Firstly, a bridal headdress - fashioned in wax to resemble orange blossom. The elastic attached had lost all its tension, giving a clue to its age, but the colours of the flowers in wax were still bright and the blossoms had kept their shape. Next, two little favours of a silver shoe and a horseshoe, possibly once attached to a wedding cake or perhaps the brides bouquet. And lastly, a wedding photograph of a bride and groom - the bride in the fashionable dress of the 1920's, But the most poignant part of the whole little boxful was the comment written on the back of the photograph ."taken six months after the wedding as could not afford it at the time".

Discovering the little box of mementos pulled at my heartstrings, as I always find it immensely sad when this sort of item does not stay within the bosom of the family, as part of a treasured family archive. But my heart was tugged at even more on reading the little comment. They started out, like so many couples often did, with the need to struggle, to build up, and to add to their first meagre possessions. Possibly they lived with in-laws, possibly husband worked at a lowly daily job while they saved for their first home - possibly she did a few hours in service or in a shop until the first little one came along. We will never know. All we know is that they "could not afford it at the time" - and I imagine that that covered far more than just the wedding photographs.