Sunday 10 March 2024

QUEEN MUM 1936





by Dave Roberts
I'm sure most people won't object to a little self-indulgence today of all days. 
This picture first appeared on the Middlewich Diary on Mother's Day 2012 and has appeared every Mother's Day since.

Dad, incidentally, made his first appearance here on Father's Day 2011. 

DAD AT WORK

And Mum, like Dad, played her part in Middlewich history at the height of our salt town days.
Mum was born in 1919 in neighbouring Moston and went to school in Elworth which she always said was  'a lovely place until Fodens ruined it'.
Her Mother, our Grandma Hodgkinson, was at one time in service with the Foden family.
Mum lived all her adult life in Middlewich and, like so many young women in the town, worked at Cerebos.
In 1936, when she was 17, she was crowned 'Salt Queen of Cheshire'* and our picture shows her wearing the beautiful dress which was specially made for the occasion and which, amazingly, still survives in the possession of the family.

* That was the title we were always told Mum held all those years ago, although there do not seem to be any records of any 'Cheshire Salt Queen' event. The 'Salt Queen of Middlewich' has proved equally elusive, although the local press has carried reports about a proposed revival of the 'Salt Queen of Winsford' title. Could that be the title that Mum held all those years ago?.

Whatever the truth of the matter, and whatever her actual Regal title was all those years ago, Mum, like all Mums, was a true Queen.

Mum passed away on Easter Sunday, April 16th 2006.


Mothers Day 2012


First published Mothers Day 2012. Republished Mothers Day 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024






5 comments:

  1. She's absolutely gorgeous Dave. It's no wonder you wanted to share it. :o)

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  2. Your mum was as beautiful on the inside as well as the outside .People who knew your mum would say she was a TRUE Christian in every sence of the word. As you know David, I knew your mum through your sister Cynthia[another truely beautiful Roberts woman]. No mater how busy your mum was, she ALWAYS had time for other people.How proud you must be for having such a wonderful mother, she taugh her children very well indeed.

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  3. Thank you Sherry. And thank you, Elaine. What a lovely thing to say.

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  4. I agree with previous comments , your mum looks very regal in her dress .

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  5. Thank you Christine. I suppose you'd expect me to say this, but Mum was lovely in 1936 and remained like that until the day she died.

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