Grannies' grannies

super idea crimson have we got any budding authors here willing to collate our rambling memories?

Crimson made me realise how lucky I am to have our family photographs. There aren't many of them and I can't say I grew up with all of them on display. Some of the most interesting ones only came to light when my aunt died 6 years ago. Oddly enough, of all the younger generation of DDs DS nieces and nephews, the one who is most interested in all aspects of family history is my eldest DD who was adopted. She is also the one who has traced her birth family. My own gran was a talented knitter (as was my mum) and DD is very aware of carrying on the tradition - even using her GG 's shawl patterns and needles although she was born 3 years after my gran died.

Phoned my cousin in an attempt to get hold of a photo of my paternal grandparents and was told a wonderful story of how, on my aunt and uncles wedding day everyone had to walk to the church [which wasn't far away]. The fathers of the bride and groom set off and got no further than the local pub, therefore they didn't make it onto the wedding photos.

em your mention of your Gran being a talented knitter reminded me of my maternal grandmother. She was born on a farm,her father was a hind, and spent all her life knitting and sewing but her greatest talent was crochet work. She created the most delicate blouses from crochet silk and lined them with silk. Every family member had lace table centre crochet work, intricate layers all stiffened so they held a vase in the centre. The village where grandparents lived had an annual flower show and she won prizes every year for her handiwork, as if that was not enough she used to walk off with the prizes for jam, chutney and cakes. My grandfather grew prize winning leeks,runner beans and marrows. I suppose he grew all the things that my Grandmother cooked and preserved.

I never knew either of my grandfathers, they died before I was born. My maternal grandma died when I was 12, but I can still remember her. We lived with her until I was 3, when my mother remarried, and after that we visited her once a week, and she`d give us a Mars bar cut up between us, there were eventually 5 of us to share it, but I really looked forward to that bit of Mars each week. She used to give us mussels for tea (I think they were mussels, the ones with what looked like teeth?) but I wouldn`t eat them, I thought they were going to bite me! She came to us every Saturday for lunch, and she always brought tomato sausage with her, can you still get that?
My paternal grandma didn`t get on with my mother very well, and as she lived a long way away we didn`t see her very often, but I used to spend each summer school holiday with her. She was a St John`s nurse, took great pride in wearing her uniform and attending occasions when nurses were thought may be needed. She was also the person in the village who was sent for when someone passed away, to "wash and lay them out", she was very proud of that fact, and often used to point someone out and say that she washed and laid out certain relatives of theirs. We lived a few doors away when we married, but she didn`t much care for my husband, although she worshipped our eldest when she was born. Then when I was pregnant again she said we were disgusting, and she never did give as much attention and fuss to our 2nd daughter. She died when our 2nd girl was 11 months old, and I dread to think what she`d have said about us having had 5 children!

My father's parents died when he was a small boy. He was raised by a gang of sisters. The Nana that I knew, had my mother "out of wedlock"...a huge disgrace way back when. At the time she became pregnant, she was a lowly maid in a big and important household. Wonder whether my grandfather was a footman, butler, gardener - or even the Master of the house! Thereafter, Nana's family disowned her. Somehow she managed to raise my mother and continued to live a very hard life to the very end. She married a bit of a waster when my mother was in her teens, and waited on him, hand and foot, until he died. She died in her eighties, in the early eighties. No one cared more for me than my Nana. She went out of her way to help when I most needed support. I wish with all my heart that she could be here, so that I might tell her how amazing and special she was.

I was lucky enough to have brilliant grandmothers but sadly they were in their forties when I was born.One was very feisty and always stood up for me no matter what happened.She would buy an ice cream from the ice cream van and bring it up to me in bed!
My Nan was religious and looked after me while my Mother worked and her strongest words when she was upset were "don't vex Nanny" She used to take my head in her hands and smile saying "bless your sweet pretty face"
I always do my best to try and give my grandchildren the feeling of absolute love and acceptance I was given by those two amazing ladies.

My maternal grandparents were both born in Nov. 1861 and married when young ,producing a large Victorian family of which my mother was the youngest.Some of their babies had died but they raised 4 sons and 4 daughters to adulthood. I knew my grandparents very well as we lived in the same house. Gran and Grandad downstairs while we had the upstairs rooms. They died within 12 weeks of each other in about 1943. Grandad was tall and my Gran was less than 5 ft. with curls on her forehead. they always seemed to speak quite gruffly to each other but when gran died, he said, 'that's me finished then' and just sat by the fire puffing on his pipe until he too left us.They had been married for more than 60 years. This was during the war of course and I remember that life was very grim, we lived in east London and slept in air raid shelters , everyone in the area had lost their plaster ceilings and windows, and the houses just had to be bodged up somehow to be made habitable. It was sad for my grandparents, they had lost one son in the first world war and then 2 of their grandsons in the second
I always maintained that Gran's bread and butter tasted better than ours, although my mother did all the shopping so it was really all the same!. I remember how they loved to play dominos with me. I was an only child, quite an exception in those days.
I now have six wonderful grandchildren but sadly my husband didn't see any of them.At the age of 52, I was widowed suddenly, before any of them came along. How he would have loved them.

nutmeg ...a heartwarming and touching message.