Friday 18 September 2009

Nostalgic Day






Before and after pictures.
Today was a very nostalgic day for my sister and I when we visited the area where our Mother was stationed during the 2nd world war. Kirklington Hall nestles in the Nottinghamshire countryside, many changes have been made since the ATS left there in 1945.
It was a glorious sunny day today and we were both very excited as we drove into the village of Kirklington but a big shock was instore for us. It is no longer The Rodney Private School as we thought it would be as noted on the web site.

As we drove up the winding drive we could see that the place was awash with many builders, stone masons and engineers. So much construction equipment around, almost enough for my sister to want to turn around and back track but I was on a mission. It was my aim of the day to have our phographs taken in the same spot that our mother did all those years ago. My sister was unsure about parking the car and concerned that we would be asked to leave the site but I have always had the belief that if you have a file or papers in your hand and look confident people think that you are busy or part of the team.

My file consisted of photos of our Mother at the Hall during the war, road maps and local information to help us during the day but it did make us look official. So.... we walked onto the very busy site, taking the photos we wanted with the builders all turning heads and wondering who we were and what we were doing. We heard the odd quip from them telling each other to smile as photos were been taken.

We were there for quite some time and eventually a very pleasant stone mason was the one brave enough to come over to ask us who we were and what were we doing. Confidence is good and always helps but when questioned I do believe in always telling the truth. He was very nice and understanding and even took photos of my sister and I together. Then he gave us a conducted tour of the site so we could take more pictures at the back of the hall. He explained that all the major construction should be finshed around November and suggested we visited again during December to see the finish result but to make an appointment next time and get permission to enter the grounds. Point taken......

The pictures on this post show my sister and I sat on a stone bird bath at the front of the house as did our mother and her friends all those years ago . Because of all the work going on we had to have ours taken from a different angle but the concrete plinth at the base shows it is the same spot. The other photo was taken at the rear of the hall with a very nice leaded bay window in the background.

Afterwards we drove on to Ollerton where we found a wonderful Tea Shop to have our lunch and reflect on our very specail day.

2 comments:

  1. This sounds a very interesting project -how good to have your photos taken on the same spot as your mother ... my sister and I often tramp around graveyards in Cumbria looking for family graves (for family history purposes) and both get really excited when we find one!!
    Love your blog!!

    ReplyDelete