The inspiration this week at Sepia Saturday is a photo of a wall-mounted clock in what appears to be some kind of workshop. I couldn’t find a photo of a clock, but I thought of “workshop” and “work” and remembered these 3 photos from my granddad, Douglas’s, collection. It seems to be a Works Outing, probably from somewhere near Dunfermline, Fife – I’m not sure where he worked at the time. Here we are getting off the Magical Mystery Tour bus – I wonder if there was rowdy singing on the way?
and here are some of the Lads on the ferry – I wonder where we are going? At least no one is hanging over the side. Yet. Billy Bunter’s off to forage for buns, but someone else forgot to bring his teeth…
We’ve reached the next stage of our journey, but Bert is too much of a weakling to allow us to continue so I hope East Arms is a pub. However, there is extra good news
there are THREE (yes, dear reader, three) clocks in this photo 🙂 That’s Douglas in the Commodore in the middle, trying to control his homies.
I hope they all had a good time, and that everyone got home safely, but I’m curious about where they went. I can’t find a place called “East Arms” using Google, and we don’t have half-timbered buildings in Scotland, so I suspect they ventured further afield. Any ideas?
I’m off to check the time on the other Sepia Saturday posts!
Jo
UPDATE! Thanks to Mike Brubaker and Michael Inkpen, I now know that the lads were far from home. It can’t have been a day trip as they were at East Arms, Hurley, Maidenhead in Berkshire, 435 miles away from home. Here’s how it looks a few decades on
It would take at least 7 1/2 hours to get there today – wonder how long it took them in their coaches before motorways?
FURTHER UPDATE!
Mike Inkpen emailed me to say “I’m pretty sure this is the place where the coaches are drawn up.
It’s Thames Side, Henley on Thames. Look at the building facing us and
the skyline. The river here is used for the Henley Royal Regatta and the
mooring mid-stream and the judges booth all add up.”
I think he’s right. So was it a Works Outing to the Henley Regatta, or did they just happen to pass through at the right time? It’s a long way to go, so I suspect they were on a bigger trip with a bigger purpose. It could also have been a Masonic Lodge trip, as Douglas was a Mason.
FURTHER FURTHER UPDATE!
Thanks Mike – he has found the place that the Lads probably boarded the ferry, at Thameside. It looks quite similar to where they got off the buses
Jo Graham
Images Past 
Look at all those suits and ties for an outing. Today they’d be in polos, I’m certain. They seem to be having a grand time, even the guy tasked with pulling the wagon!
Not a hoodie in sight, Wendy, and they still enjoyed themselves despite the formal suits!
What great photos! Looks like they had a fun time. I can’t believe that guy was pulling the wagon! Maybe he was practicing for a strong-man competition, or perhaps the wagon was actually standing still and he was just posing. 🙂
I think he’s a Poser, but you never know – he might be Rambo underneath his suit 😉
East Arms is near Hurley, on the Henley Road Jo. I would say the other pictures are on the Thames so the oldies were further afield than you thought.
Thanks Mike – your research was invaluable 🙂
The last picture makes me wonder where all the other lads have gone. I’m sure there must be an East Arms pub somewhere nearby.
Yes – there’s not many left out of the 2 coaches in the first pic but it’s only 10.40 so there must be a queue at the pub door!
At first glance I didn’t see the clocks in the last photo, not that clocks matter at all when you have great photos like these. Aren’t fellow bloggers wonderful? Because we’re from all over the world, sometimes a reader is bound to know the location of a mystery photo’s setting. Don’t you suspect his pulling the carriage was a gag, a joke?
Thank you, Nancy, and yes, fellow bloggers are wonderful 🙂 I have my suspicions about The Poser 😉
Not only suits and ties but they don’t look like ‘lads’ anymore. TIme and again we are reminded that people looked so much older altogether in those days. Well done those fellow bloggers for helping to solve part of the mystery.
Mr Jo and I were discussing this last night – I reckon Douglas is about 35ish but the formal suit makes him look older. That’s why our trendy Bank Managers look about 12 these days 🙂
It is interesting to see the same distinctive building in the old and new views.
It’s nice to see that it’s still there and looking cared-for.
Even had you not discovered the whereabouts, these photos and the happy men out and about are just delightful. Especially the man pulling with all his might!
Who would have thought that 3 photos of a Works Do could be such fun. No wonder Douglas kept them. I wish he had marked the back of them with a date and details of the event, but they’ve still made me smile 🙂
Reminds me of pub outings – all that’s missing are the crates of beer. Great work by the two Mikes to have identifed the location.
Maybe the crates of beer were kept out of sight! I agree, great detective work by the two Mikes. Thanks for your comment, Bob.
Jo, this is a wonderful post … and I’m glad that they guys could help you in defining the locations! The second photo, on the boat, cracks me up … I imagine the three sitting down to be the kind of guys that always buckle up in the car. Priceless picture. Thanks for working so hard on your post, I loved it.
Thanks, Kathy. Yes, the three stooges are hilarious. Especially the guy who forgot to bring his teeth. Thanks for your kind words 🙂
I’m glad I came along so late, so I was able to see all of the updates. That input is one of the wonderful things about blogging. In any case it looks like they had a great time.
Thanks for dropping by, Christine – it’s funny to see them larking about in suits 🙂
A perfect example of collaborative blogging at its very best. I would like to be able to add to the developing story by telling you where the bus was built – but sadly, I can’t.
Nice investigatory work! Love the fact that they’re all suited and booted!
A Brilliant Bit Of Collaborative Detective Work!