Cousins
Four cousins in the back garden in 1977 - Me, Chris, The Brother and Mike.
And as a footnote, yes - a number of footballs did come into contact with the greenhouse......
Family, 1975
A few of the family from 1975.
This is my uncle Penry, Mother's twin brother. In all of the pictures I've scanned so far (about 17,500) there are just 9 pictures of him and about 2 decent ones.
These two are cousin Chris.
And this is The Brother in a Hesketh t-shirt - what would that be worth today? I've just had a bit of a look and you can get retro Hesketh t-shirts but none of them have the teddy bear in the superman pose....
Family, 1974
And to wrap up 1974, here is the section that the family will have been dreading - the most interesting photos of them from the year.
We'll start with Mother, looking surprisingly cool in her shades and the evening sun - she's watching the Caswell Ladies Cricket Team.
Me at the Borough Show in Abington Park, tucking into a hot dog.
I think this is The Brother with my father on the dodgems.
One from London - cousin Chris, me and The Brother.
What's that? The hair? Yes, I know - you have to remember it was the 1970s.
Me at Midsummer Meadows outdoor swimming pool. Those of you from Northampton who are old enough to remember it will probably have the same memories as me - that water was always bloody cold.
No idea where this was taken, but I'm guessing that the heat of the top that Mother had knitted got too much and I needed cooling down a bit......
Northampton
A selection of pics from Northampton in 1973
One of the stalls on the Market Square
Traffic chaos at the old Banbury Lane level crossing - now replaced by a bridge. We used to go out there and watch the trains fairly often. For many years I thought there were no trains on Sundays because that's what my parents told me - presumably so I wouldn't bug them to go out there on Sundays as well...
Not the sort of thing you stumble across in a field too often...
Some from the Borough Show in Abington Park.
The building work in the Town Centre continues, with the public still not suspecting how awful it's going to be.
A summer evening at the pub - the Britannia on the Bedford Road.
One from the front garden at home, showing the cherry(?) tree in blossom - it just *look* 1970s doesn't it?
And one final one - dear god what the hell are those trousers??? Putting a 5-year old boy...
Boulogne 1973
It seems like we didn't spend much time at home that summer - trips up north, London and also a few days in Boulogne. The first trip abroad for me and The Brother.
I just love the one of the grandmother paddling - probably a Sunday? I also like the shot of the beach with what looks like a steelworks in the background!...
London, August 1973
We obviously spent a few days with my dad's sister in London.
These three are from the Imperial War Museum
This one is a Barbara Hepworth piece called Two Forms (Divided Circle) - it was stolen from Dulwich Park in December last year, presumed to have been sold for scrap value....
Summer 1973
Pics from our summer holiday in 1973 - a trip up north, which will have been to stay with my father's parents near Hull. We went a bit further north, as well.
The Transporter Bridge in Middlesborough - to be honest, until I saw this I never knew I'd been there.
A couple for any Dr Who fans out there - an exhibition in Stockton-on-Tees. Not sure whether they supplied a sofa to hide behind.
One of me and the Brother with our father - no idea where we are!
A great piece of 1970s fashion sir!
Skidby Mill near hull - I remember going there several times - pretty sure it was a functioning mill. Ah yes, a quick google and here it is.
These last two show a fairly uninspiring set of workings and a bloody great hole in the ground. This building site became the Humber Bridge - there are some more pics to come from 1974, but I've never seen the bridge...
Northampton Early 1973
What a vibrant, exciting place Northampton must have been in early 1973...
Who am I trying to kid - it was the early 70s! Anyway, there was a lot of building work going on in the town, with the old Chronicle and Echo building being demolished and replaced by that modern invention - a shopping mall. And we ended up with the Grosvenor Centre, attached to a bus station of such monstrosity that in 2005 Channel 4's "Demolition" programme shortlisted it for the worst building in Britain - beaten out only by such excrescences as Cumbernauld Town Centre in Scotland. Then there was the construction of the multi-storey Mayorhold car park, and the modern looking Saxon Inn hotel. And I almost forgot the Carlsberg brewery! I always understood there had been a fire while building it, but I did some googling to find out more. The modern brewery is on the site of the old Phipps one - they were bought out by Watneys, who were then...
1972 miscellany
A few bits and pieces, again from 1972.
Abington Street in Northampton
At my mother's parents house, with her father.
Me sat in a recess in a tree at Delapre Abbey. Somehow I don't think I'd fit into it now.
Me crashed out on the sofa!...
London
A couple from one of the big things in London in 1972 - the Tutankhamun exhibition. I was too young and got left behind with the grandparents, while The Brother fell asleep in the queue.
And a separate trip in '72, down to stay with my father's sister in West Dulwich.
This is me on the train
And this is in their garden - we spent many hours on that swing!...