# Happy Mothers Day



## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

...to all you mothers out there.:smile2:

Mrs GMJ has 2 sons. Both managed to send cards this year which is nice. The eldest posted a bottle of champagne via Amazon, which arrived Friday. The youngest is coming to stay next weekend and will bring his gift with him...not that Mrs GMJ would expect anything: she is more than made up with the cards tbh.

I'll cook her a nice tea today as well.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Well done G, I try and ignore these American commercial events. 
My mother worked in the Greeting Card department of Bentalls of Kingston and way back in the 70's she turned over £1 million in cards from that one store.

Ray.


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

I can remember when I was about 10 years old telling 2 of my 5 brothers off, by letter, because they didn’t send our Mum a card, they both lived a long way away, every year after that one of them used to send her flowers through interflora, can’t remember if the other one took notice of his baby sister or not.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I guess we are lucky in that respect Jan n G. Both our boys remember to send my wife a card in good time from Turkey and Ringwood. My wife really appreciated them unlike a couple of widow friends who rarely get even a call.

Ray.


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## KeithChesterfield (Mar 12, 2010)

Double Celebrations for SWMBO.

Not only is she getting visits from our Daughter and Son (and families) and presumably presents - but she also helps me celebrate our Wedding Anniversary today.

Just look at that smile !


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

KeithChesterfield said:


> Double Celebrations for SWMBO.
> 
> Not only is she getting visits from our Daughter and Son (and families) and presumably presents - but she also helps me celebrate our Wedding Anniversary today.
> 
> Just look at that smile !


Thats lovely Kieth, but you didn´t say how long she has been making you smile.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

I always remind my son that he should be cherishing his mother every day and not just once a year. My mother died when I was 12 and I think about her every day.


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## KeithChesterfield (Mar 12, 2010)

_Thats lovely Kieth, but you didn´t say how long she has been making you smile._

We've been married 55 years and I knew her for six years before that.

As for 'smiling' - as I said we've been married for quite a while and life isn't always smiles is it ?

Later today -


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

KeithChesterfield said:


> _Thats lovely Kieth, but you didn´t say how long she has been making you smile._
> 
> We've been married 55 years and I knew her for six years before that.
> 
> ...


According to that photo neither of you have aged well.:grin2:

I would take a bet that the non smiling times were mostly nothing to do with you or your wife, but other people upsetting you.


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## baldlygo (Sep 19, 2006)

raynipper said:


> Well done G, I try and ignore these American commercial events.
> My mother worked in the Greeting Card department of Bentalls of Kingston and way back in the 70's she turned over £1 million in cards from that one store.
> 
> Ray.


WOW - That name Bental keeps coming up!
My first Essex house in Heybridge near Maldon and Goldhanger was built on the site of a famous Bental founder. My house in Shropshire was not far from Bental Hall and when I visited Canada in 2005 I photographed the Vancouver Bental skyscrapers and met the top Bental man, millionaire, in his office. He gave me a print of a Bental car which was newly discovered in Australia.
In my historical research, I came across a book 'The Merchant Adventurer' which describes the foundation of the Kingston Bentals and also the family origins in Maldon. To cap it all I found that the Bental that emigrated to Canada once lived 200 yards from where I grew up in Chelmsford.

Now the name has come up on MHF! I can't get away from it!

I found the book made interesting reading so I scanned and ocr'd
the original 1936 book (just two pages 3&4 were missing).

Hope the download works - https://www.pastcaring.com/misc/a-merchant-adventurer.doc


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Mum worked at the Kingston Bentall's store for over 20 years and was awarded a long service medal by the then owner Gerald Bentall. It did become much of our lives for those 20 years like an extended family. 
I remember going to pick mum up after her work before yellow lined had been deployed everywhere. 

Ray.


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## baldlygo (Sep 19, 2006)

The book I posted above was published in 1936 so only includes the Bental Stores' early years. How they had to provide their own electricity supply generators because the public suppliers were hopelessly inadequate. It is surprising to see photographs of the huge indoor car parking area packed full of really old cars, I never thought there were so many about in those days.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

A school chum now living in California but used to visit Bentalls with me researched this.................... Ray.

