First row, nearest the camera: (L to R):
A. Cudd;
(This is Alec Cudd, also seen in the Archer Cowley publicity postcard showing packing cases marked for export. He was the senior figure in the export packing function of the firm, and he was also, I believe, the father of Bernard Cudd, four places along in the same row. I believe Alec worked for AC & Co many years);
Mrs Roberts:
(Perhaps this lady is a friend/relation of Alec Cudd);
Mrs J.Bennett;
(This is the wife of Jack Bennett);
J. Bennett:
(This is Jack Bennett, a foreman and driver, with whom I occasionally worked during summer holiday periods, on the vans);`
A.Boscott;
(This is Arthur Boscott, a foreman and driver, with whom I also occasionally worked during summer holiday periods, on the vans. He was known amongst the men as “the rusher” for his tendency to underestimate the time left to complete a day’s work, and thus to drive himself (and his men I suspect) harder than was strictly necessary;)
B. Cudd:
(This is Bernard Cudd, another foreman and driver, with whom I occasionally worked during summer holiday periods, on the vans. The apocryphal story about Bernard was that he was always elsewhere when the lady of the house decided that she wanted the grand piano moved upstairs.)
R.J. Owen (Oxford Times); (only just visible)
(I trust I have a copy of his report in the Oxford Times of this august even, but I’m not sure that I have);
Second row, other side of the table from the row nearest the camera: (L to R):
Mrs R. Moore;
P. Nye;
(This is Philip Nye, who worked on the vans, but I know nothing else about him);
Mrs Nye;
Mrs Verney;
S. Verney;
Mrs B. Archer;
(This is Molly, wife of my cousin Brian, who (Brian) was born quite a few years before me, and they were married not long before 1957. I have never met Molly, but her sister-in-law (Brian’s brother Roland’s wife, Rosemarie) always speaks admiringly of her);
B. Archer;
(This is my cousin Brian, twin of his brother John - two boys after two girls (Eileen and Pam). Brian and John worked for AC & Co on the vans for a while, as indeed I did in the 1950s, as a holiday job. I don’t know whether they ever intended to progress upwards within the firm, and now that I would like to ask, it is too late, because they both died many years ago. Brian and Molly lived in Newbury for many years); John and his (Italian) wife Grace Monteleone, lived in Australia, and John died long before his brother Brian;