Happy Birthdays

Submitted by David on Mon, 07/07/2014 - 12:00

I wanted a Birthday-themed photo for this week, and remembered this one:

It's definitely a party of some sort, check out the bottles of pop and cake-shop food:

But the other photo that came with it shows such a range of ages I doubt it was a birthday party.

Some sort of youth group instead? I guess it was taken in the 1950s/60s, given that the boys are wearing shirts, ties & jackets. And possibly somewhere in Kowloon, based on the little booklet the two photos came in:

I hope someone will recognise a face and tell us more.

Here's another photo, courtesy of Jill Fell, and this one definitely shows a birthday party:

The birthday girl is Veronica Walker, and the photo was taken at her house on Broadwood Road [1] around 1937. Can you identify any of the other children? (You can click any of the photos above to see a larger version you can zoom in to.)

If you have any photos of old Hong Kong birthday parties, I'd love to see them. Here's how to upload a photo to the website: http://gwulo.com/node/2076

It's my birthday today, the one that marks the half-way point to becoming an antique [2]. It's also the last day of term for our daughters, so this evening's birthday party will be on board flight BA028 to London. Maybe the air hostess will give me an extra bread roll to celebrate?

There won't be any new photos from me for a few weeks while we're away, though I plan to post up several from the archives. We get back in mid-August, then in September it will be time to get the long-delayed website upgrade underway.

But first there is cool weather and warm beer to enjoy!

Best regards,

David

Also on Gwulo.com this week:

Thanks to everyone who uploaded beach photos in response to last week's post. Start here and scroll down: http://gwulo.com/node/20397#comment-28746
UK readers, sign up for a free talk on the history of the HK Police to be held at the UKNA in Kew: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/events/hong-kong-copper.htm
Collection of photos from 1945-6: http://gwulo.com/node/20505
May Queens at Quarry Bay School in the 1930s: http://gwulo.com/node/20426
Where was this photo taken - Hong Kong. Malaya, or elsewhere? http://gwulo.com/node/20377

The next chapter from Betty Steel's memoir:

1927-28 More Impressions, Working for HE the Governor, and Tiffin is also called Lunch: http://gwulo.com/node/20303

References:

The Walker family's house: http://gwulo.com/node/19791. The father, Vernon Walker, was General Manager of HK Tramways.
The US Customs define 100 years as the starting age for antiques.

Comments

1950s birthday parties

Joan Izard writes:

Regarding your 3rd photo - I think it wasn’t unusual in the 1950’s for parties to include people of all ages.