The Girls' Band of Williamston, Michigan

 The big hats and giant bows
definitely attracted my attention
but it was the smiles
of these young women
that sold me on the postcard of their band.

 

 

Unfortunately I didn't know who they were.
Or even where or when
they posed for a photograph.

But a few years later I found
a second postcard
that answered all my questions.

 

 

Their expressions were more serious
but the hats and bows were the same.

They were the Girls' Band of Williamston, Michigan.

 

 

It seems now like a century ago, but in January 2010 I featured the first postcard on my blog. It was only my tenth story, so I gave it a simple title, A Ladies Band. I estimated their photo, 21 musicians, mostly brass players, a few clarinetists, and two drummers, was taken roughly between 1910 and 1915, and a "ladies band"  was the common term then used for an all-female band like this. Since then, I have featured over 25 similar female bands and I have added dozens more in my collection. According to Blogger's statistics over the past 12 years, my very short story about this lovely photo has received only 42 page views total and zero comments. Blogging can be a lonely obsession.

 

The photo shows the young women posed under a tree next to a street. They all wear identical summer weight suit dresses with big floppy hats. There is a gleam of sunshine on the brass instruments but it is their smiles that really lights up the photo. Surprisingly the band's name is not stenciled onto the bass drum as it almost always is with other bands, so their name and location was a mystery.

 

But year later when I acquired the second postcard it was because I recognized those hats and bows. This time the band's bass drum had a triangular pendant with Williamston written on it and the card had a postmark and date too. So armed with new clues I was able to quickly establish that they were the Williamston Girl's Band, first organized in 1911 by J. W. Loranger. By 1913 they were gaining a reputation in Michigan as a "fine musical organization."

 

 

Lansing MI State Journal
30 January 1913

 

The band's leader was not pictured in the photos but he was Josiah William Loranger (1848-1926), a music teacher and musical instrument dealer in Williamston. In May of 1913 he appeared in a studio photo of the band published in the Lansing State Journal. Only 20 girls are pictured, but even though they are without their hats, their big bow uniform dresses are are same as in the postcards. What made it especially interesting is that the newspaper listed their names too.

 

 

Lansing MI State Journal
28 May 1913

  

 Williamston Girls Band, Only One of Kind In State.

   Top row, left to right— Io Gaylord, clarinet; Hattie Williams, second clarinet; Minnie Wells, first clarinet; Ethel Liverance, trombone; Alma Gorsline, trombone; Bernice Steadman, trombone; Bernice Lawlar, solo alto; Irene Gorsline, alto,
   Second row, left to right— Lila Gaylord, baritone; Grace Stewart, clarinet; Frances Rockwell, tuba; Martha Speers, tuba; Bess Pennock, solo cornet; Beth Bennett, second cornet; Mildred Rix, first cornet; Lora Gaylord, solo cornet,
   Third row, left to right—Helen Hornsberger, trap drummer; Nina Speers, alto; Nina Ranney, alto; Ruth Trask, bass drummer.  J. W. Loranger, instructor and leader in center.

The occasion that got the band's picture into the paper was a full page promotion on a homecoming celebration for Williamston, a small village 15 east of the capital city Lansing. In 1913 Williamston had a population of only 1,000, but this booster event promised to bring thousands of former residents and family members back for a big community party. Every school, church, business, and social groups was involved and the Williamston Girls' Band were to be the featured entertainment.

Williamston Girls Band, Williamston, Mich.
Source: Historical Society of Greater Lansing Facebook Group

This colorized postcard is the same image as used in the Lansing State Journal. I found it on a Facebook page for the Historical Society of Greater Lansing. It shows that the girls' suits were white with red bows and Mr. Loranger's fancy band uniform was green. It seems very likely that the band sold these cards at the homecoming. Earlier that month it was reported that the money the band earned from concerts would pay for new uniforms for the homecoming, but I'm uncertain if the band ever purchased a new fashion.

 

 

The second photo of the Williamston Girls' Band was also taken outdoors. The band has 19 musicians here, all arranged in a more traditional group line. The photographer wrote his name under the bass drum, Meader, the same name captioned on the newspaper photo.  It was sent from Williamston on 1 July 1912 to Larkin and Kruger of Howell, Michigan.

