Aw, ikkums…

By shendy2 Comments
I suspect that the reason for the major holiday in 1964 is explained in these photos - offspring #1, born in November 1965 This is the very first photo of him. Four generations I love this one - considering he's only a few weeks old, it's a fabulous expression. "Yes?" There is a card you can get that says "Life would be so much better if only Mother would stop knitting"... And just to prove that I'm not just picking out the less flattering ones... Now, dear brother, how much is it worth not to send a link to this post to your colleagues? I'm sure he never looks at this blog, so he'll never see these ;-) When we get to my arrival, at least I get to choose all flattering shots!...
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Cefalu

By shendy1 Comment
In September 1964, the parents went on a 3-week Club Med holiday to Cefalu in Sicily. I believe that it was on a 3 weeks for the price of 2 end of season deal, and they both had to take some unpaid leave to make use of the third week. There's quite a few photos in this post, but it was a substantial holiday. It was a proper straw hut Club Med affair with communal dining, out in the open air. There are loads of photos of people water-skiing - strangely, quite a few of them appear to be of bikini-clad young ladies... Interesting seas for swimming And this just looks plain dangerous! Nice view for sunsets And we couldn't finish without a nice colour shot of bronzed 1960's types in bikinis, could we? ...
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Mother

By shendy1 Comment
A couple of Mother from 1964. Not really sure what's going on in this one - it looks like she might be taking some medicine. She still pulls faces like that if you feed her cheap red wine. A look, she's using a mangle. A mangle! I thought they went out in the 1800s. I know she's old, but even I didn't think she was that old. ...
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Honeymoon

By shendyNo Comments
Marriage put an end to the petrolhead holidays in France, but in June 1963, the parents went to France on their honeymoon, ambling around the Alps and the Loire. When the French say "chausee deformee", they really mean it! La Grave. The parents stayed here for a few days, SWMBO and myself went a couple of times in the early 2000s, and in 2008, the whole family went back (see previous posting). Looking at this photo now, we reckon that the low building is the restaurant for La Meijette, the hotel we stayed at in 2008. It looks like my parents stayed back up the road, possibly in the Hotel des Alpes. This is down in the valley, by the Romanche river. I've been down to the same spot myself, and that water is bloody cold! While my parents were in La Grave, the Alpine Rally "just happened" to pass through town. Hmmm, coincidence or planned? We shall never know. And from the Loire, Azay-le-Rideau. ...
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Domesticities

By shendyNo Comments
March 1963, and what I suppose is a tolerably important landmark in several people's lives - including me. "Do you, John Cristopher Hendy, take..." Yep, the parents got married. I've never seen any wedding photos, and there are only a few from what appears to be a very small reception at the Green Man pub near Silverstone. I imagine this is because my father was otherwise occupied on the day. The Green Man is/was a long time favoured haunt of racing drivers for decades. Now, a racing driver's pub near Silverstone - I wonder how that managed to get chosen for the reception? It's got a modern Premier Inn tacked onto it now, although it burned down just before the British Grand Prix this summer. Mother, on her wedding day... This is probably a unique photo - my father's mother and my mother's father. He was proper Northampton shoe industry working-class. She wasn't. The rest of my mother's family - twin brother, mother and younger sister...
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Monaco

By shendy3 Comments
In 1962, just for a change, my dad didn't go to Le Mans. Instead, Bill and he went to Monte Carlo for the Grand Prix. Did they fly? No. They made a proper petrolhead trip of it. First up, they drove to Germany (what in those days would have been West Germany, to be precise) for the Nurburgring 1000km. Then they drove down through the Alps to Monte Carlo, watched the Grand Prix, and then drove back up through France, via Arles, the Gorges du Tarn, Le Mans (OK, so he went there, but not for the 24 hour race this time) and then back to Calais. Not something you see every day - a racing car (Formula Junior - the precursor to Formula 3) parked at the side of the road, between a couple of oh-so-French vans. One of the most iconic Formula 1 cars - the Sharknose Ferrari 156, driven here by Phil Hill. Jack Brabham in a Lotus-Climax 24, in Casino...
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Masque Theatre summer show

By shendyNo Comments
The Masque Theatre in Northampton put on an open-air show every summer, usually Shakespeare. Traditionally it was always held in the courtyard of the museum in Abington Park, but this was closed for a number of years over the last decade or so. However, they're back there now, which means that the actors once again have to battle to be heard over the peacocks from the small aviary just behind. Assuming there are still any there - I haven't lived in Northampton since 1992, so I've no idea whether there are or not! As this is 1961, it must be Much Ado About Nothing. If I recall correctly, the little ticket booth is green, and always saw additional service in the Borough Show in Abington Park a week or two later. I spent many summer evenings around there, often selling programmes, as my father was generally in the play and my mother helped out, sometimes prompting, sometimes in the ticket office....
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