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Tuesday 3 February 2015

Mr Beamish

Compared to his wife, Mr Beamish was a very shadowy figure in my life.  I think I met him only once and I can't remember much about him.  Mrs Beamish was a regular correspondent and indeed visited us even after my grandmother died.   Mr Beamish has however left a lasting mark on my life and on my home.  

He was an amateur artist and at Christmas 1951 he sent this picture to my grandfather.  Many years later Mrs Beamish gave me the thank you letter which my grandfather wrote in his wonderful copperplate hand.

It is the arch over the entrance to the courtyard at the side of the house.  The courtyard itself was cobbled and always in need of weeding but I can't remember it ever being done!  It was used as a car parking area and that came well down the list of priorities.

And the mark Mr Beamish left on my life?  That picture hangs in my sitting room and of all the pictures in my home that is the one I look at most often

4 comments:

  1. What a lovely piece of art with some wonderful memories.

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  2. What a lovely painting -- a bit of home right there in your home. And how lucky you are to have the letter as well. I wish I had more momentos of my parents lives -- my mom was an early "minimalist" however and didn't have any qualms about throwing things out. I do have the letters that my dad wrote my mom while he was in the Pacific during WW2. That is something.

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  3. I like it! But I'm incredibly fond of ivy... is that ivy growing on the arch? I see that it could possibly be a bush but it looks to be ivy.

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    1. Yes, it's ivy. And a glorious cedar of Lebanon is visible through the arch. Both were still these when I visited a couple of years ago.

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