Photos

 

An Honours Degree & The Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award for Sarah.

Sarah                                  Tim                                  Peter

Chris                              Kathy

Kathy & Chris in 2005

Richard Bruce Drakes (1912-1988) & Frances Huntly Ricketts (1920-2001), my very dear parents.

Richard Bruce Drakes (my dad) on his horse ‘Diablo’ during the 1950s, and his Esso garage ‘R.B. Drakes Motors’ on the A1 at Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire in the 1960s. The A1 has since bypassed the village and the petrol station has disappeared.

Roman Bank, Skegness, Lincolnshire, where Frank owned a butcher’s shop next to his home, 'Sandringham House' where Richard was born in 1912. The area has declined somewhat since those days. Frank (right) and his older brother Sidney (left), with three farm workers at High Street Farm, Ludford, Lincolnshire about 1906.

(left) Richard Bruce Drakes as a young boy during the 1914-18 war, when his father was fighting in Europe. He was dressed in uniform to show support for the war effort, at a time when every adult male was expected to be in uniform. (centre & right) Frank Drakes (1889-1957), my dear old granddad.

Frank Drakes (1889-1957) served in the South Notts. Hussars during the 1914-1918 war. He was invalided out of the army with tuberculosis (TB) and apparently didn't see any action, which probably saved his young life, though the illness eventually killed him at the age of 67. Sadly, so very many of his comrades didn't return.

Frank's car in Canada in the early 1930s

Frank’s wife Emily Kate (Daisy) Crossley (1186-1964) with their older children Richard and Nora Barbara Drakes; their younger daughter Joan Barnby Drakes, was not yet born; she is pictured here during the 1940s with her pony and trap.

Edwin John Ricketts (1888-1974) & Gertrude Elizabeth Huntly (1892-1974), my very dear maternal grandparents - how I miss them both.

 

Tathwell Grange, Lincolnshire (another ‘Drakes’ family home).

 

There are several ‘Drakes’ in this photo, which is believed to be the Hainton (Lord Heneage’s) or the Girsby (Sir John Vigor-Fox’s) Cricket Team.

William Wade Drakes (b.1856) and Annie Maria Drakes: photo by Clarence James of Louth, Lincs.; with their daughters, Annie (b.1901) & Mary (b.1904), Frank’s first cousins; with Mary & Annie, two of their three daughters at Hoe Hill Farm.