 

 

This is the latest.
Am ready to
come to Howell
any time.
Hows your
little care.
Come down.

Bernice Steadman

 

Bernice was the tallest trombonist in the newspaper photo and is, I think, the tallest girl standing far right in this photo and the girl kneeling on the right in the first photo. The daughter of a farmer in Williamston, Bernice Steadman was born in 1895 and would be about age 16-17 in these photos. In 1914 she married Ford Van Dervoort. She died in 1970.

 

In July 1913 the Williamston Girls' Band was scheduled to play a park concert for the glorious 4th. Unfortunately the young ladies were indisposed, and Mr. Loranger instead brought in the Perry City band to replace them. It was a public health situation involving a dreaded disease and vaccinations that doesn't seem at all unusual a century later.  

 

Lansing MI State Journal
4 July 1913

The last report I found on the Williamston Girl's Band was a Memorial Day concert they performed in 1917. Like many organizations with youthful membership, these girls moved on to other pursuits. And America's entry to the Great War also changed the public's taste for entertainment, even in small communities like Williamston. Jazz, radio, and pop music became the new attraction. Yet for a few summers at least, the music these girls played got star attention.

 

 

 

 * * *

 

 

As I've learned from collecting old photos and writing this blog, a photo with names and dates is the best kind of treasure. Images take on a personal quality when individuals are identified, and events are better placed in historical context with a simple date. I consider it a special achievement to be able to do that for these young women, and I like to think I did it because of those smiles.  

 

A smile is a rare jewel to find in old photos. A bright expression communicates joy, delight, and amusement without knowing anything about a person. Even across an ocean of time it invites us to share their enthusiasm for music and hats and become their friend. If only we could hear them play.

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where ladies in hats with bicycles keeps repeating.

where ladies in hats with bicycles keeps repeating..
where ladies in hats with bicycles keeps repeating...
where ladies in hats with bicycles keeps repeating...

The Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie

Boys to the right,

 

 

 

 

 

girls to the left,

 

 

 

 

 

 

the band in the center of course,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 and up front on the slate board
the name and date,

Hecker School
May 7, 1907

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a picture of a quintessential American country school.
A carefully arranged group of 63 children and adults
pose outside the doorway of a clapboarded schoolhouse.

With 47 boys and girls, aged between 4 and 16 years old,
it's a large school that deserves an appropriate faculty,
so there appears to be at least one male
and two female teachers standing in the center.
 

All the children are dressed in their best clothes,
though one boy stands out as if his mother
shopped at a big city department store.
Since three other men and a ten piece brass band have joined the group
this was surely a special occasion that deserved a nice photograph.

 

The photo is an 8" x 6" albumen sepia print
mounted on card stock that unfortunately was trimmed
so there is no imprint of a photographer. 

The only clue to the location 
is what is written on the small slate board.

Hecker School

If the name had been Franklin School or Washington School making an identification would be impossible. But Hecker is a fairly uncommon Germanic name which narrowed the number of place names. There were a few false trails to eliminate, but the phrase "Hecker School" turned up in a digitized newspaper found in the Library of Congress archives with enough good references to fit with the photograph.

 

 

 

 

Minot ND Ward County Independent
9 September 1903

The school was named after Owen Hecker, a farmer and postmaster of Logan, North Dakota, a small rural community in Ward County a few miles southeast of Minot, North Dakota and only 55 miles south of the Canadian border. Owen was a recent immigrant to Logan, having moved there in 1901 from Iowa at the age of 80. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1821, Hecker became part of America's great westward migration as in 1832 his family moved to Ohio, then in 1854 to Illinois, and then in 1883 to Iowa. Finally in 1901 Hecker, now a widower, and his 4 adult children with their spouses relocated to the prairies of North Dakota.

 

In Hubbard County, Iowa during President Cleveland's administration Hecker was appointed in 1894 as a postmaster to his rural community. Shortly after moving to North Dakota in 1901, Hecker secured another position as postmaster and earned the impressive distinction of becoming the oldest postmaster in the United States. The job of a rural postmaster didn't require the level of duties that a big city post office would have, but Owen's name began appearing in the county's weekly newspaper, mainly in disputes with the Soo Rail Road, either to add a spur onto the line in Logan, or at least stop the train instead of just tossing a mail bag out. I suspect a postman in his eighties had a strong opinion about making a round trip of several miles by wagon in order to pick up mail at Minot's main post office.

