FRIDAY FOTO 26 - WEBSTER FAMILY WEDDING

This is the kind of photograph we each have in every family album. The wedding of my cousin, Michael Webster, at St Gabriel's church in Toxteth in the late 1960's. And as with many of those photographs, there are faces I remember and can identify, but also faces which I cannot.

In the shadows at the rear, I can see my uncle Arthur Teese and also my Aunt Betty, mum's sister. I can't identify the man standing at the back on the far right, although his face appears to be familiar. 

Moving forward is my grandmother Elizabeth Welsh (nee Englebretsen), standing toward the centre of the photograph. As to the elderly lady standing to her left or the taller gentleman on her right, I have no clue as to who they are.

The smiling man on the right wearing the glasses is my uncle, Johnny Erlis, who used to drive the goods trains up and down the Dock Road in Liverpool. The lady in white on the left of the photograph is again familiar to me, but I have no evidence of her actual identity.

And then comes the group I'm most sure about.

My Auntie Ann - Hannah McAulay (nee Irvine) - is in her trademark 'ocelot' hat and coat and has her hand on the shoulder of my brother, Gary Seaman. The woman standing next to her in the trendy 60's hat and coat is my Mum Joan Seaman (nee Welsh), while my Father, Charles Seaman, is standing on the right. Finishing the list off is my younger cousin, Tracey McAulay, who is standing between my brother and myself.

The church and doorway are still there to this day, as evidenced in the photograph from Google Streetmap below. Indeed the church doorway showed up on television relatively recently as a couple of scenes in the popular television biopic 'Cilla', starring Sheridan Smith, were filmed nearby on the steps in Yates Street. Knowing the area relatively well I recognised it at once.  

Hopefully, there will be a postscript and an update to this story at some point, as I intend to take the photo down to show my Mum when I visit her later today. I have all my fingers crossed that she will be able to identify a couple of the other people featured in the photograph. 

For me, this is not just another photograph of an ordinary family wedding. I see it as an opportunity to possibly fill in some gaps in our family tree and maybe expand, even just a little, on the story of how we all grew up in Toxteth in Liverpool.   

FAMILY HISTORY - ST.CHRISTOPHER PICTURE (1928)

ST.CHRISTOPHER PICTURE

This is a small picture of St.Christopher, the patron saint of travellers, which currently hangs in the porch of our home in Childwall, Liverpool.

I found the family heirloom object hidden in a drawer in my aunt's home, buried under a collection of random papers, after she had passed away and we had the job of clearing all her possessions from the property. I remember the moment so clearly when I found it, because it was already familiar to me. I'd seen it many years before as an adult, when I had discussed its history with my aunt, but more importantly I also remembered the artifact from when I was a child.

According to my aunt this small object was handmade by my Norwegian great-grandfather, Peder Gerhard Ingebretsen (later to become translated to Peter Englebretsen following his naturalization in England). Peder was a merchant seaman and lived at the family home in Hughson Street, Toxteth in between his visits to sea. The property had a small vestibule which joined the main front door to the front room, and this picture was hung within it for many years, serving as a token which would hopefully bring good fortune and a safe journey to anybody who passed it on their way out of the house.

The picture itself is printed on a card which would more usually be kept in a purse or wallet. It is relatively small,  11 by 7 cms in size, and has a plain plywood backing with a glass front. Both have been smoothed down at the edges for safety. The three metal supports for the glass are held in by two panel pins and a loop of flat brown elastic is used to hang it from the pin at the top.

At the time I found it I asked my Mum whether she wanted to keep hold of the picture herself, but instead she stated that she would prefer it if I looked after it. I decided that I wanted the item to be seen rather than to be hidden away in the family history cabinet where I keep a few other precious possessions, and with this in mind I knew there could only be one place to display it. Our front porch... the single place where all visitors pass who come into our home.

From the information passed down from the family, I would calculate that this object is around 85 years old at the present time. It is rather satisfying therefore to think that the St.Christopher is still serving as a token to keep my own family safe, in just the same way that my great-grandfather had used it all those years ago.