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This is a great picture, just found this in a box so no date available,at a guess 1950. Two lovely slim ladies in the foreground,its changed days! I was born in 2 Melvin Place, my grandmother's house 2nd. up the steps across from the "Doo-Cot" where my Auntie Winnie lived. She had one son, Bill Sutherland, who started his Merchant Navy Career on the "Pole Star" then the"Clan Line", finally on the"Union Castle Line". He passed out as a foreign going Deep Sea Master at a very early age considering he missed a lot of schooling due to asthma. He was on the Cape Town to Southampton run for many years. He retired and lived in Southampton until He died a few years ago. I believe Billy went to school with Capt.Max Gunn. Added by Phil Brough
View Large VersionPicture added on 08 March 2011 at 16:25
Bill Sutherland was in the same class as me at Stromness Academy - at least part of the time, his asthma was quite bad. A friendly, humorous, able classmate whose respiratory problem eventually relaxed its grip and gave him half a chance, which he took.
Added by Ian Hourston on 29 April 2011
Bill Sutherland was my mother's cousin, i.e her father (my grandfather) was David Wilson, Winnie's brother. My mother's name is Irene but she is better known by her middle name Christine (or Chrissie) after another of David's sisters. David was also in the Merchant Navy and settled in the port of Liverpool where he met my grandmother, also called Irene. I remember Billy Sutherland well from my childhood; he had a wicked sense of humour and was full of stories of his adventures on the high seas! I visited one of his ships in Liverpool when I was a small boy and he was the skipper.
Added by Iain Crawford on 08 November 2011
The 'slim' lady on the left has the outline of my mother about her although her face is in shadow. Alice J. Tait lived in Alfred Street and worked in what became the National and Commercial Bank (later the Royal Bank) so would have passed this corner in her stillettos every day twice a day. No mean feat on the cobbles of Stromness. She worked in the bank from leaving school until marrying my dad (who worked along side her) in 1958. I feel I may have dressed up in her frock when I was peedie as granny had kept a few outfits including mam's wedding and bridesmaid's dresses.
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Added by Alison Hepburn on 09 September 2016
Stromness
