Special memories Back in Granddad/Grandma’s day.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Why don’t you yogi tree.
I have just re read my stories about my life including my grandmother, lives which are unrecognisable by my children never mind grandchildren.

I could write a book of memories on my maternal grandparents. Mostly all warm and happy ones.

Oh yes News of the World was on the saucy side wasn’t it.

I don’t remember my paternal grandparents but my abiding memories of my maternal grandparents is grandpa sitting puffing on his pipe at the side of the fire and granny snatching the News of the World out of my hands and sitting on it declaring it was “grannies bible” and giving me the Sunday Post instead.

It is very true as others have said, we never did anything special, it was a treat to go to the market with grandma on the bus, but I loved her dearly, she gave unconditional love. Don't remember my grandad nearly so well, even though he lived till I was in my late teens, he was always a mostly silent presence and I hated the smell of his pipe.

Lived in Manchester, near my dads parents till I was about 6. I remember standing at their gate waiting for the ice cream van, with a dish that he put the ice-cream in, it always had raspberry sauce.
Also their budgie, Joey.
Grandma made a great hotpot with a pie crust on top, but the rest of her cooking was dreadful - cabbage boiled for hours with bacon ribs and served with the cooking water and bread to mop it up with. Another speciality was bread with dripping and salt!!

I had both sets of grandparents right through childhood, I was married when my my first grandad died. I also had a maternal great Grandma until I was 17, she had been widowed young & lived on her own in London so we didn’t see her very often. She would send us big parcels which we loved opening to see what treasures were inside.

Many happy memories of them all, they were all very different, my mums parents were much younger and more modern, they had a nice car and a caravan and were always heading off to Cornwall or Pembrokeshire, sometimes taking us with them. Sometimes we’d all go to a nice pub with them on summer weekends and sit outside in the garden with a bottle of pop & a straw, my Grandma loved a Guinness & liked to dress up & wore makeup & lovely clip on earrings, my Grandad was quiet but lovely, very hardworking and also had a massive garden & an allotment so never sat down much.
My dads parents were much older, quite strict but very kind, they lived a more simple life but I adored them. Grandad taught us how to play dominoes, chess and numerous card games including patience. Grandma taught us how to bake & used to tell us lots of stories about her life, she had been in service as a girl before training as a nurse. She lost four of her brothers in WW1 & a son in WW2 and she talked about them all with such fondness but also sadness.
Both sets of grandparents had wonderful gardens, full of lovely fruit & veg, we used to love picking gooseberries, raspberries, peas, beans etc. Happy Days, still miss them all.

I remember holding my granddad's hand as he took me to the sweet shop for a little triangular shaped bag of my favourite sweets. He used to buy his Woodbines at the same time.

My Nan had a piano in her living room, no TV then. I used to try to play it and learned chopsticks later. Apart from rummy and snap wish I could remember all the card games.

Oh yes I remember we also played a lot of card games. Trying to think of the names

Never met paternal grandparents they died young has did my dad ,maternal gran an grandad live 3 buses away so didn't see them much ,my memory of grandma who was tall and well build was her warming her back of legs in front of fire ,they didn't take us anywhere or play with us .I hope my grandchildren remember the times they spent with us with happiness thoughts.

silverlining48

I knew only one gran who I mostly saw at her house where she always sat in the same chair by the fire. or as an occasional treat she took me shopping with her for groceries.
Fast forward and I sit here struggling to think of interesting things to do with my g/c who are coming tomorrow for a couple of days and think of my Nan who never took me anywhere other than the local grocer shop, yet I loved and remember her with affection.
The difference is that we were expected to fit in with whatever the adults, were doing and now children’s needs are foremost and I am feeling stressed!

I too have similar memories and Gran took me to market to get shopping done. She had an old pack of playing cards and we played various games with them, or I was allowed to feed the five hens that she kept.I think what I valued most was being listened to, and also hearing her stories too.
That is what we can still do for any grandchildren or great grandchildren, give them our time and listen to them.