After doing some research my sisters have sent me some gems from the past to which we are very proud from left to right the first is the marriage of my grandparents on 26th of june 1917 the notice was put in the local paper reads as follows.

A pretty military wedding was organized quietly in the presence of a number of friends at st peters church Harrogate on Wednesday afternoon between second lieut G Hesketh Yorks Dragoons ,eldest son of Mr T W Hesketh of cold bath road Harrogate ,and grandson of the late Mr G Hesketh a former member of the Huddersfield Town council ,and Miss Elsie Botterill ,elder daughter of sergt H Botterill ,West Yorks Regiment ,and Mrs Botterill of east parade Harrogate .The bridegroom has served with the Yorkshire Dragoons for eight years and received his commission in 1915 ,he only reached Harrogate on the eve of the wedding on a few days leave from the front ,he was formerly a member of both the Hull and Huddersfield amateur dramatic societies ,when the dragoons were training in Harrogate he was stationed at the Radlyn school He arranged concert parties for the wounded soldiers at the local hospitals and he also arranged concert parties behind the lines in france .The service was performed by Rev Claude Snushall curate at st peters ,the bride was given away by her grandfather ,Mr C Fortune, wore a coat frock of creme crepe ,with cream georgette collar bicadded with silver and georgette hat trimmed with silver ,she carried a pretty shower bouquet ,the gift of the bridegroom .The bridesmaids were Miss Doris Botterill [sister to the bride ] and Miss Dorothy Hesketh [sister of the bridgroom] who wore pretty dresses of pale mauve and black picture hats trimmed with mauve to match they wore gold sleeve bracelets and carried choice bouquets of mauve and pink sweet peas ,corp Niven ,seaforth was best man .the wedding march was played on the organ as the bride and groom left the church ,later in the day the bride and groom motored to st annes on sea for a brief honeymoon ,the brides travelling costume was a mauve cloth and hat to match .the bride and groom were recipients of many handsome presents . grandmother of the groom dresses

My grandmother was the granddaughter of the former mayor Charles Fortune jp who served the town as mayor 1893 /95 and was the first person to be awarded the freedom of the borough on the 16th october 1923 for all his considerable service to the town during his life time .there is a stone built into the wall on the side of the turkish baths bottom of parliament street acknowledging his work and dedication on one of his many projects in the town during his lifetime he died in july 1926 aged 86 years ,ironically he died on the very same day of his late wife some thirteen years earlier ,they had 8 children ,3 girls and 5 boys .

The second from the left is a post card sent from my grandfather to his mother from the front to her home in Harrogate on the first night of peace at the end of the first world war 11/11/1918 it reads the following

peace night

am a1 i am pleased to say i have all to look forward to ,as we have won the war,hope all of you are well shall be pleased to hear from you George ,

Third from left is my father he is second from the left at the back he was a member of the Green Howards Regiment served in all campaigns including france [dunkirk ] africa,sicily ,normandy [d day ] Belgium and Holland ,this photo taken in alexandria 1943 ,he served his country from may 1939 to 1946

4th photo dad in his early days

Proud to share these photos and memories ,just ordinary folk who had extraodinary lives .thank you