Neville Morgan visited the Ross Gazette office last year when he was on a visit to Ross. He was particularly keen to see the newspaper's offices because his father and grandfather had worked on the Ross Gazette as reporters many years ago. This of course was when the Gazette was based in John Kyrle's House, where Coleman's the stationers is now. Mr Morgan has now emailed some photographs to the Ross Gazette to see if any readers can recognise the people in them or know anything about why the pictures were taken. In the course of his family research he has made contact with a fourth cousin with memories and families in Ross, and has also sent him copies to see if he could find any connections. The larger picture is a studio photo of the 'Walking Stick Club', a group of young men who Mr Morgan believes wanted to do some good things for Ross. He wonders if they were the forerunners of the Larruperz group who set up a community centre for Ross. He said: "This is quite a formal group picture, which must date from about 1895. My grandfather, the Ross Gazette reporter, Tom Oliver Morgan, is the second from the left, leaning casually on the table, with his stick in front looking rather self assured." The second picture that Mr Morgan sent was a snapshot taken by his mother on a visit to Ross, where his father was born, in about 1925. It was taken in the street, and shows a group, which could well be the Larruperz, fundraising. They were dressed as a group of wild men waving clubs, with a handcart. Mr Morgan's cousin said:"In all the publications on Ross that carry photos I have not seen anything that quite matches these: the Larrupurz for sheer zaniness, and the Walking Stick Club for the confidence of youth. Often the group pictures are of much older men (like the Fire Brigade or the Police) or of stone laying events. Or school photos. This Walking Stick Club photo is very different." When he showed the picture to his mother she immediately picked out two faces she was convinced would prove to be members of the Sainsbury family in Ross. Her sister married into the Sainsbury family, so they are very familiar with the Sainsbury look. He said that the ones she picked out were the person sitting on the floor extreme left, and the third person in from the right. He added that the one on the floor is the spitting image of one of his cousins. Mr Morgan's cousin also suggested that the person sitting on the extreme right is possibly a member of the Bennett family. He said: "He looks very much like my grandfather, who was born in 1905 and therefore not around when this photo was taken, and therefore depending on the year it was taken, it might be his father, Philip Charles Bennett, or one of his brothers. There is a definite Bennett look to him." Mr Morgan and his cousin would be delighted if anyone could identify any of the other members of the group. If you can identify any of the people in the photograph or can give Mr Morgan or his cousin any information about the pictures or the event they were taken at please contact the Ross Gazette at 54A Broad Street, Ross, HR9 7DY.
