enactors, maypolebaz!! And I'm not sure if there is a definitive answer.

You'll see this sort of variation in a lot of HG group images. And from my own personal experience I well remember polishing my father's own gaiters - he was a Captain and it was black boot polish I was using....

(And in fact I think I still have them somewhere, together with his HG battledress AND his Great War Cameron Highlanders private's kilt and sporran!)

Chris
 
ChrisM said:
I think that this is an active area of debate amongst HG historians and especially re-enactors, maypolebaz!! And I'm not sure if there is a definitive answer.

You'll see this sort of variation in a lot of HG group images. And from my own personal experience I well remember polishing my father's own gaiters - he was a Captain and it was black boot polish I was using....

(And in fact I think I still have them somewhere, together with his HG battledress AND his Great War Cameron Highlanders private's kilt and sporran!)

Chris
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In the early 60s we had a new RSM who hated bull, (unbelievable but true !). One of the first things he did was make the regiment blacken their webbing. It was a hell of a job first time but after that it was so much easier than Blanco. My point is, though, for the sake of uniformity, the whole regiment had to do it.
I imagine that with the HG the priority would've been military training and spit & polish would take a back seat.
 
Nico said:
Mum wore a divided skirt to cycle in and I have a photo of her in a long skirt she cycled in and flat shoes and aunt Win in high stilletoes and a tight skirt. Don't know how she did it.
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Hope photo prints
 

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maypolebaz said:
In the early 60s we had a new RSM who hated bull, (unbelievable but true !). One of the first things he did was make the regiment blacken their webbing. It was a hell of a job first time but after that it was so much easier than Blanco. My point is, though, for the sake of uniformity, the whole regiment had to do it.
I imagine that with the HG the priority would've been military training and spit & polish would take a back seat.
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i webbing. i like collecting webbing haversacks .also i wear wd gaiters. over my boots.in the woods. they keeps the mud and snakes out
 

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Details of the ‘truce’ and another photo of strikers at the meeting at Digbeth garage. Article dated 11 July 1945. Viv.
 

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if anyone can help i am still searching for any group/class photos of lozells girls school taken during 1964 and 1969/70

many thanks

lyn
 
In the UK double British summer time, during WW2, commenced 25th. February, 1940 and lasted until 7th. October, 1945.
 
Sadly they've all passed on now although I'm not too sure about the tall man, Harold Soden, he would be in his nineties now if he still survives.
 
A group of Small Heath workers union social club members ready for a tour to London and the Thames Valley in April 1939. Viv.

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Hi there...would like to add info on your picture 1920`s Wimbush delivery van group( Picture 16)...I think the short guy in the middle of the group is my granddad George Ernest Collett. He was reputed to have been the first baker employed by Ambrose Durrant Wimbush ( according to family story) I have found him on Electoral Rolls lodging with Roger`s family with Ambrose Durrant Wimbush there as well on 2 occasions when the roll was taken. As he died before I was born I had no photos of him....now the resemblance to my father is overwhelming that I think it must be him. Thanks forum members.
 
Welcome Lesley. It’s good to hear from people who might recognise anyone in the photos, gives extra background and interest to these images. Thank you. Viv.
 
These young entertainers were a group from Kingstanding. Photo is from April 1939, when the area was just developing with lots of new residents. Doubtless this group was one of many activuties that helped to build the new community. Viv.

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Very little space, cramped quarters, as in There's not enough room to swing a cat in this tent . This expression, first recorded in 1771, is thought to allude to the cat-o'-nine-tails, or “cat,” a whip with nine lashes widely used to punish offenders in the British military :sob:. (not the feline type )
 
oldMohawk said:
Wesleyan Sunday School outing in Aston. Unfortunately no date but looks c1900-1905.
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Great picture but it got me wondering if the person who is mentioned on the thread War Graves in Aston, William Lines, is pictured here. He was born in 1895 and lived at 233 Frederick Street and would have been between 5 and 10 yrs old when this picture was taken.
 
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