I found the book made interesting reading so I scanned and ocr'd
the original 1936 book (just two pages 3&4 were missing).

Hope the download works -https://www.pastcaring.com/misc/a-merchant-adventurer.doc
***************



Obituary: Rowan Bentall
Grenville Peacock
Thursday 29 July 1993 23:02
Comments

Leonard Edward Rowan Bentall, businessman: born Surbiton 27 November 1911; commissioned, Royal Welch Fusiliers 1941; Merchandise Director, Bentalls 1946-63; Managing Director 1963-78, Chairman 1968-78, President 1978-93; Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London 1977; Lord-Lieutenant's Representative Deputy, Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 1979-84; married 1937 Adelia Hawes (died 1986; three sons, two daughters), 1987 Katherine Allan; died Broughton, Hampshire 24 July 1993.

ROWAN BENTALL was the grandson of the founder of the department store group which bears his name and which, in addition to its flagship store in Kingston upon Thames, now has six other stores in the South-east. All six - in Bracknell, Ealing, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Thurrock and Worthing - were opened during Rowan Bentall's association with the business. It spanned 63 years, from the time he began working behind the counter in 1930, after a year's training at Harrods, until his presidency dating from 1978, and he presided at the group's most recent big development, the opening of the 600,000 sq ft Bentall Centre in Kingston last November.

The family atmosphere which is a characteristic of Bentalls stores owes much to Rowan Bentall's own personality. Though naturally reserved, he was a thoughtful and kindly man who took immense trouble to get to know his staff - at one time numbering over 3,000 - their families and their problems. He knew many of his customers, too, and showed the highest example of personal and courteous service - on one celebrated occasion interrupting a board meeting to go into the store when all other efforts to resolve a customer's problem had failed. It seems her neighbour's bees had swarmed and since she always went to Bentalls for all her needs, assumed they would be able to help. Rowan, whose mother had been a beekeeper, was able to provide the appropriate advice.

He schooled himself to make speeches and public appearances and overcame his inherent shyness to make sure he spoke to almost everyone present and to make them feel welcome. 'If it's good for Bentalls,' he used to say, 'then I must do it.'

He developed a great flair for marketing the store, and in the days before most people had the opportunity for travelling abroad he staged numerous in-store promotions featuring the merchandise of foreign lands. Subsequently 'Friendly Finland' was put on in 1976 to help neighbouring British Aerospace secure a foreign contract, a deal which was conditional upon some degree of reciprocal trade. In the face of much scepticism, Bentall sent his buyers to Finland on an exercise which generated national publicity there, as well as in the UK, and British Aerospace secured orders for pounds 128m worth of Hawk aircraft. Many of his initiatives live on in his history of Bentalls, My Store of Memories (1974), which was reprinted last year; it includes anecdotes about his predecessors and colleagues.

Bentall was well-known for his generosity and support for the community - not just in Kingston, where it included the church, hospitals, scouts, sea cadets, British Legion, arts trust, grammar school and rugby club, but also the charities for employees in the retail trade, and in 1960 he founded the Rowan Bentall Charity Trust which benefits numerous charitable organisations.

During his decade as Chairman, from 1968 to 1978, the group turnover more than doubled from pounds 14.5m to pounds 35.1m. It was a source of pride to him that his eldest son, Edward, became chairman in 1982 and stood beside him on many Bentall occasions thereafter, among them the 125th anniversary of the business exactly 12 months ago.


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## GMJ (Jun 24, 2014)

Interesting stuff. I hadn't heard of them before (not living in the SE). Only one store open now according to...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentalls


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## JanHank (Mar 29, 2015)

Was it this shop ?


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## baldlygo (Sep 19, 2006)

*Bentall's 4 family branches*

Off-topic here but Mother's Day is passed now :kiss:

The Bentall family had 4 branches each of which made quite an impact on their respective areas. Here is a slide I produced back in 2007 as part of a PowerPoint presentation.


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