Royal Albert's Memory Lane - Forget Me Not beauty

Everyone's familiar with Royal Albert's Old Country Roses pattern, but another perennial favourite is the beautiful Memory Lane. Adorned with pretty and delicate borders of forget-me-not blue flowers, it has pretty scalloped edges and is trimmed in a classic gold gilt. It's fresh, pretty and classy all at the same time.

Royal Albert made the Memory Lane pattern from 1965 through to 2007 continuously, which is testament to its ongoing popularity. Unusually for Royal Albert, which has lots of different shapes at its disposal, Memory Lane only uses the Montrose cup shape shown below.

The Victorians were sentimental and created the language of flowers, and none was more poignant than the humble forget-me-not. A small but pretty flower, easily overlooked, the forget-me-not was often used on gifts or cards where the giver wanted the recipient to always remember them. 

According to https://www.flowermeaning.com the forget-me-not symbolises true love, remembrance during partings, connections, loyalty and fidelity, as well as helping patients with Alzheimers. It is also the flower to signify remembrance of the Armenian genocide, which had its centenary in 2015.  The genus for forget-me-not is Myosotis, which means 'mouse ear' in Greek - a translation of the shape of the tiny petals.  There is an old German myth that tells of two lovers walking beside the river Danube seeing the pretty blue flowers, when the man tries to pick some for the woman he is swept away by the river but tells her to 'forget-me-not'.

Royal Albert have perfectly captured the beauty and the meaning of the forget-me-not in the Memory Lane design, and its popularity never wanes. They made everything from teacups and dinner plates through to tureens and teapots, and it's possible to collect a full dinner and tea set in the range with accessories to match. It makes the perfect gift for someone you want to stay in touch with forever.