Week 2: Favourite Photo #52Ancestorsin52weeks

Of all the old family photos I have come across over the years, this one of my dad, John McAra, as a young man with his mum, Christina Walker, is one of my favourites. I have no idea at all how old my dad is in the photo, but I’m guessing he would be in his early twenties, so it would have been taken around the mid to late 1930s. That would make his mum in her mid sixties, which seems about right.

The original photo was, of course, in black and white. My dad looks quite dapper in his shirt, jacket and trousers, my grandmother very smart in what might have been her ‘best’ dress as she looks to be wearing her 'best shoes' too. He is holding on to her, which is lovely to see, and both are smiling quite naturally. I like what I see. It looks as though they had a good relationship.

I recently used Ancestry’s colourising tool on the photograph. I’m not sure if my dad’s jacket really was that blue, but it’s very dapper. And my grandmother’s dress, navy with white spots, reminds me of my other gran. One of the only memories I have of her is an old lady wearing a navy dress with white spots – but that is three decades later!

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