Grannies' grannies

My darling Grandma was my best friend and she supported me through all the trying times I had with my father. She was delightfully blunt and had a very down to earth attitude about life. Was great at putting up with the youngsters in her life and never raised an eye brow at all the goings on of the 1960s. She wore a long body encasing corset everyday of her life and would not have left her bedroom let alone the house without having it on. I loved her very much and often think fondly of her.

I remember all 4 of my grandparents and a great grandmother! My paternal grandparents used to take me to visit my great gran as it was paternal grandad"s mother. She lived in Liverpool with my grandads brother and his family, I was taken in to see this ancient old lady (probably aout 80, not that old now!) she was always in bed and would give me hard sweets she kept UNDER HER PILLOW AND THEY WERE NOT WRAPPED!!!!! still makes me shudder thinking about them I would have been about 5 or 6 then and I remember being very excited as we went on the ferry, grandma would sit with me on the top but grandad said it was too cold and sat downstairs inside the boat. my other grandparents were cotton weavers from lancashire lovely but very religious and prim and proper (can"t imagine what they would think of us trendy grans now!! My dads mum was still alive when my 2 DDs were born and they remember her quite well although she did"nt go out much. I wonder why we are so much younger in attitude than our beloved grandparents, we even look younger any grans got any ideas on that?

I had never met my maternal grandmother (or so I thought). My mother was brought up by her grandmother, all the while thinking that she was her mother. The lady who was actually my great-grandmother died when my mother was 17, just as she was joining the army in 1942. This was when my mother discovered who her 'real' mother was, and as was so very common in those days, it was who she had believed was her eldest sister. 'Auntie Jean' didn't play the part of grandmother to me, therefore. It was never discussed. However, my paternal grandma was so lovely. She lived in the village just round the corner from where we lived. She was tiny and her house was in a terrace of similar houses, with the lavatory outside 'up the yard' - you didn't say you were going to the lavatory, you said 'I'm going up the yard'! There was a black 'range' in the living room on either side of which were 2 wooden armchairs - one for Grandad and one for Grandma. A chenille cloth always adorned the dining table and was removed at mealtimes so that the tablecloth could go on. I remember eating bread and dripping at Grandma's - lovely! Grandad was known to be mean with money, and would never allow handkerchiefs to be bought. He insisted on old rags to be used for this purpose and I can remember them drying on a string which hung along the mantlepiece! After he died, no-one could find his bank book - until someone had the bright idea of looking up the chimney! Grandma eventually moved into sheltered housing where she was really contented. She died aged 98 after being in hospital for a short while. All the while she remained alert. She was a tremendously strong-natured person. When things were difficult for me as a teenager, she was my rock. I loved her very much.

Both my grandmothers and grandfathers died before I was born, so I grew up without grandparents. My role model was my Mum, who was a wonderful grandma to both my sons. My father died before my sons were born.

Wow – there are only four comments and it's all fascinating. Why haven't we done this before?

My paternal grandmother travelled to New Zealand on her own in 1930, went to visit her sisters who had been there since 1912, for some reason she sailed to Australia first and then continued to New Zealand. I was always amazed that she was so adventurous, she went to Egypt too, it was quite unusual for a married woman from a small northern town to travel. I loved to hear her stories but she was not well liked by her daughters or DILs, never found out why, my mother would just wrinkle her nose and change the subject. I don't believe my grandfather travelled more than 15-20 miles from home in his life.

I remember my paternal grandmother only my maternal grandmother died before I was born,my grandmother was a tall straight backed woman who was just under 6ft tall,so she was a formidable sight with her tied around day dress and thick stocking's,she ran a boarding house for workmen and she did this as my grandfather and her did not live together after he came back from serving as a merchant seaman,I never got to find out the reason for this,my dad was the 4th child of nine and every one was born weighing over 9lbs at birth the heaviest was 12lbs 8ozs.Nana worked all day in her house keeping it clean and cooking for her guest's she made them packed lunch's and a evening meal and did their washing,I can remember every Sunday going and helping to do the Sunday roast and picking the fresh mint for the lamb and peeling mountain's of potato's.She was loving and caring but oh so scary at time's when the men who stayed over indulged in drink,she never relied on anyone to provide for her and brought up her family the same way with good honest principle's.When nana was 75 she went on to remarry and moved to Shrewsbury,when widowed again aged 82,she went on holiday with mum and dad and met a widower and married again at 84,sadly she died when 96 but she found companionship in the later stages of her life.

I too was born when my Mum was 39 although my Dad was only 32! Mum's father died before I was born and her Mum lived with us for the last year of her life and died when I was almost 4. I can remember taking her a cup of 'tea' from my toy tea-set and being told I wasn't to go in - assume she had just died but that is all I remember of her.
My Dad's Mum was completely scatty - a very simple woman -who had been brought up by her much older sister who lived at the Tower of London with her soldier husband. How she managed to raise 4 children, 3 of whom went to university which in the 20/30's was quite unusual, especially for girls, I can't imagine! I haven't a clue what she did, if anything, before she married my Grandad, but their first child was born 5 months after they were married and my Grandad was only just 20. I can remember visiting them - she always sat on an upright chair and fed me sweets and gooey cakes and told me not to fiddle with my hair or suck my thumb (and I hated going upstairs to the loo as they had a stuffed alligator on the wall which frightened the living daylights out of me; she died when I was 18 having spent the last months of her life in similar circumstances to yours Absenta, in a horrible geriatric ward with about 20 beds on each side.
My paternal Grandad died at the ripe old age of 90 having started out life as a boot boy aged 13 'downstairs' in a large house in London, then educated himself at night school and ended up as Secretary of a well known firm of stockbrokers in the City. He was a lovely old man and used to play 'shops' with me over a low hedge in his garden. When he became infirm his 2 daughters and other son wanted to put him in a home, but my mother insisted that he come to live with her and my Dad - he nearly drove her mad, but I think he appreciated what she did for him. We are all much more hands-on than that generation - my Mum was very hands on even though she was in her late 60's when she first became a Granny and she puts me to shame - she was so energetic with my children.