Description:Nurse Harkness and Nurse Martin, dressed for cycling, pose with their new bicycles. They were Maternity and District Nurses for Cheddleton and the surrounding area.
Grace Harkness was born in Ruthwell, Dumfrieshire in 1879 and worked as a nurse at Cheddleton from about 1911. She lived at Ashcombe Cottage, Cheddleton until her death on 19 February 1952.
Katie Elizabeth Martin was born in Pontypool in 1881 and was also working as a nurse in Cheddleton from at least 1911. She also lived at Ashcombe Cottage. She married Ernest Clowes in 1920 and the couple moved to Middlesex. She died in 1964.
The cycle on the left has a rear wheel hub gear, possibly Sturmey- Archer, with the gear-change lever seen mounted on the down-tube below the handle bars. The chain is enclosed. It has a high-quality leather saddle. Its light walled tyres suggest that it is a top-tier version.
The right-hand cycle also has an enclosed chain and there is a carrier mounted above the rear wheel. The cable attached to the handle-bars is probably a hub-gear change mechanism.