FURTHER to the fundraising and start of repairs to Wellington Monument – and particularly the removal of the cannons – some photos of my late mother have come to mind.

My mother Dorothy was born in 1911, the daughter of James and Gertrude Down. My grandfather James Down had a blacksmith’s shop in Ford Street, just above the phone box. Dorothy and my dad Ernest Salter were married in 1942.

Mum’s trade was a dress-maker, working for Egerton Burnett’s, which specialised in school and nurses’ uniforms. I remember her working on non-standard sizes at home.

The photos I have, which were probably taken in the mid- to late-1930s, are of an Egerton Burnett’s outing to the monument. Mum is second on the right in both photos in the patterned dress.

Does anyone know any of the other girls in the photos?

John Salter

Dobree Park, Rockwell Green