Monday, February 11, 2013

Pat's early career

We believe this photo was taken in the early 50s. Pat (left) was born in 1935 which would put her in her late teens here. She was a telephonist and worked in the exchanges in and around Tunbridge Wells.

Pat Gentry (left) at work

The back of this photo reveals the copyright belongs to the Kent & Sussex Courier and Tunbridge Wells Advertiser. The former is still going strong today.

The stamp on the back of the photo indicates it was professionally taken

Presumably it was taken for a news story but without an exact date, I think it could be difficult to find out what it was.

The exchange was an incredibly important part of Pat's life. It was here that she met Vic Knight, a telephone engineer and her future husband.

6 comments:

  1. Very nice picture. It does look like an ad for something. I'm looking at the control panel thinking how in the world did they keep all the holes and switches straight?

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  2. I don't think it's an ad - suspect it was a news story but I'm going to struggle to find out what as the paper's archives only go back to 1964.

    Tim and I were just saying exactly the same thing about the switches. It's hard to imagine these days when we all take picking up a mobile and making a call for granted.

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  3. They have more buttons than the Star Ship Enterprise.

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    1. I've seen an awful lot of Star Trek lately (not by choice) and concur!

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  4. I used to log all photos taken back in the early 70's, so if the log book for the 50's is still in the archives, someone can look-up 31424 and find the date/location/story which would lead to the edition it appeared in.

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    1. Thank you and apologies for the delay in responding. Apparently the archives don't go back to the 50s unfortunately - seems a great shame.

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