52 Ancestors Week 2 - Photograph - A Love Story
A photograph may well be the reason for my existence. In 1948, recently returned from post-war Germany, my dad was looking for a job. The opportunities in South West Scotland for a qualified mechanic who had serviced tanks up through Europe were limited, if non-existent. Around the same time, my mother had finally found her feet in Trentham, near Wellington, New Zealand after an unsettled couple of years. She had a stable job, but more importantly secure accommodation by joining the NZ Women's Royal Army Corps in 1946. Around this time, the New Zealand Government resolved to form a permanent, peacetime army. In the United Kingdom, there were thousands of suitable young men with the right qualifications and war experience who would be ideal instructors, looking for a new life away from rationing and unemployment. What was needed was a recruitment brochure. And as you know, what better way to attract young men, than a picture of a young woman! My mother just happened to be in...