What a fun photo! This is the wedding party of Joan Evans and Ron North in May 1957. The photographer would have been standing on the front lawn of George and Alice Bennett’s house on Bagot Street, at Charles. Marc Shaw figures that the wedding would have taken place at St. Paul’s, and then people would have come down to Mrs. Bennett’s lovely garden for the photos. The bride and groom aren’t in the photo; perhaps they are taken up with a professional photographer in back of the house, while a friend snaps this one, giving us a chance to see the facade of Bennett’s Grocery, a major institution in the neighbourhood. Note the slogan: “Where Food Buying is Most Satisfactory.” In the middle is Rose MacLean Shaw, Marc Shaw’s mother. Thanks, Marc, for this and many other photos and stories! We look forward to more.
George Bennett ran the store with his brother Cecil. They were great-uncles, my maternal grandmother’s brothers. Her name was Helen Roy Wallace nee Bennett but was referred to as Nelly. She lived in the same neighbourhood (near Mrs’s Shaw’s family) and my mother and aunts worked in the store during their teen years. I remember visiting the store a few times in the store in the 60’s or 70’s and Uncle George greeting people at the door. And yes, he and Aunt Alice always had a lovely garden.
I remember visiting George and Alice at the store and their home in Kingston with my parents, Buryl and Wilma Aberneathy, in the 70’s. George and Buryl were 2nd cousins. My Dad had fond memories of An Jane that surfaced and he shared, as we visited with the Bennett family.