The newspaper didn't record exactly when, but around 1902 Owen Hecker decided to build a school on his property to serve the local children. It supposedly cost him $500, and since it was on his farm it naturally was called the Hecker School. In the 1910 census, his granddaughter Cora Hecker, age 27 was listed as a school teacher and I believe she is one of the two women pictured in the photo, perhaps the taller one in the dark dress. The school not only met the educational needs of the community but served as a meeting place for church groups, literary clubs, and other local social activities. Though I was unable to find anything about an event at the school on May 7, 1907, I did find a later report of the school with a brass band.

 

 

Minot ND Ward County Independent
22 December 1910

 

In December 1910 the Mouse River Literary Society met for an debate at the Hecker School and were joined by the Logan Cornet Band under the direction of Mr. L. Nelson. I believe this must be the band in the photo and Mr. Nelson is likely the man with the cornet, standing center right and not wearing a band uniform. (The question for the debate was described in an earlier report. Which did more to advance civilization, the press or the railroads? The argument for the press won.)

   

In the 1910 census there were 231 residents in Hecker's postal area, with farmer and laborer the most common occupations along with a few railroad workers. Considering that North Dakota did not become a state until 1889, it was time of great expansion in the region as the county's population jumped nearly 375% in the 1890s going from 1,681 to 7,961, and then in the first decade of the 20th century leaping another 217% to 25,221 citizens. With the exception of Native Americans, most people in North Dakota were transplants like the Hecker family. And by 1910 many people in this community were 1st or 2nd generation Norwegians, Irish, Swedes, or Russians.

 

Sadly on 16 September 1910, Owen Hecker passed away at the age of 89. Ironically only a week before the Ward County weekly reported that he was in good health and was expecting to reach 100. His reputation as the oldest postmaster merited an obituary on the front page of North Dakota's capital city newspaper.

 

Bismarck ND Tribune
9 September 1910

 

The 1910 census listed this place's name as just "Township 154, R 82". A century later the trains are less frequent and Logan, ND is now considered just a small unincorporated community of Ward County, ND, and the name Hecker does not survive at all, so I'm unsure of the location of the old Hecker farm. Reports in the newspaper mentioned a Hecker Hill in this mostly flat landscape, and in 1904 Mr. Hecker had a bridge constructed across the twisty Souris River, aka Mouse River which he later sold to the county. Unfortunately the street names in Logan are not very helpful either as there is no "Hecker School Rd.", only grandiose names like 93rd Street and 84th Avenue. But I think the site was somewhere on the east side of the river in this satellite view.

 

Logan, Ward County, North Dakota

Minot ND Ward County Independent
12 August 1915

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In August 1915 the Ward County Independent reported on a visit paid to the Hecker Farm by Mr. and Mrs. G. D. Colcord, accompanied by Mrs. Simpson, musical instructor at the Normal, a state teachers college. Owen Hecker's youngest son, William Hecker and his wife served "a dinner fit for a crowned head and consisting of everything conceivable on a menu from fried chicken to ice cream."

Mr. Hecker gave his guests a tour of the farm, of which he was obviously proud, and as Mrs. Simpson came from the teachers college where his daughter, Irene Hecker, was a student, he showed them the old Hecker school building which was used now as a storehouse. The report implies that the old school was no longer in operation, and that another educational facility was in use for the families of Logan. It's the only reference I could find that gives a kind of end date for Mr. Hecker's school, about 10 to 12 years since it first opened in around 1902-03.

_ _ _

 

 

 

Some of my favorite photos to research are of bands from small towns which had newspapers chronicling the daily local news. Bands show up in reports about almost every event in a town, and next to a church activity, school events were a perfect time for a concert. It's remarkable that such a small place as Logan, North Dakota had enough musicians for a brass band, but not surprising when you consider the power of music. Playing or listening to a musical instrument inspires people. I imagine the great Dakota prairie felt a lot less lonely with the sound of music. And I'm sure it charmed many children too.

