Commemoration Day, 1955

By shendyNo Comments
My father on graduation day (known as Commemoration Day), October 1955 at the Royal Albert Hall.EDIT: Just found this in felixonline.co.uk (the IC student newspaper):In 1945, King George VI and the Queen Mother visited Imperial College to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Royal College of Chemistry, the oldest of the institutions that were amalgamated into Imperial College in 1907. It was decided that this royal visit would be commemorated annually, and it is this ceremony, held in the Royal Albert Hall, at which Imperial undergraduate students celebrate graduation....
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ICDS – Maidstone 1955

By shendyNo Comments
Similarly to the production that the Imperial College Drama Society put on in Cheltenham in 1954, they did the same in Maidstone in 1955.Mr & Mrs FletcherLes and Ursula on stageI think that the first shot is of the landlord & landlady in the pub that they adopted during their stay - there are several photos that appear to be in the pub.I suspect that my father wasn't acting in this particular play, as this was taken from above the stage. I don't know what play they were doing - surprisingly enough his records don't say.I suspect the reason I never really became interested in the theatre (drawing a discrete veil over my appearance as a Munchkin) is that I was subjected to too much Shakespeare as a small child. My parents were (and my mother still is) long-standing active members of the Masque Theatre amateur group in Northampton, and they were always involved in the annual open-air productions. Being...
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Rowing, 1955

By shendyNo Comments
Head of the River Race, 4th VIII throwing the boat.Imperial College 3rd VIII at Walton Regatta, my father 2nd from right in the front rowAlong with the Drama Society, my father also rowed for Imperial College, competing in the Head of the River race two or three times. I'm not quite sure how he managed to combine both of these activities along with studying for his degree, but he seemed to manage it!Interestingly enough, three of his interests were photography, cycling and rowing - I do the first two and have done the third. Something went wrong though, as I've never been interested in the theatre....
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Tennis Player

By shendyNo Comments
Spring 1951. Who even knew that he ever played tennis? There is a really old tennis racket at home, which me and my brother used to use when we were children in the 70s and early 80s, and it's quite possible that it's the same one. Given his hoarding instinct, I think it's very likely!...
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Bike Race

By shendyNo Comments
Once again, I have no idea when this is from as it's part of another series of unlabelled half-plate images. Late 1940s/early 1950s is the best guess for most of these. But, I think it's in Hull - one of the other images with it has a sign for "Cream Cabs" in the background, and a quick Google search shows that there's only one Cream Cabs, and they're in Hull (and still going). That would make complete sense, as my grandfather was a doctor there....
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Rugby Player

By shendyNo Comments
This is from my dad's first labelled film (half-plate, not 35mm), which just says "Early Home". Given that the next one is from summer 1949, this must be from the 1948/49 rugby season at Towcester Grammar School.I assume this is the forwards, and that my dad played at lock forward - he was tall and thin so it would make sense. I had no idea he ever actually played until I saw this photo, although he was always a rugby fan and my parents used to watch the Saints in the 1960s....
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