Cafe group celebrated war's end

It was loaned by Michael Meakin, who was one of the children at the celebration party held at his grandparents' cafe near Newport.

Mr Meakin, of Much Wenlock, said: "It was taken just after the end of the war. It was a party given by my grandmother for all the local children of the village, so it would be about 1946. I can't remember anything at all about it and can't remember any of the other children's names. You can't when you are about five years of age.

"All of the old people on the picture will now all be dead, but there must be people who were children who can remember going to it and when they see this picture will say 'crickey, there's so and so.'

"My grandmother was Constance Whittle and it was the Eagle Cafe. She lived next door to the cafe - her address would be Wood Close, Pave Lane. It was on the main road. It isn't a cafe any more - it's now an old people's home. My grandfather had a hand in running it as well. He was Robert Whittle.

"The cafe was used by all the truckers and anyone who wanted a drink. You could get a cup of tea, baked beans, that sort of thing."

The site was more or less directly opposite the gates to Lilleshall Hall

How long was Constance Whittle – she was known as Connie - at the cafe?

"Oh, since Adam was a lad, I think. I don't know when she passed on, but it was a long time ago. She was 90-odd years of age when she died."

Mr Meakin is the little boy on the front row, far right, looking very smart in a white shirt and tie.

"I lived with my parents next door to the cafe, where there was a filling station called the Eagle Garage. It's been knocked down now - there are houses there now.

"My father, Bill Meakin, was in the motor trade. When I was a lad of 14 or 15 my family moved to Wellington, but my grandmother stayed at Wood Close. In Wellington, my father ran the Waverley Garage in Church Street."

Mr Meakin followed his father's footsteps, selling cars, and then went to work for a petro-chemical company.

On the picture, his grandmother is at the very back in the centre of the doorway, below and between the "E" and the "C" of the sign above. His grandfather is on the extreme left, wearing glasses, and Mr Meakin's father is at the far right. His mother, also a Connie, is the lady with the blondish hair towards the right half of the picture, standing directly in front of a "shop closed" sign which can be seen behind her in the window.

According to information on the internet the Eagle Cafe was originally a chapel. The building is still standing.