Special memories Back in Granddad/Grandma’s day.

I too was lucky to know all x4 of mine.
My Dad's parents born in 1890's my Grandad was a serviver of the Somme, he got through the 1st World War intact. He lived until just before his 100th birthday, absolutely adored him. My Nan a bit of a cold fish but I was her 13 th grandchild so the novelty of Grandchildren had worn a bit thin by then. I still have the Premium Bonds she bought me for Christmas (never won a thing)

But my Mum parents born 1900, and 1904 I spent hours with them.
Heartbroken when they passed away.
My Grandad, passed away at 82, so lovely and kind the perfect Grandad..I named my son after him.
My Grandmother, wow what a lady she was the funniest, loving, bright and such an intelligent woman I have been proud to know. She passed away at 89 so my children did meet her, but don't really remember her.
Grandparents are such an important part of children's lives, I was lucky mine were amazing.

I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with my paternal grandparents as they lived close by and both Mum and Dad worked. I went everyday for lunch when at primary school and all the holidays. My grandmother taught me to bake and cook and played with me for hours, games with buttons,cards,shops etc,teaching me to count and use my imagination. There wasn’t a lot of money to spare but plenty of love. They were both still alive when both my daughters were born and were so proud to be great grandparents. My maternal grandparents were a lot older,grandad died after being gassed during the war so I never knew him,Grandmother lived with us for a few years before she died,I remember sitting on her bed hearing stories about her youth and my mums childhood. Happy memories of all of them.

My parents lived with my Nan when they were first married and I was born there too, but before long she needed to go into a Home with a long- term illness, so I mostly remember visiting her there. Her mind was sound but her body was wasted and she could barely croak a welcome but her smile was huge. She used to send us parcels of goodies for birthdays and Christmas, organised by her sister, who was like a substitute granny to us, as she had no children if her own.

My father and paternal grandfather were farm workers on the same farm when I was born. My Nan often cared for me as my Mum was very unwell. She had been the family disciplinarian with her children, not with me. My grandad was a calm, quiet man - we shared a birthday. Sadly he died when I was 12. My Nan then moved from her cottage which had gas lamps as had our home until I was five. Any visit to a museum demonstrating gas lamps takes me straight back there. Shire horses do the same thing, I can see the horse plough with my granddad behind it. Also strawberries, my Nan grew them and looked the other way when I snuck outside to eat them.

My maternal grandparents were in East London. I saw much less of them as a small child. When they retired to the coast I would stay during some holidays. I’d walk the creek at the back of the house with my grandfather who had been a baker in the merchant navy. He talked constantly of ships and the ways of the sea. He often baked bread, I have his silver tablespoon and see him every time I use it. My maternal Nan is a more shadowy figure, practical and kind my memories of her are more difficult to access.

I think I was very lucky to know them all

I only knew one grandparent - my Nana who lived in the flat below us. One of my favourite childhood memories was going with her to visit my grandfather's grave. We set off, Nana holding a large bunch on flowers, and on the way to the cemetary stopped at the Pork Shop to buy a pork sandwich for her and a savaloy dip with pease pudding for me. Once at the grave the new flowers were laid on the grass and the old flowers taken out of the flower pot and put in the paper, some of the paper was crumpled into a ball and used to polish the gold lettering on the black marble headstone. A pop bottle was retrived from behind and the grave and filled with water from the nearby tap to pour into the flower pot. Nana then carefully arranged the new flowers in the pot. The grave opposite had a convenient high wall round the grave, high enough for us to sit on and eat the sandwiches while she told me stories about my grandfather. It was then time to go home, having both thoroughly enjoyed the outing.

Should read the pop bottle was retrived from "behind the grave" we definitely didn't flood the grave!!!

My maternal grandparents I remember very well, they lived just a short walk away from us.We would take turns in visiting them on a Sunday, and always looked forward to it.Their Sundays were a ritual.My Granda, who was an early riser , would always go to bed for a couple of hours after Sunday dinner while grandma would take us into what she always called ''the room''.This was the front room which she always kept immaculate and we were only allowed in on Sundays or any special occasion.We would play with toys or read books while she sat in front of the window drinking tea and watching her neighbours go past wearing their Sunday best.My Granda would get up at tea time and after that he would take us into''the room''and teach us card games or do the puzzle pages the Sunday paper with us.We also went there a lot in the school holidays grandma would either teach us to bake cakes or take us shopping.Like a previous poster, she always had a drawer full of chocolate Penguin biscuits which our mother would never buy.
I hardly knew my paternal grandfather as he had left home when I was a toddler.Our paternal grandmother lived a distance away, so we only saw her about two or three times a year but she always sent us presents for birthdays and Christmas.She had sixteen grandchildren but I remember being told she would save some of her pension every week to things for her grandchildren.
Had one great grandmother still alive when I was born.She lived mostly with my maternal grandparents and seemed to be an old lady sat knitting n front of the fire.She would go to stay with my grandma's sister in the summer but it was never for long as quite often they would have a falling out and she would come back, but would always return the following year.She died when I was 10.
I am now in my late seventies but often wish they were all still here.

My maternal grandfather was a miner. I remember washing his back, when he had a bath in the tin bath before the kitchen fire .I was four or five I think

The smell of meat roasting overnight in the Rayburn.

G'pop teaching me to play draughts, beating me soundly each and every time until I beat him on merit.

Tea - sandwiches and Viennese whirls while watching The Golden Shot on a Sunday afternoon.

Huge family gatherings when all the cousins (12 of us) got together as well as Aunts and Uncles and friends too. My G'ma would cater for the savouries but bought the cakes and sweet things from a local bakery. The Aunts and Uncles lived all around the UK so we all met up at the farm at least once in the Summer, usually early June and then again in August.

My paternal G'ma's hedge in Manchester - always covered in soot. And her Lourdes grotto in the garden.

My gran used to keep special chocolate biscuits in a drawer for me. She mad me feel special she was my gran and would tell me lovely stories of my mother who died when I was three.

My grandfather died when I was 10. Both my grandparents were very much the Children Should Be Seen And Not Heard generation but he gave me some nice picture books and taught me to play cribbage (which I have since completely forgotten) He worked in London and one Christmas he brought home some beautifully decorated crackers. I wonder now if they were a gift from a client. I was always given a gin and orange with my Christmas lunch - about 99% orange and 1% gin with a maraschino cherry on a stick. After lunch he would light a cigar. Christmas has never seemed quite the same without the cigar smell.

Lovely caravan holidays with my grandparents. Also weekends at their houses (they moved a few times). Christmas at their house at least twice that I can remember. I was SO lucky with my paternal grandparents. I adored them and they me.

My maternal granny was different. I have some memories with her but she was at a distance, emotionally.

Oh yes the Golden Shot lixy we used to watch that when we went to our grandparents for tea. We also sat & watched the wrestling on a Saturday tea time, my grandma loved Mick McManus