Is there someone you want to say thank you to?

My parents (now dead) for life and a matchless, magical childhood.

John Bacon, Policeman, Kent, November 1991.

He told me my husband was dead. He had to catch me as I went numb from the waist down.

He was incredibly kind. I wish I had thanked him properly and all the Police who looked after me, phoning me and at the Inquest. They were my lifeline.

Some years later I found a friend dead and in a terrible state. It was suicide. I never thanked the wonderful Policeman who brought me home and the CID man who kept in touch and helped me through the Inquest. What amazing people they are, they have to go to such awful scenes. I wish so much I had thanked them.

I have two 'thank you's, one to the man who found my 11 year old son when he had got lost and got on the wrong train home from school and gone 20 miles away. No mobiles, and I was frantic with worry. DS had the presence of mind to go into the only shop open, a newsagents, and explained his plight. A customer there said he was heading our way, and rang me from the shop phone to say if I was happy, he would bring him home. I had no car, my husband was on a late shift, so I gratefully agreed. I reckoned if he was a child abuser he would not have rung me first, and I was desperate. Sure enough an hour later DS was dropped safely at my door, and the man shot off.

The other occasion was when another son stopped breathing at 11 months old. I realised he was very ill as he kept losing consciousness and coming round again, so a neighbour drove me to the local A and E. He had a respiratory arrest as we drove into the car park. Running down the corridors with a lifeless baby, I couldn't see a sign for A and E and was crying and praying, when a nurse going off duty saw us. She grabbed my son and ran with him into the resuscitation room. I was taken to reception to give his details, and five minutes later I heard him cry from next door, she had got him back! We then had a blue light ambulance trip to the next hospital which had a children's ward, she came with us, keeping an oxygen mask on his face and keeping him awake. In the rush up to the ward I am afraid I forgot to say goodbye and thanks. But I did go back some years later, after DS had had numerous investigations and come through them all, and took him to see if we could find her. We did, she remembered him, said she had been shaking in her boots when she grabbed him, and was so delighted to find out he was OK.

I have to agree on balance about midwives, and not thanking, - 1 in my 3 was very good.
The last was not there, almost caused a disaster to the baby, left me on my side so I was forced to deliver from that position and have trouble now with my bowel, did not know my history or blood group although that was the reason I was in their Hospital, and of course, it all happened in a side room on a bed, not in a delivery room because she didn't bother to answer the bell.
That was 1983, in Kent. Around that time the Department and Consultant were in trouble for not behaving professionally. It had nothing to do with my delivery, but the place was horrendous as I found again when I had to go back for a repair.
It is my hope that our generation, who were treated so cruelly in childbirth, grew up to try and reform Midwifery and that might be why it is so brilliant (mostly) today.

Thank you to my maternal grandmother... who came to our home .....after my somewhat feckless mum ...had walked out on us , leaving me (2) my brothers (3 and 6) and my sister 13. My dad HAD to work those days so nan came to take over. She wasn't in best of health herself but she picked up the reigns ....she was strict about manners but nothing else....she NEVER raised a hand to us , and she was the kindest woman. I wish I'd spent more time listening to her !! My mum came back after I was 4/5 but nan stayed on . She died when I was 16 , and I'd had to do most of her her caring since I was 13. I never moaned about it! We all owed her our heartfelt thanks. I only wish I could remember if I ever told her how much I loved her. I hope she knew anyway!.

I’d like to thank the builder who rescued me when I had an accident on a sledge. I was only about seven and the sledge tipped over. The runner had cut my leg and he bandaged me up and took me to hospital . He then went and collected my mum and stayed with her until I had been stitched and was was ready to go home. He then drove us both home.
I think my Mum gave him a packet of cigarettes to say thank you!

The people who helped me were thanked at the time but still deserve a mention. On New Year's day in 1985 I was in Shropshire with my boyfriend and had an accident, skidding on black ice in a country lane. My Ford Fiesta slid slowly into a Volvo and you can guess which car came off worst! Fortunately no-one was hurt but my car was no longer driveable. We rolled it down the hill to a car park outside a pottery where we were able to phone the AA. The family there were so kind. They took us into their home, gave us meals with them while we waited for the AA, first to attend, then send a truck to transport us back to Oxfordshire. Members of their family took my boyfriend up to the Stiperstones nearby , where we'd been planning to go for a walk, while I waited for the AA. We were with them all day and I'll never forget their kindness. My boyfriend returned some months later and bought some mugs from the pottery which I still have - boyfriend is now my ex husband! If you are in that area do visit TankerVille Pottery and Gallery at Pennerley. They still exist - I googled them - and sell lovely pottery, arts and crafts and are lovely kind people.

