HELEN BRADLEY (1900-1979)
Going to Bailey"s Pot Shop
signed "HELEN BRADLEY" and with a fly (lower right), inscribed "Sometimes on Friday afternoons, Mother,/George and I with Grandma, The Aunts and Miss Carter/ (who wore Pink) walked through Glodwick to visit/Great Aunt Buckley. She like Great Aunt Jane lived in/a very dark house, and like her, was very sweet. We had/to sit still on her sofa and be good, but sometimes/she would let us play in the kitchen. There was always/Polly, her maid sitting before the fire. She has a big/black cat called "Joe" who loved to play hide and seek/with us. Polly made delicious Parkin, and George and/I always had a lump before going home, but today/we didn"t go straight home through the Park, but up/into Oldham, to Baileys Pot Shop because, alas,/Mother only just remembered in time that tomorrow/was Mrs Maitlands Birthday and we had promised/to get her a Cream jug, so we bought her a/lovely one, with pink roses all over it and the year/was 1906." (on the artist"s label attached to the backboard)
oil on canvas laid on board
17 7/8 x 25 7/8 in. (45.3 x 65.7 cm.)