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My People – Part 2

Kate DysonBrighton actress, Kate Dyson, concludes her memories of her world famous Great Great Aunt Dolly Shepherd…

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Dolly Shepherd © Kate Dyson

Aged 16 Dolly had found herself a job as a waitress at the Ally Pally. Why? Because she was desperate to hear the famous American Sousa Band and she certainly couldn’t afford a ticket. And after the concert, oh what joy, Sousa regularly sat at her table, and it was there that she overheard a conversation he was having with his friend Cody, Buffalo Bill’s namesake. Cody was a well-known showman, and part of his act involved shooting an egg from the top of his wife’s head. As his wife was unwell, he could not perform that evening, so Auntie, always loving an adventure, offered to stand in, and to her astonishment, it was agreed that she could. She admitted that had she known that he would be wearing a blindfold, she might have had some misgivings. The performance went well, and as a thank you, Cody, who was also an aeronautical pioneer working with kites, offered to show Auntie the aeronautical workshop at the Ally Pally. This was the beginning. Continue reading My People – Part 2

My People – Part 1

img838_1In the last edition we asked readers to share their childhood memories. Brighton actress, Kate Dyson, answered the call with some glorious memories of her famous Auntie Dolly…here’s the first instalment.

They might have been likened to a Penny Farthing. She, a handsome six footer, sallying forth in full sail like a magnificent galleon; he, the diminutive five foot nine figure at her side, dwarfed by her majesty. This though, only in stature, for the love these two shared was of equal measure. No question of that. He was Percy Sedgwick, my Great Great Uncle; she, Dolly Shepherd, his wife and my beloved Auntie. And then, of course, there was Molly, their only daughter, an unmarried schoolteacher. A little bossy, though good hearted, she strode forth with a step that would have been better suited to a Sergeant Major, ready to organise anything or anyone like a military operation. Always in the shadow of her Mother on whom she doted, it took me forty years to recognise the fine qualities Molly had inherited from Auntie. If ever there was such a thing as an enlarged heart, not as a result of disease, but because of the disproportional amount of love that was therein, then it would surely be found within these three people. Continue reading My People – Part 1