By HILARY GAVIN
I’M not going to spend long writing this WordPress blog post this morning because I don’t want to spend much time writing today.
I have, however, copied and pasted the Facebook message I rattled off this morning along with one of my late Dad Gordon MacDonald Gavin’s Second World War photos.
The copy below is self-explanatory:
“I KNOW it’s not yet 7 o’clock but I’ve already wasted half an hour this morning writing about Remembrance Sunday next month which is fast approaching us all as autumn sets in.
Of course, I’ve somehow lost my unfinished Facebook message in the ether – but I mentioned that I hope to be wearing a purple poppy in honour of the animals who have died in conflicts across the world along with my red RBL poppy
Sadly, I doubt that I’ll have got any further with my research on my late Dad Gordon MacDonald Gavin’s Second World War record, along with the “secret” photos he kept tucked away in a box at our family home, by Remembrance Sunday.
Of course, I realise very few people follow my Facebook posts or read my WordPress blog, but – if you do – you’ll know that I’m intrigued by these photos including one of Winston Churchill.
You’ll also appreciate that I’ve been wary of sharing images of the prints I had made of my late father’s photographs online because there are so many odd, untrustworthy people on social media.
Saying that, I’ve decided to share this blurry image of a Second World War serviceman – who I don’t think is my late Dad – leaning against a fireplace and stood in front of a old masterpiece in what appears to be a stately home.
To date, I’ve been told that the fireplace might still be in situ at Auchinleck House in Ayrshire, Scotland – ancient home of the Lord Boswells.
If you read the wikipedia write-up on Auchinleck below, it would seem one Laird – whom I assume was General Auchinleck – let Polish, French and Canadian officers stay at the family’s ancestral home during the Second World War.
Anyhow, my family know that Dad kept these photos from his wartime service, so it begs the question as to why he had this one at home?
The plot thickens, lol. Hilary Gavin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auchinleck_House
Copyright Hilary Gavin, Sunday, October 19th, 2025
Also active on Facebook (see my FB profile on my About Me WordPress page) and on LinkedIn.
Hilary Gavin
Freelance Journalist & Writer
T/A Business ‘n’ Commas
6 Southover Way
Hunston
CHICHESTER
West Sussex
PO20 1NY
Tel: 07940 444664
Email: grumpywoman@hilarygavin.blog
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