My Father's Leather Box

In the small brown suitcase is this little box covered with what may be pigskin. On the lid are the initials 'S. R.' which I take to be Stanley Reid, my mother's uncle by marriage, but it contains....

....items belonging to my father. The cufflinks are, I would guess, onyx, and there are three shirt collar studs, not, I think, particularly good ones. The two brass CDS shoulder tabs are from my father's time in the civil defence force in Zanzibar, while the medal with blue on it is from Kirkdale School, the primary school where, as can be seen....

....in this picture he won the 80 yard sprint. The copper sergeant's stripes are, again, from Dad's time in the Zanzibar defence force, while the shield comes from his playing in the winning team in the Zanzibar football competition in 1933. I'm surprised my father kept the medal with the blue ribbon, the only tangible evidence that he was a member of the Freemasons. He joined, I think during his time in Beira, and then quickly regretted it, taking no further part in their meetings.