Our speaker for the October meeting was Brian Rowe from the John Preston’s Antique shop in Cleethorpes. Members of the audience had also been invited to bring objects in for Brian to look at.
Brian introduced the talk by pointing to several boxes of “stuff” that he had brought to the meeting. The first contained various Sales catalogues; it wasn’t that he had attended any of the sales but that they were useful reference sources. His recommendation was that as we all have “stuff “in our houses, as we get older we get rid of it and let somebody else collect it. His point being that very often someone without attachment would just dispose of them anyway - and maybe even without much thought.
He illustrated his talk with his own items of “stuff “ from the boxes. Items that he had bought, liked and not sold on but put on the shelf. For example an Edwardian cut glass fruit bowl in a silver holder, an art deco silver cup and a box of medals. Sadly the daughters (the soldier father had died)no longer wanted them, but as a piece of social history, the notes and cuttings boxed with them were fascinating. Brian read out some of the letters written during the Second World War. All of his “stuff”, he pointed out, had interesting back stories.
During his talk Brian looked at items brought by members of the audience; many of these had their own stories, and collected or handed down from generation to generation. It was a most enjoyable evening and we will all look at our ff” in a different way.
Chairman Alan Nicholson with Brian and his boxes of exciting discoveries