looking for bill

london 1960 - 1963

I have wanted to find time to create this archive for my parents work for some time. Ironically it is the Covid-19 Pandemic that has given me the opportunity to do this, the great era-defining scourge of our time that is making visible the vulnerability of those who work for themselves and make up a significant proportion of the creative industries sector in Scotland. I do not know what Bill would have made of the world today. He often struggled to know what to make of the world as it was when he was alive, before social media had the influence it has today over our culture, politics and society.

The image above is the only one I have of my parent’s time in London. Bill would be about 23 in this picture. They married in Hackney on Christmas Eve 1960 and both worked as jewellery designers in Hatton Garden. Bill for Whitehorn Bros and Rosemary for a firm nearby, G Music and Sons. They returned to Scotland around 1963 to live in Cumbernauld before moving to the Isle of Bute in 1968 with their two small daughters, Janie and me, Josephine.

I think the other man in the picture is called Tommy [Heron?] He and his wife Mairi were my parents friends from Glasgow Art School. As far as I recall, the four of them shared digs in London when they first arrived. My mother would have taken this picture. She had a natural flair for photograhy. My father loved cameras, collected and could even repair them but could never quite master the art of a good shot like my mother did. There was always a hint of a competitive edge in everything they did.