The fabric of America is woven with the threads of thousands upon thousands of stories like that of Owen Hecker and his school. It's a stout, strong canvas made of people helping people. Charitable individuals like old Mr. Hecker recognized a need and generously contributed to making a better community and thereby a stronger nation. Finding a story like that in an old photo is like finding buried treasure. Sometimes sepia tone can be golden.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where everyone studies hard,
even in shop class.

Das Auto, part 1

 

It was the new age of machines.
Modern electric motors and petrol engines
promised more energy and greater power
to propel people faster and farther than ever before.

It was 1908 and people needed a new fashion
to cope with the speed.

This bizarre cartoon shows a family of three, dressed head to toe in exaggerated costumes of long fur-trimmed coats with faces shrouded and masked. Their eyes peer through hazy glass googles.  The postcard was sent from Stuttgart, Germany on 21 December 1908. The caption reads:

40 H. P.

 

 

 

This unusual image is the work of German postcard artist Carl Robert Arthur Thiele (1860 – 1936), who created hundreds of clever postcards lampooning German society from the 1900s to the 1920s. He usually signed his artwork: Arth. Thiele – Lpzg  for Arthur Thiele – Leipzig, his hometown. This comical trio of father, mother, and child came from his observation of the nutty garments worn by motorists to protect themselves from dust, wind, cold, and inclement weather.

 

The first practical motorized vehicle was a three-wheeled carriage patented in 1886 by the German automotive engineer, Carl Benz.  By 1899 his Benz & Cie. company  in Mannheim was the largest manufacturer of petrol/gasoline engines and vehicles. Benz competed with several German automobile designers like Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach who also produced passenger cars powered by petrol engines. But in November 1909 it was Benz's 200 hp race car, the Blitzen Benz, that set a land speed record of 141.94 mph (226.91 km/h) that was said to be "faster than any plane, train, or automobile" at the time.

 

During the first decade of the 20th century magazines and newspapers around the world were filled with all kinds of reports and advertisements about automobiles. New words about engines, tires, and auto performance entered the common vocabulary. Travel by automobile was an exciting novelty, thrilling even, and auto manufacturers wanted to exploit the public's mania for this new marvel. Even enterprising clothing companies tried to take advantage of the motoring fad and convince consumers they needed to dress in a practical, yet stylish, fashion. This page from a 1906 British magazine, Motor, describes the latest English ideas in motoring costumes, dust coats, veils and hoods. There was even a recommendation for a child's garment not unlike the little girl in Arthur Thiele's postcard.

 

 

1906 Motor, the National Monthly Magazine of Motoring

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most of Thiele's cartoons were produced in series of postcards on a humorous subject. In the 1900s the wacky clothing and peculiar mishaps of the early motorists presented unlimited opportunities for satirists like Thiele. In this postcard a car barrels down a road toward a young couple who are momentarily distracted and blissfully unaware of the noisy warnings from the motorcar occupants. The chauffeur and navigator blow horns while a bulldog stands on the car's radiator. The caption reads: Alle mühe umsonst ~ All effort in vain. The postcard was sent on 11 August 1910.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 January 1906 Life magazine

 

American magazines employed illustrators to depict the same kind of automobile humor. This image of a young woman at the wheel of an open car, bundled up in a stiff waterproof coat and with a translucent scarf wrapped around her hat and face, appeared on the cover of Life magazine in January 1906. She does not look happy. The entire issue was devoted to automobile articles, reports and advertisements.

 

 

 

 

 

The nature of rural roadways in the 19th and early 20th century had not improved much from ancient times. The dirt and gravel road surface produced los of dust and mud, and motorists regularly encountered challenging obstacles. In this cartoon entitled Automobilistenfreuden ~ Automobilist's delight, a car is stopped in a village at a barricade that looks like a rail crossing but is, I think, a ladder. A group of angry villagers, upset that the car has struck their pig, have taken up flails and pitchforks to exact recompense. A stout constable hurries to the accident. This postcard dates from 7 September 1910.

