Old photo throws up a giant mystery

But who are they, and where are they?

Those are questions Neil Hinton is hoping Star readers can answer as he tries to unravel the riddle of an old group photo which features his maternal grandfather Alfred Palin on the extreme right of the middle row.

Neil, who used to live in Shawbury but now lives in Devon, got in touch with us after coming across, among his late mother's photos, a Star cutting from around 10 years ago which, in our Pictures From The Past slot, featured a picture of the Weston and Stanton Home Guard platoon. He wanted to update our archives by adding Alfred's name – his mother's father – to the list of people identified among those Home Guard soldiers.

As for the group picture, he said: "Hopefully the building in the background and the tall chap in the middle may raise some memories.

"I can only suggest it may be Hodnet Hall since my grandfather and my grandmother lived across the road from Hodnet church.

"I was wondering if the tall chap in the middle of the photo was the Shropshire Giant? I do remember my granny mentioning him but, sadly, was not inquisitive enough to ask questions about any family members."

The Shropshire Giant was Tom Dutton, from Stoke-on-Tern, who stood at 7ft 3ins and died on November 24, 1924, although some sources wrongly give the year as 1926.

We've looked at old photos of Hodnet Hall before it was substantially remodelled in the 1960s and can't see any similarity between the old hall and the building in the background, unless it was an outbuilding of some sort. As to the man in the back row being the Shropshire Giant – well, he is very, very, tall, and a picture of Tom Dutton does show some similarity. What do you think?

Neil added: "I know very little about my grandfather as he died when I was two and a half. His occupation on my mum's wedding certificate was 'waggoner.' He was one of 10 siblings, the same as my granny, whose maiden name was Moore –hence I have at least 20 divisions of family there! I am sure they spent most of their life around the area of Hodnet, Marchamley, Stoke-on-Tern, and so on, but I do not know where Alfred worked.

"I have always known my Granny Annie as a cleaner/janitor at Hodnet School who lived at School Cottages, Hodnet, which I presumed was a tied house, until she retired. She died in 1989."

Alfred died in 1956.