Drive from Hull to Norwich cathedral to attend Martins christening in 1957:

I am probably the only one of Martin’s cousins old enough to remember his christening in 1957. Not quite sure why it was at Norwich carthedral as Martin’s parents lived at Gidea Park in East London. Our maternal grandfather, respective parents and kids are all in the picture in Ruth’s photo album at the head of Martins photostream in the pictures section.  Grandpa Allen was a manager in Pontifex that made beer vats and had this company car pictured above. He retired a year later and bought a light blue Dormobile that was a major means of transport from Hull and Colchester to Knowbury, mentioned in Martins stories and frequented frequently by the Crockets, Richard’s side of the family and the Meeks, my side of the family, he also had a small house at Hornsea near Hull which both sides frequented quite often, it bordered a lake that Martin and I ventured around in a rowing boat called Hornsea Mere that faced the house . I became the expected engineer and scientist in the family and had a great time surveying the lake by triangulating the scene to figure out distances and teaching Martin how to do it and also teaching him how internal combustion engines work which he reminded me of on my last visit to Colchester in 2016. Although my family (the double family so as to speak) was all medics, I became recognized for my engineering bent so that is what I became for my career. In Gidea Park, grandpa and Richard discussed computers with me and I taught them what I knew about this great up and coming thing in the 60’s. Also discussed Friedland doorchimes that Richard seemed keen on. When I visited his father some decades later I noticed he had a cordless doorchime which I designed and actually patented myself from working at Friedland, which was quite funny.
My family started on the journey from Hull to Norwich in the type of car shown above, grandpa’s company Rover90, which offered space, comfort and a quiet 2.5 liter engine.  It was a long journey with very twisted roads and I recall the speedometer jumping up and down as we negotiated sharp turns and dropped speed down to 10mph and then picked up speed again around the bends. We got to the hotel well after dark and took this photo after the christening. I don’t think the cathedral had a helter skelter in those days, I think I would have remembered that. Oh well!!!