Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 6:40 pm Post subject: Grandparents
My grandparents passed away two years ago, aged 94 and 97 respectively. I have so many happy memories of the times I spent with them and loved hearing stories of their lives.
Very different from the way we live today.
Aged seven, grandad fell out of an apple tree (yes he was pinching apples!), his parents scooped him up, dumped him in the back of the horsecart and took him to the local hospital. 25 miles away. He was treated for a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder, got told off for being silly and the next day was out milking the cows at 4 am.
As a young girl my grandmother worked in service for "those who lived in big houses"! She taught me how to serve afternoon tea correctly, how to prepare a guest bedroom correctly and how to pack a suitcase correctly. Unfortunately, I don't remember any of it!
They lived very modestly and shunned all things modern....no car, television, washing machine or telephone. They worked hard and lived simply, held hands and laughed together until the day they died.
I feel priveliged (sp) to be their granddaughter and to have so many special memories of them.
I could warble on for hours with all sorts of stories.
I don't remember tales of when my Grandparents were children but my Father told me of the time he and his brothers locked their Dad in the toilet (outside with a latch) by putting a broom handle under the latch. They wanted money to go to the cinema and he wouldn't give them any so after locking him away they stole it. My poor Grandma had to bear the brunt of his wrath and they weren't allowed out for months! He was a very strict disciplinarian who believed strongly in "spare the rod, spoil the child".
I do remember my Gran keeping her milk in a bucket of water under the sink, as she had no fridge. She didn't have a washing machine either but a copper boiler and mangle. Grandad grew his own veg and did mysterious things down in the cellar. I never did find out what!
My Grandad left my Nana and Mum, so I never met him. Mum says he sat next to her on a bus once and didn't even recognise her. Nana was wonderful, so kind, and I can remember being quite horrid to her sometimes. Mum looks just like her as I remember her now, only Nana was alot smaller. She died in 1980, the same year as her brother and my Dad.
Never met my Dad's Mum, Grandad died when I was about 5 I think and I can barely remember him. _________________ The Card Bee
my favourite grandad was actually my great uncle - my dad's uncle. dad's dad never came back from the eastern front, but uncle karl visited us every year for a month (he ended up in france at the end of the war and married there - so we have some french cousins too)
my dad's mum died in 95, the same year i started uni. my parents were very against me coming to britain to study, but my grandma was supportive and always happy to hear of the lastest developments - sadly the UCAS offer came just after she had passed away.
my mum's parents are still around, tinkering around the 90 mark - many happy summer holidays were spent staying at their house and garden for weeks.....digging up fresh potatoes in the gardenwith grandad, then boiling them straight away in their skins and eating them with lashings of butter and salt
i got my love of growing veg from them.
my grandma is a very patient woman, grandad is a big of a grump though....
My dad's parents both died around 1987. His dad was born in South Africa, but later moved back to Malta, his mum was Maltese. The whole family moved to England in the mid-50s. My dad flew here by himself aged 15. He doesn't talk about them much. All I can remember is how they used to have loads of pets and one of the cats starved to death when grandad was in hospital as it refused to eat. And grandma was a really horder (i hope i've spelt that right) - when she died we found cupboards full of toilet roll in their flat.
my mum's dad, Jack, was my favourite grandparent. He gave me the nickname that my family and T call me now, so it seeme right to call my son after him. His real name was Charles John, but everyone called him Jack after his uncle; a very kind man who ran a market stall and used to give my extremely poor grandparents what money and food he could spare. Grandad's family had a milk delivery business. Grandad used to deliver it by horse and cart and gran always said he looked after the horse better than her - jokingly. They were very happy together. Grandad always loved horses - especially shires. It saddens me that I started riding after he was gone. Even though he was the right age, he didn't fight in WW2 because he was slightly disabled - he had something wrong with his back and stomach. He had an allotment from the war until he died in the late 1980s. He never say the point in growing things you couldn't eat. My fondest memories of him are on Christmas mornings, when they were staying at our house, my sister and i would climb in to bed with our granparents to open our stockings. Sis wwould always get in gran'ss bed, i was in grandad's.i must've been the only kid who didn't wish for snow at christmas - if it snowd they had to stay at home. grandad also loved carpentry and made all my bookcases. i have one of them for jack's books.
gran - is 92 now. she's a fantastic gardener - her garden is beautiful, although she can't do much anymore. She told us that when my mum and aunt were kids they were so poor gran would often not eat so her daughters could have enough food. She won a knitting competition at the age of 3. Her grandad was a champion boxer or weightlifter - I've forgotten. And her uncle was on the Titanic. (mostly it seems we talk about grandad!) _________________ Aqui, T and Baby Jack!
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