Three in a row

This poor trio has been languishing for about 5 years waiting for me to paint them. They have been with us forever, I think Himself may have bought them originally and I think they date from 1945. The paint has all gone - they originally graced Nirvana the shed- and have been waiting for me to re-paint he, I will do it this year! 

The originals were first made in 1938 by Beswick in Stoke on Trent. They originally came in a flock of five but three seems to be the most common flight. Mallards were the most popular but you could also get blue tits, sea gulls and pheasants. Later models included hummingbird and the pink legged partridges - now valued at £100 each! They were made by sculptors and  decorated by paintresses. I include this fact as  we've just watched a very good film about Clarice Cliff who also started off as a paintress.  
They were of course made infamous by being placed by Hilda Ogden on her muriel! If you haven't a clue what I'm talking about I wouldn't know where to begin to explain!

When I first put them on a wall Himself was astounded and amused that I got them in the wrong order. Yes, mine were getting bigger. Ho hum.

A lovely day again and I've been working in the garden and polytunnel. I swear the brambles have started sprouting. 

Thanks for the love for yesterday's smudginess.