Alphabe Thursday - U is for Ugly

Amazing what you find lurking under your refrigerator. This ugly looking specimen was once a blueberry, plump and juicy. I guess wrinkles come to us all.

For more Alphabe Thursday posts, please visit Jenny Matlock's blog.

The Gallery - Easter #thegallery

The theme for this week's Gallery Post is: Easter

Baby Jessica wants to know what happened to her chocolate eggs.

For more Gallery Posts, please stop by Sticky Fingers Blog.

Taphophile Tragics - Lady Docker

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Monuments to Lady Nora Docker and Felicity Callingham, St James The Less Churchyard, Stubbings, Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead Berkshire.


The term 'Lady Docker' is also used in a derogatory way in the north of England, to describe a woman who has pretensions to be of high station but who in reality is anything but.


Nora Royce Docker nee Turner was born in Debry, Derbyshire on 23 June 1906 in a flat about a butcher's shop to Sydney and Amy Turner nee James. Sydney, a mechanical engineer was a self made man who after beginning his working life as a shopfitter for ther chemists Boots, eventually invested in motor cars, setting up his own showroom in Birmingham.

Sadly in 1922 when Nora was 16 years old, her father suffered a nervous breakdown and commited suicide by throwing himself from the ferry between Holyhead and Dublin.

- "The Turners had to sell their car showroom and release their servants. Amy Turner invested in a pub – the Three Tuns at Sutton Coldfield – but Norah found it so difficult to adjust to her new life that she could not bring herself to work behind the bar.

She was even more dismayed when her mother decided to leave the thriving business to invest in another pub – this time the Swan Hotel at Tenbury Wells. This business quickly failed and the Turners were forced to return to Birmingham, now in financial difficulties.

This brief flirtation with poverty made Norah determined never to experience it again. Just before his suicide, her father had made her promise that she would take care of the family, should anything untoward happen to him."

In 1924 aged 18 Nora left for London to seek her fortunes and became a dancer at London's fashionable Cafe de Paris. It was here that she meet her first husband Clement Callingham, head of Henekeys wine and spirit merchants. They soon set up home in Maidenhead, despite the fact Clement was waiting for a divorce from his estranged wife. In 1938 when Nora was 32 they married at Chelsea registry Office. In 1939 their son Lance was born and later joined in 1943 by their daughter Felicity.

Tragically Felicity was to pass away at the tender age of nine months old. Her resting place is directly behind that of her mother.

In July of 1945 Clement Callingham became ill and shortly after passed away.

A year after the death of her first husband Nora married his friend Sir William Collins, President of Fortnum & Mason. He too passed away in 1948.

Nora was married a third time in 1949 to Sir Bernard Docker, chairman of Birmingham Small Arms, Daimler and a director of the Midland Bank, Anglo-Argentine Tramways and Thomas Cook and Son.

Unfortunately due to their excesses and as Nora felt, the attentions of the press and paparazzi, the couple were not well liked.

Bernard passed away in 1978 and Nora moved to Majorca, yet she frequently visited England and her beloved son Lance.

In December 1983, Nora was discovered dead in her room at the Great Western Royal Hotel in London. She was 77 years old and she had lived life to it's fullest.

She now rests peacefully in a small Berkshire village churchyard along with her daughter and two of her three husbands. Almost forgotten.

For more Taphophile Tragic posts, please stop by Taphophile Tragics Blog.

Macro Monday #macromonday

For more Macro Monday posts, please stop by Lisa's Chaos.

Silent Sunday #silentsunday

Taphophile Tragics - Good

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Angel monument of Hannah Good, died September 29th 1927 and William Ferguson Good, died December 27th 1934. All Saints Maidenhead Cemetery, All Saints Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire.


William Ferguson Good was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire Scotland in 1852 to John and Marion S Good, nee Ferguson. It seems that it was this particular family's tradition to give their son thier mother's maiden name as a middle name. In 1871 a 19 year old William appears on the Scottish Census as a tailor living at 28 West Shaw Street with his parents and siblings. By 1880 William had travelled to Leicestershire, where he met and married Hannah Croshaw Harris.

