Back in the day: A real character!

Last week’s photo

An excellent response to last week’s photo has provided some great history. Chic Moniz, Eleanor Joell, Nancy Acton, Joanne Musson,Rosemary Talbot and one unidentified caller put the pieces together.

The picture shows the recording of two young contest winners from Nell Bassett’s Junior Club (which featured in the previous week’s Back in the Day photo). While the boy remains unidentified, the girl on the right is Eleanor Joell, who told us she won a bike for first place in a colouring contest. The gentleman standing between the two children is Dave Cartner, who also appeared in our previous archive photo.

The contest appears to have been run by now-defunct wholesalers Purvis Ltd, while also promoting the Oxo brand which they imported. The gentleman in the glasses is Garnet F. Grills, Purvis’ managing director.

The ladies on the far left, identified as Florence Whistler Fish with the light hair and Gabriel Parker next to her, were ‘Pink Ladies’ from the Hospital Auxiliary and the Bermuda Arts Council, who were presenting the bikes to the children. Florence Whistler Fish was a sculptor and potter, whose daughter Janet Fish is an artist in the US.

Although Eleanor Joell’s account contradicts this, Nancy Acton wondered if the children had won the bikes by collecting Oxo labels; Purvis apparently ran many promotions like that. Ms Acton says she still has a stand-up Santa Claus that she earned with labels, and she also won a radio in a similar promotion. 

Do you recognize this gentleman? He was one of Bermuda’s real characters. Tell us what you know about this photo. E-mail Photo & Video Editor Gary Skelton: [email protected], or call him on 278-1880. *Photo courtesy of Scott Stallard