Work's Outing

I am guessing that this very grand occasion with everyone dressed in their finery was the annual summer outing of the optical firm that my grandfather worked for before starting out on his own. I believe that my grandfather, Sydney Howard, is the eighth person from the right standing at the back. As he started out on his own around April 1914 then this picture was taken before that date. Note the charabanc on the left of the picture - presumably hired especially for the outing. Although they probably referred to it as a charabanc it is more likely a double decker bus.

Snow Bears

Apart from the unbelievable cuteness of this photo from the late 1950s, I like it because it reminds me that as a child I didn't know about snowmen. Of course this was long before the Briggs story. Whenever there was enough snow when I was growing up my father always made a snow bear. The one in the photo here is a particularly fine example. In subsequent years I always throught the traditional snowman had something missing - the large pointed ears!

For the eyes and nose my father used pieces of coke which we used as fuel for the kitchen Rayburn. It was probably in good use on a day like this baking hot cakes for tea. I remember my mother's delight when we moved house and she had an electric cooker for the first time - with a thermostatic oven.