Grandfather Alfred McKenzie was a tin smith by trade. From a very young age I was aware of photographs of him in grandmothers house but I was unaware of the sacrifice and tragedy that they represented. He was seldom spoken about but the presence of photographs of him in grandmothers house meant that he was remembered. He would have been proud of his widow who brought up three young children without complaint, as I am sure she was of him. Later my mother safely kept those few photographs. They are mine now and he is remembered still. From the other side of the world, passed down two or three generations, I heard “Alfred McKenzie was a fine man”. The face in the photograph is clearer now.

John Cook