The photograph I have chosen for this week is one that I have already used for Monochrome Madness as the photographs that form the montage are all monochrome, though one is tinted. But that is allowed for Monochrome Madness if used sparingly. 
This photograph is a montage of postcards of the boading school my mother went to when she was six plus a photograph of my mother.
The school: St Rose’s is now a school for children with disabilities but then it was a normal boarding school. The thought of my mother going to boarding school at six may make you pause but the reason for it was that as a (Roman) Catholic in a small Welsh mining village she was being picked on at school.
It may not have helped that her mother as a child had laid one of the foundation stones for the Congregational chapel but on her marriage to a man of Italian extraction had converted to catholicism. The inscription on the foundation stone she had laid has been defaced. Such ill feeling may seem strange in these ecumenical days but this was the early part of the last century.
The photograph of my mother in the centre is not of her when she was six obviously but one taken and tinted when at about the age of seventeen she was the village carnival queen.
Jane this is wonderful. Lovely pictures and such a moving story about your Mum. But nice that she was still chosen as Carnival Queen . Thank you so much for this one.
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I think by the time she was older such things were forgotten and she was considered oneof the village beauties! There is a book about the village that mentions the family.
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What an amazing history there is behind this photo, thank you so much for sharing it with us. Those tinted photos were beautiful weren’t they, and obviously, so was your mother. So you are half-Welsh like me! And half-Italian, not like me! What an interesting heritage.
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Well strictly speaking I am one quarter Welsh as the paternal grandmother’s family came from Camarthen but her husband came from Alderney though his grandparents came from Somerset. My mother’s great great grandfather came over from Milan but her mother was from Gloucester. So mainly English though there may be a bit more Welsh from my maternal grandfather.
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So fascinating – have you researched your family tree?
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Not me. My brother went back a bit with the ancestry of my father’s father and mother and my mother’s father. My dad sent me copies when my son needed to do something re family trees I think. Trouble with family trees is that each generation back the number of paths doubles.
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heart touching photo and story…
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Thank you!
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It is so interesting how people’s opinions change over time. Thank you for sharing some family history.
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That is true!
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Very nice for you to have these memories of your mothers to share. I wouldn’t be so fortunate and can really appreciate their value. Perfectly vintage as well.
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