From the purple dyeshed...

Today began with the retrieval from the back of a cupboard of a suitcase.  A simple, old, rather battered, heavy brown suitcase.



I knew that the suitcase held many memories and lots and lots of photographs, but I hadn't expected to find so many treasures.



Soon the lounge floor in my Mum and Dad's house looked like a photo booth had exploded and scattered pictures everywhere.  There was a method in our numerous piles, honest!  There was also much discussion as individual photo's were pulled out of packets.  Who is that on the left?  What happened to her?  Didn't he marry so and so?  Dad was this your family or Mum's?  Oh look, there's cousin Robert!  and so on.



There were some intriguing finds, including this large brown envelope with a long, long column of figures all added up.  What could they be for?  I doubt we'll ever know:



There were also some photographs which couldn't stop making us smile.  This one was my favourite.  I love the look on the face of the poor boy selected to hold the sign with the school name, and as for the little boy 3rd from the left on the front row!:



I do love his cardigan though.  It is by far the most interesting cardigan there, which may explain why he looks so pleased with himself.

There were treasured family photographs too:



(Yes, that is me, the cute one sitting on the floor in my very feminine dress - I know some will find it hard to believe)



Some photos faded with age, but still fresh in our minds.  I can remember having the above photo take so clearly even though it must have been taken close to 35 years ago.

But by the end of the day, we had sorted through hundreds of photographs, and all that was left was a (relatively) neat pile of clearly marked envelopes in the middle of the floor: