A tale of two (other) Rubys

May I introduce my grandmother, Ruby.



I found this photo of her while up in the attic yesterday. Ruby taught me to sew, to knit, to crochet - all the things I love. Doesn't she look beautiful, polished, groomed? I love that the photo is signed. She had presumably given it to my granddad when they were courting or he went off to war. It seemed extremely significant to find this photo yesterday as another Ruby had introduced herself to me in a very strange way on Friday.

A lovely gentleman was talking to me about the forthcoming funeral for his mother, Beryl, and told me about a poster of her he had with him that he was hoping to display at the service. He had a picture frame with him wrapped in a blanket; he opened up the blanket to reveal this:



His mother's stage name was Ruby. The gentleman' parents were the Tony and Ruby shown in the poster. Ruby stopped performing when she became pregnant and her son never saw her perform. Here is a close up of Ruby. There is more than a passing resemblance to my Ruby.


Both Ruby's look like they are from a very similar era. One, my nan, stayed very close to home and married a local boy and in her whole life never left the area, certainly never went abroad, in fact had only travelled from Lancashire to Yorkshire; The other Ruby, had fallen in love with and married an italian trapeze artist and run away to join the circus. So different, yet look so similar, and both had a profound effect on their families. My gentleman very kindly gave me permission to use and show these photos and I am very grateful to him and will always be grateful to my nan.

for now
yet another Ruby xx