Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

Finally, we’ll talk about two iconic women that partly shaped my early childhood– Queen Elizabeth II and Roger Hunt’s Mother. The reasons are extremely different, but significant just the same.

Queen Elizabeth II

Of course, a significant adult in my life, and I guess most of Britain’s, would be none other than the Queen herself. One of the highlights of the early 1950s that I can still recall is the Coronation of Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953. 

It was a sunny day, perfect for such an auspicious occasion. We walked to the centre of the village where we were greeted by mighty crowds in the streets. There was seemingly an electric mood, all ready for the event of the day. 

Despite the fact that I had just turned four years old then, I can still clearly see in my memory the many different flags in attractive colours. The flag that caught my eye was the yellow and red ‘Royal Banner of Scotland’. I think it was the bright colours of the flag and the prancing lion that might have appealed to me – or perhaps some comment by my mother. Of course, I probably wasn’t aware of the fact that the flag was a ‘Scottish’ flag, although my mother undoubtedly was. I am sure she must have been proud just by looking at its majestic colours. 

Even at my age, I felt the colour and life burst around me as the Queen got crowned. It was a sight that not even a four-year-old could forget.

Today’s Political Situation and Flags

The colours of flags are something peculiar. It seems that the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag, as of February-April 2022, has galvanised a global resistance to the criminal Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, it waits to be seen how this will unfold in the future. There was a time when the flag of the Soviet Union was also a powerful and noble symbol, with its hammer and sickle, the symbols of the agrarian and industrial working classes. What is evident is that few people (globally speaking) are waving the Russian flag today.   

Roger Hunt’s Mother

There was a fish and chips shop that we often visited in Church Lane. It was just a short walk from our house in York Avenue. We often bought fish and chips together with mushy peas. Everything was wrapped in a newspaper, which would later be unwrapped on the dining table at home. 

At times I feel a sense of longing for, yes longing, for this simple kind of food – it was a good part of my childhood. And for that, I thank the English professional football player, Roger Hunt, or rather, his mother who ran the shop. He played as a forward for the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup⁹⁷, and was son to a shop owner that brightened our days with fish and chips⁹⁸.

The question remains – what is the most British – football or ‘fish and chips’? The best of British often has its roots in the working classes; football and fish and chips were certainly ‘working class’ in the 1950s. But the British are a peculiar race despite their tendency throughout the twentieth century to focus on the rights and welfare of ‘the people’. This was epitomised by the emergence of the welfare society after the war. They, at least the majority of Britishers, nevertheless love the fact that Britain boasts the most well-known Royal Family in the world – a kind of historic anachronism. 

⁹⁷ Roger Hunt, one of the great players in that 1966 winning team, lived in Culcheth most of his life (nearby in Croft).  Although, his family may not have owned the fish and chip shop, they did own a haulage business, Hunt Brothers. Roger Hunt died 27 September, 2021 at the age of 83. My brother Alistair said that my memory was wrong about his mother running the fish and chip shop.

⁹⁸  According to my brother Alistair I have got this story all wrong. Be that as it may, Roger Hunt lived in Culcheth all his life, and there was a fish and chip shop not more than a ten minute walk from York Avenue.