More Than A Glimpse

This image made me realise how little any single portrait could tell.

‘More Than A Glimpse’ was born as a collaboration between Marion and myself to tell more about her than could be told in one photograph.

Little did I know what I would discover….

Marion started life in humble surroundings.

“Mum, Dad myself and after a while my sister so by the time we moved out as four of us lived in there. I don't know how they stayed saying my parents or our parents in 18 foot long 18 foot….…”

“then from a caravan into this house which has stairs. It was exciting when you're 5 and 3 to run up and down the stairs which had no stair carpet on. So it must have been lovely for the neighbours, but we had great fun. It was a lovely, lovely, lovely place”

“We moved in in December the very, very cold. Winter of 62, or 63.

Snow on the ground and I can remember getting off the bus with mum and Lynn and having to hang on to the fence of the houses because I was scared I would fall over”

“Then this house, its newly built by the firm that Dad worked for at the time and had been his dream really. From a wee boy, growing up in a small cottage with very tiny windows in Northern Ireland, to one day own his own home which had big windows”

“Where I live now with my sister and brother-in-law.

Wonderful little bungalow on the side of the green.

And there am I sitting just thinking really about how lucky I am, how lucky we are to have such a place”

“I go along once a month to help with the collation of the parish magazine. It's a great group of people that meet up there to do it.

Not always the same people. Just generally, good fun, and there's usually a happy atmosphere and people chat away.

The time goes very quickly and I get a bit of a sore back because you're bending over the table putting the papers together, and I do have a bit of a cack-handed way of doing it, compared to some people.”

“I use my laptop mainly to help me do things for the church. Which is lovely. I love to serve the church, well to serve God really, through the church but I don't have a very good relationship with my laptop”

.

“Father grew up in this cottage that was granny and grandad’s home.

Vastly different to the house he was able to buy in Great Bentley.

He once told us his friend and his friend’s brother used to take it in turns to go to school because they only had one pair of shoes between them”

“I know he was a very good footballer. As a teenager he played International football for Northern Ireland and was in the Dundela team that won the Irish FA Cup in the 54/55 Season, which was a great upset in Northern Ireland as they were not expected to win.”

“Oh, even to this day, I get quite excited getting on a steam train, just the sound that they make as they move. And I can only think that it's because my earliest memories were steam trains departing from Euston Station on our way to Heysham to get the boat.

So Euston’s still busy but no Ulster Express from 12 and 13 anymore.

What do you notice about the colours of the platform?

Blue and White!!! That's very appropriate”

“You need to get on board or so we can set sail. And there were Mail Bags and the hiss and the noise of the Steam and dad had two heavy suitcases in front of him. Mum said hold Daddy's coat, don't let go. So I was holding on the back of his coat and she was coming along behind holding my sister, who was two years younger than I am and her shopping bag in one hand. So her hands are full, just stay with Daddy go with Daddy but the crowd was such and he was walking as quickly as he could to get there and I let go of Daddy. I couldn't hold on to him. Yeah. And I got carried, I think more or less in the crowd where it felt like I was being carried within the crowd”

“In my early 20s, narrow country roads twisting turning up and down and all of a sudden across the road in front of me came a British soldier with his rifle pointing ahead, followed closely by one of his comrades”

“At a newsagent in Enniskillen, once I spoke because of the English accent it was like everyone else stopped around me?

So I felt very nervous and quickly paid and got out”

“Police Officers hold guns in Northern Ireland. As you went into shops each store had their own security guards. You had to open your bag so it could be looked into and then you occasionally, not every time but very often, you would actually get patted down”

Did your dad pass on his love of football?

Football! Football has been a part of my life for ever since I can remember. Dad played football and we used to go and watch him.

So, you've always been a bit of a football girl?

Always, always!

And that's an Ipswich Town scarf I'm holding above my head or possibly, a Colchester United scarf depending which ground I was in.”

“What was it, like when I gave you a match program from the Barcelona much? Are you sure it was like being in a time machine and going back, it was really strange feelings that I had memories coming back to No, just the Barcelona game but the other guy European matches that we saw was lucky enough to go and see ya. It was a very interesting experience and thank you very much for the program.

Now just remember that parking the car and then walk into the ground and just the whole excitement of the thing. And then seeing these really great players that you didn't see them every week now.

Television”

“through my friend, where you You were able to get season tickets to the end of season dance of Player of the Year award dances for two or three seasons. I think we went to them, they're always great fun and it meant that you met the players and are able to dance with some of them and I had adults with one dark. Remember, especially that's with Johnny walk. So lovely it was Scottish man. Lovely eyes.

Very nice.”

“Will you be watching the World Cup? I Safi leads. I ran into this contest. The fourth most capped player going into his herd. The teenager, his first England goal that's really worked and put away by Tara me and he ran on the porch and the noise around the stadium.

Absolutely, incredible. Varun is, in Finish. Second impact from Marcus.

Rushford greenish, is there makes it six? For England,”

“there is still more to be told, Marian's Faith her time behind a bar. Her family on the mother's side and her hopes for the future.”