 

 

 

 

 

12 July 1906 Life magazine

This life magazine cartoon from July 1906 shows an open top roadster broken down on a country road. A pair of legs, not a casualty I think, pokes out from under the engine while two other men deal with the car's flat tire. A farmer watches from his field. The caption reads:  The Idle Rich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Automobile accidents gave many caricature artists like Thiele the liberty to imagine all kinds of ludicrous blunders. Here a car has crashed into an outhouse and its startled occupant makes a narrow escape. A pair of pigs contemplate this sudden intrusion into their pigsty. The caption reads: Die unterbrochene Sitzung ~ The Interrupted Session. This postcard was posted from Chemnitz, in Saxony, eastern Germany on 23 September 1910.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 1909 Life magazine

Skipping ahead to our present century when car companies are increasingly focused on electric vehicles to solve the global problems of pollution and waste from gasoline engines, it seems strange to find advertisements offering this same technology in 1906. The promotion of a battery powered car's simplicity of controls and low-cost operation for urban transport could have come from a 2022 ad. Even more ironic is the way early electric automobile companies marketed their cars to women. In an era when women were constrained by social rules and laws, the automobile, both petrol and electric powered,  offered women a new freedom to travel by themselves without the need of a male chaperone to do the heavy lifting.

 

 

September 1906 Life magazine

 

 

For many years I've been fascinated by how people reacted to new technology when they first encountered it. What was it like to see a zeppelin floating in the sky for the first time? How awesome was it to witness the Wright brothers flying their airplane? And why would  people laugh at a cartoon about 40 horse power instead of wondering why the postcard didn't show forty horses pulling a carriage?

 

 

I plan to continue featuring
Arthur Thiele's humorous observations
on automobiles and "modern" life
as I collect more of his imaginative postcards.
To read my previous stories with Thiele's artwork
follow this < link  >.

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
which always showcases
the best photographs of family life
in the good old days.

 

A Trumpeter for the Queen

 

 There are uniforms,
and then there are Royal uniforms.
Few musicians are favored to wear
a livery like this trumpeter's attire.

Even in this black and white photo
his trumpet and uniform gleam
with dazzling regal splendor
reflecting centuries of tradition.

But this trumpeter
was actually wearing a new uniform.
One especially outfitted for a Queen.

 

 

 

On the back of the 8" x 10" photo is a printed sticker identifying the subject.

    CORONATION PRACTICE SESSION
LONDON:  Garbed in his magnificent traditional
uniform, trumpeter Fred Baker rehearses at
Knightsbridge Barracks for his part in
the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Baker
will be one of the State Trumpeters at the
historic event.
CREDIT (UNITED PRESS) 4/16/53

 

It was the spring of 1953 and all of the people of the United Kingdom were preparing for the grand coronation of their new monarch at Westminster Abbey in London. The crown emblem on the tunic of trumpeter Baker has the initials E II R, which signifies 'Elizabeth II Regina'. For over 15 years the emblem had read G VI R until 6 February 1952 when King George VI died and Princess Elizabeth of York succeeded her father to become Queen Elizabeth II.

 

 

 

 

Her Majesty's coronation was scheduled for the next year following the custom of allowing an appropriate time of mourning to pass. There was also a LOT of organizing needed for this important event. The new queen was to be honored by an elaborate ceremony and festivities not seen since her father's coronation in 1937. That ceremony had originally been planed for the coronation of his brother, King Edward VIII, but Edward abdicated on 11 December 1936, giving up the throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson, an American socialite and twice divorcee. Edward's reign at 326 days was the shortest of any British monarch. In 2022 his niece Elizabeth now celebrates her platinum jubilee with over 70 years as the queen of the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth realms.

  

Ten years ago Queen Elizabeth celebrated her diamond jubilee. One of the big public events was a royal procession down the River Thames of the Queen's royal barge escorted by a flotilla of hundreds of small boats. On that day in June 2012, I had the special honor to stand somewhere along the South Bank near Lambeth Bridge with thousands of other people hoping to watch the grand fleet. And for a brief moment I think I saw her go past. She waved at me, which I thought very generous of her considering that I am not one of her subjects. Here is a video of the occasion. It begins with trumpeters.