Hannah Croshaw Harris was born in Bagworth Leicestershire in 1845 to Joseph Croshaw Harris and his wife Elizabeth.

1881 sees William and Hannah making their move to the St Lukes area of Maidenhead where William is now a tailor and clothier employing one youth, Montague L Fouler. 1883 saw the birth of their only child, Maggie Good.

On 29th September 1927 Hannah passes away aged 79 years in Marylebone London. She was followed 7 years later by her husband William who died in Maidenhead aged 84.


What was Hannah doing in London at the time of her death and what became of their daughter Maggie?

For more Taphophile Tragic posts, please stop by Taphophile Tragics Blog.

Silent Sunday #SilentSunday

The Gallery - Light #thegallery

The theme for this week's Gallery Post is: Light.

Nothing much to say about this picture really, although I have posted it before. I just love how light looks in black and white.

For more Gallery Posts, please stop by Sticky Fingers Blog.

Taphophile Tragics - Gate Of Everlasting Life

Taphophilia is a passion for and enjoyment of cemeteries. The singular term is a taphophile.


Gateway monument of Enid Mary U Campbell-Dykes and her mother Ellen Lewis Campbell-Dykes, All Saints Maidenhead Cemetery, All Saints Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Mors Janua Vitae - Death is the gateway to everlasting life.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade.

Enid Mary U Campbell-Dykes was born in 1909 At 120 Mona, Grenfell Road Maidenhead, the second child to Thomas and Ellen Lewis Campbell-Dykes nee Clift.

Thomas Campbell Dykes was born in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire Scotland in 1882 to Thomas and Mary Dykes. At some point after 1901 Thomas linked together his middle name Campbell and surname Dykes to become Campbell-Dykes. In 1901 he is listed living with his parents at Spring Gardens Newall Tce and at the time he was a dental student. Sometime between 1901 and 1907 Thomas met and married Ellen Lewis Clift who was born in 1887 in Glasgow.

In 1907 their first child Cyril Thomas was born in Richmond Yorkshire. Two years later the family is recorded on the 1911 Census as living in Maidenhead where Thomas is now a Dental Surgeon E A S. Thomas appears in the 1915 Kelly's Directory as a Dental Surgeon practicing at 120 Grenfell road. In 1916 their family grew with the birth of their second daughter Doreen Eileen T Campbell-Dykes.

Sadly tragedy was to strike on 18th May 1924 when at the age of 15 Enid passed away. She was followed eventually in 1961 by her 78 year old father and on 17th September 1963 by her 73 year old mother. Thomas is not remembered on the gravestone and at the moment his final resting place still remains a mystery.

The remaining Campbell-Dykes children both lived long and hopefully happy lives moving away from Maidenhead, marrying and having children. Cyril was to even name one of his daughters after his young sister.

Research into the Campbell-Dykes family also turned up information on Thomas's social affairs as well as a picture of the man himself. In 1936 Thomas Campbell-Dykes opened the Twyford Bowling Club.

"The Club was formally opened on Wednesday the 3rd June 1936 by Thomas Campbell-Dykes, President of the Berkshire County Bowling Association, seen here bowling the first wood on the green." - Twyford Bowling Club.

For more Taphophile Tragic posts, please stop by Taphophile Tragics Blog.

Macro Monday - Weeping Willow #macromonday

For more Macro Monday posts, please stop by Lisa's Chaos.

Shadow Shot Sunday #SSS2

Silent Sunday #silentsunday

Saturday is Caption Day #SatCap

Simply post up a photo and ask your readers to come up with a caption for it. Enjoy.

For more Saturday is Caption Day posts, please stop by Mammasaurus's blog.

Photo Story Friday - Buzzin'

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

It was a beautiful summer like sunday morning in February and what better way to spend that morning than at the park snapping pictures of bees with a bee phobic child.

My ears are still ringing now.