Maura (?)Fitzgibbon Teacher my primary school teacher for 3 years, 3rd,4th and 5th class mid to late 60's. Kind and thoughtful. Introduced us to classical music and French which was not on the curriculum I'm sure. I have tried tracing you via the convent without success.
Thank you so much. I've never forgotten you and hope if you don't read this that someone who knows you does.

My best friend who died 2 years ago. We did not know the end was so imminent although she did.
I would have liked to thank her for all the support she gave me over difficult times & tell her how much her friendship meant to me.
I know she knew & I did say it at the time but I'd have liked her to know how very much it meant to me.
Life lesson- always say thank you to those who are important to you.
I miss her every day.

I would like to thank my son’s Australian MIL for being a second mum to him. My husband had a stroke during one of our visits. It was right in the middle of her birthday party - making it a day she, and we, will never forget. Her husband was recovering from heart surgery at the time, but the kindness and help we received from the whole family will never be forgotten.

I feel really guilty now for hijacking this lovely post with complaints about midwives! So many lovely, uplifting stories and it is a timely reminder to make sure that we try to thank people whilst we still can.

To all the staff in the nursing home where I worked,who were there for me when my husband of 20 years walked out and
abandoned me and my girls are. THank you all. You listened, you supported, you cared. I would not have managed without you all.

This thread is the best!
It also shows us that the little random acts of kindness we do for people are so very important in their lives and not to be underestimated.
So we must all just continue to be good neighbours as we never know when things might befall us.

To my late mother. Like a lot of children/adults who take parents for granted. Never really thanked her for great things she did for me.?

My grateful thanks to the passers by who helped my husband when his mobile scooter turned over on him, last March. They lifted it off, called the ambulance, gave him coats to lie on, phoned me and when I arrived waited with me the 2 hours it took the ambulance to get there. Sadly although he survived the operation he died later in hospital. One of those kind ladies came to his funeral and is still in touch.

My lovely Mum & Dad neither of them had the perfect childhood, my Dad's Mum died when he was a baby, & my Mum's mum was an unmarried mother in 1919 so not the best for either of them but they gave me the most wonderful of lives I couldn't have been happier when growing up, I think of them & miss them every day.

I’d like to thank the ambulance crew who came when I fell from my horse, the helicopter crew who jumped out from about 20feet height because it was too difficult to land closeby and the brilliant doctors and nurses in hospital. Such dedicated and hard working people ???

What a wonderful thread.

To my oldest friend and her husband who knew I was in a bad way trying to support my DS and 2 GSs through a dreadful divorce. It was the day of the Royal Wedding they phoned me at 6.50am knowing I was alone as DH had gone on a mercy mission to DS. They said they were coming to watch the wedding with me and would bring the lunch. They then drove 140 miles to be with me. I sobbed when I saw them but was soon laughing at all the fashions.

Back to midwives. Only one was nice to me. One particularly nasty one said ‘stop screaming you are making more noise than the whole ward’. A year or so later a doctor saw my medical notes and said ‘you must have had a difficult birth as your son‘s spine was pressing on your spine. He came out the wrong way’. I felt vindicated but I never dared have another child.

This is so heartwarming, I love it.

Some of theses posts deserve to be on other social media sides as well as here on Gransnet. We don’t say thank you or give enough praise and regret it later. We need a platform to make amends. Thank you Gransnet for being the catalyst.

My Auntie, who has now passed away. She was sweet, kind, caring and just taught me so much, and I loved her so much

Chaos incorporated
This must have been at Stoke Mandeville Hospital- am I right? Pam was very well thought of,an excellent nurse. I worked there at the same time but in a different specialty. So nice to see her mentioned.

In the days when we stayed in hospital for 7 days after giving birth and before the days of paternity leave, the hospital I was in had one evening during the week when visiting was father's only. That particular evening my husband was on night shift, having chosen to take holiday when the baby & I came home. I was feeling sorry for myself, longing to go home and being the only one not to have a visitor, when the nurse said a friend had come to see me and, although she wasn't allowed into the ward, she was waiting in the visitor's room. I was so pleased to see her. She was a single mum with a young son who she had to get looked after and she didn't drive so had to get 2 buses to see me. She had gone to great inconvenience to do this kindness which I have never forgotten.

winifred ...it certainly was at Stoke Mandeville. What a small world!
Do you also remember SN Annie N, and Sister Vernon?
They were a phenomenal nursing team...and kept me more or less sane.

(sorry OP....I didn't intend a thread hijack!)

If like to thank the territorial army for rescuing me from a very bad situation when I was 16. I can't say more, it would be too outing. ?