David Charles 1

A few days ago Ceridwen  posted an amazing portrait of her mother and suggested that we  have a Monday Mother and a Friday Father's challenge. I know Mono and Flowers are also competing but it makes an interesting occasional change.

Well here's my Pa, David Charles, born 13th January 1924 in Harrow Middlesex, only child of John and Eleanor, both originally from Perthshire and Lanarkshire in Scotland. He was a bouncy baby, held here by Hannah his grandmother who always looks rather ferocious in the few photos we have of her. I suspect that the hat is being waved by her husband, another David, who was a gamekeeper on an estate near Loch Ness in Scotland. This David had done well and rose from the ranks of shepherds and rabbit catchers. In the photos we have of him he is always immaculate in plus fours, a lovely twinkly smile on his face.

My Pa seems to have been a jolly but studious little boy. I love the pic of him and his cousins on donkeys - I think it was Scarborough - he still in his school uniform. He's one of the few people I know who actually liked school and he kept in touch with several school friends right up until his death in 1998. He was also big into Scouts which, judging by the notebooks that remain, he took very seriously. I think he probably had a fairly normal, cherished childhood, all dramatically changed with the outbreak of War. Next instalment next week! And why not join in?? I await the official tag from Ceridwen.