A Nod to the Past

My love affair with the seaside town of North Berwick started in the 1960s. But our family’s connection stretches back at least a century.

Flicking through an old photo album this New Year’s Day I came across this portrait of my Mum, her two brothers - my Uncles Ian and Jim - and their mother, my grandmother. The photo dates from September 1928 and was taken in North Berwick, I think beside the harbour. Other photos in the album show them swimming, playing tennis and fishing - pretty much the same things my sister and I did 40 or so years later.

New Year is a time for looking forward to the future but it pays to reflect on what has brought us to this point. Not to dwell on the past for its own sake, just a nod to the influences of those who are no longer with us but are still a part of our lives. As Saint Augustine said, “The dead are not absent, they are only invisible.”