 

 

The uniform of a royal trumpeter has always been eye-catching fashion and is largely unchanged since 1685. In this colorful postcard the Trumpet Major in State Dress of the 1st Life Guards stands at the ready. His tunic is radiant with gold thread, and like Fred Baker, this trumpeter was also wearing a newly altered uniform. A royal banner hangs from his trumpet and on his chest is the emblem of King Edward VII (1841–1910). 

 

Edward assumed the throne on the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, on 22 January 1901. His coronation was scheduled for 26 June 1902, but just two days before, he was stricken with appendicitis which at the time was a very life-threatening ailment. Fortunately new surgical techniques allowed doctors to successfully treat the condition and King Edward VII recovered to be crowned king at the re-scheduled coronation on 9 August 1902.

 

This postcard was never mailed but the time period is clear since the trumpeter wears the livery of King Edward VII.  Yet printed on the back of the "Orthochrome" card is a notice by the printer, A. & G. Taylor, with the royal seal, "By appointment    to Her late Majesty." Above the left side of the divided  postcard is an official directive that reads: "This space may now be used for communication to counties except United States & Japan."  This change by the Royal Mail to permit messages on the back, except to countries that had not yet adopted this format, was introduced in 1902, so the card was probably produced for King Edward's coronation. It's also interesting that the stamp box, which displays the Inland postage at ½d stamp and Foreign postage at 1d, shows that the card was printed in Saxony in Germany.  

 

 

 

Another element of the trumpet major's uniform which I didn't mention was his tall boots. They were not made for marching but for riding, as he served in the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. Since 1945, when it was reformed from The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals, the two most senior regiments of the British Army, this elite military unit has served the queen and her royal household in all ceremonial duties required of Britain's head of state. The trumpeters belong to the Household Cavalry Mounted Band which furnishes all the music required at royal events and state occasions. In 2014 the bands of The Life Guards and the Blues and Royals merged and it is the largest military band in the British army. The band is made up of 64 musicians, both men and women now, and depending on the occasion, they will wear either the uniform of The Blues and Royals or The Life Guards.

 

Here is a YouTube video of the Household Cavalry Mounted Band
performing as part of the The Lord Mayor's Show in 2014.
The trumpeters follow the band's kettle drummer
who rides a distinctive drum horse
large enough to carry the rider
and the pair of heavy kettle drum.

 

 

 

Sadly last year Queen Elizabeth lost her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on 9 April 2021, just a few months shy of his 100th birthday. One of the special honors bestowed on him at his funeral service on 17 April 2021 in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle was this moving fanfare by two sets of royal trumpeters, the Buglers of the Royal Marines and the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry. The royal marines are first and they play the "Last Post", the traditional bugle call performed at military funerals. Their instruments are the smaller British style bugles. The state trumpeters are second and they play "Reveille", the traditional first call of the day. They use the longer and lower pitched cavalry trumpets.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ottawa, ONT Evening Citizen
22 April 1953

In April 1953 the photo of trumpeter Fred Baker was printed in many newspapers and probably clipped for his family scrapbook. However when I went searching for the image in the archives, I did not expect that the phrase "trumpeter Fred Baker" would get a hit in newspapers from 1994. But 41 years later, trumpeter Fred Baker got his picture in the papers once again. Only this time he was out of uniform and wearing a different hat.

 

 

 

Newcastle Journal
29 November 1994

Just like a fairy tale, the retired Royal Life Guard Trumpeter Fred Baker made the news in Britain as one of the big winners in the UK's National Lottery. He is pictured in a top hat surrounded by seven women, all pensioners, ages 75 to 85, who lived at a retirement home in Buckinghamshire. The "syndicate", organized by Fred, pooled together to buy lottery tickets. It was the first payout for the state-franchised lottery and the group won £1,760,966. I hope Her Majesty was pleased. 

 

Throughout her life, as both a princess and as queen, Elizabeth has surely heard more trumpet fanfares than anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Yet in June 1953 when the people assembled in Westminster Abbey shouted "God save Queen Elizabeth. Long live Queen Elizabeth. May the Queen live for ever!", I doubt few could have predicted that she would reign for over 70 years. 

 

That's a personal-best record that deserves another fanfare or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where you can't turn around in London
without bumping into history.