Hampson and Woolley's shop in Holt
Family memories with Fay Hampson
Herbert Hampson and Mary Ann Jones, my grandparents who for decades ran Hampson's bakery in Charles Street, Wrexham, married in 1911.
In the photograph you can see grandad stealing the show in his amazing suit. Sitting down are grandma's mother and grandad's father, Henry.
Lying down at the front is the inevitable dog. I love the fact that there are so many dogs in our family photographs.
Back row on the left is grandad's sister Lil and next to her is grandad and Lil's brother Edgar.
Edgar was gassed in the First World War and remained an invalid. Henry must have worried about his son and he set Lil and Edgar up in a general store in Holt, knowing that Lil would always look after her older brother.
This photo was taken circa 1920. Is the building still there now? Does anybody recognise it?
Lil had married the mysterious Mr Jim Woolley from the Wirral, about whom we know nothing except that he and Lil had two boys, Raymond and Gerald. Here they are with my dad (on the right), who was born in 1918, so we know that dad's cousins were younger than him.
Their tale is a sad one. They both died as young adults. We don't know exactly who did what in their story but one of them became a policeman and one of them died of leukaemia. When the first one died, his wife, Doris, married the surviving brother.
Poor Auntie Lil (no sign of Mr Woolley) must have been distraught. She retired to the Wirral with Edgar and bought a parrot.
She had always been extremely fond of my dad, Jeff, and after losing her sons it was rumoured that dad was going to inherit her house.
However, shortly before she was going to change her will, the parrot escaped from its cage and flew into the road. Auntie Lil ran after it and was knocked down by a car and died.
Moral. Don't count your parrots before they hatch.
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