Mother of a good idea

For the past ten years I've tended to ignore the hoopla of the annual run-up to Mothering Sunday, what with it no longer having an immediate personal relevance.

But now, thanks to a splendid idea from (who else?) The Mothers' Union, I feel once again motivated to join in.

MU's splendid aim and purpose is 'to demonstrate the Christian faith in action by the transformation of communities worldwide through the nurture of the family in its many forms'.

I've just discovered their 'Make a Mother's Day' scheme, whereby a donation can purchase very practical gifts to improve the lives of mothers and families in developing nations worldwide. Click the link to check out the options.

My only problem is choosing the gift that would have given most pleasure to my mother, a woman of definite views who, on a good day, could make Lady Bracknell appear vague and vacillating.

In the end I've decided to fund some poultry and a hen house - and thanks to this very inclusive scheme, I shall be able to tag my gift 'in memory' of my mum, pictured here, with friend, at work on the Home Front in the early days of WW2.

Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday (the fourth Sunday in Lent) provides a good enough excuse to display this picture of my mother, taken in 1927 when she was nineteen.

She's on the beach at Plemont in Jersey, clearly happy and relaxed. Her dress (she'd have said 'frock') is daringly short and the arm bangle must have been totally 'the thing' all that summer.

When she was alive I had difficulty (rather selfishly) in imagining her as a child or a young woman. Much easier now, and of course old pictures like these are a great help.And here she is, in 1912, with her beloved Jumbo.

I'm not the only one to be convinced that the photographer's original compositional plan did not include a toy elephant.

I detect a glint of triumph in that firm gaze: No Jumbo? No picture!

This was taken in Toronto.

My grandfather's emigration dream was short-lived: my grandmother's homesickness brought them back to England after less than a year in Canada.The gaze again - and the grip.

This was taken in Stroud, Gloucestershire (where she was born). I guess the year is 1909/10.

This year is her centenary.