This old photo taken in the 1910’s (I think) shows my Great Grandfather Ralph (Raiph) Fox with his straw boater hat and flower in his lapel, sitting in the back of his Ford Motor Car in Llan Festiniog , North Wales.
The other three gentleman were his three brothers Harry, Stanley and William (Billy). The man sitting in the cart on the right hand side was a ‘photo bomber’ fascinated by the new fangled photography.
All four brothers lived in Ireland and were Livestock Agents buyng and exporting to England horses for the British Army.
They also visited the Cattle and Sheep markets throughout North and Mid Wales to buy animals for slaughter to feed the British Army during the first world war.
They had clearly made a succes of their business.
On one of the visits Raiph met , fell in love and subsequently married a young lady from Llanidloes in Mid Wales. So began my eventual journey to be a Welshman albiet with Irish ancestory.
Raiph had two sons and one of them Peter was my grandfather. He settled eventually in Pwlleli on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales (Previously Caernarvonshire) and persued his all consuming hobby and his lifetimes passion of breeding and exhibiting cage birds , mainly finches to an extremely high standard throught Britain and Ireland, with several prestigious Best in Class and the occassional Best in Show at most of the major shows including Alexandra Palace one of the biggest show of the year in those days.
Our grandfather Peter gave my brother and I a couple of pairs of Canary’s when we were aroung five or six years old and that started our own love of birds and all things avian that developed through a few strays into the Pigeon World that we still live in today.
Why we all love this sport!