What were your grandparents like?

I only knew one grandmother, all the others died in their early 50s. My maternal grandmother gave up her home aged 65 and lived with her daughters until her death ten years later. She was treated as a frail old woman and looked it. At that age I was still working and looking after young grandchildren for many hours every week.
My grandmother seemed like a Victorian relict, in long dark clothes over pink corsets and always a hat outside the house. She was superstitious and had had little education, having left school when her mother died to look after her father and siblings. We laughed when she couldn’t understand the telephone, tape recorder or television. She must have felt like an alien, poor old dear.

My gran was a traditional housewife.
In the early 60s they had no running water,no bathroom ( tin bath) .,But she and my grandad managed to raise 7 children in those conditions.
Always wore a blue pinny and wash day on a monday
I remember the tub and mangle to do the washing.
She was a great cook.....
Bacon and onion suet roll.
Beef suet pudding.
Both of these steamed for hours.
Wasnt keen at all on the Tapioca Milk Puddings and the Sago Pudding.( reminded me of frogs spawn)
Unfortunately she died of Alzimers but in those days you were classed as gone mad.

One of my grandmothers had three DCs and three GCs and the other one had six DCs and 29 GCs. I am not sure that she lived to see them all.

I was number twelve and my grandmother always sent us birthday cards and a small present.

I only knew my maternal grandparents and they were the best very involved hands on always there for me. Lots of lovely memories I treasure ❤️

Kind, wise, hospitable, resourceful and hard working til they died in their early 80s.

I learned/absorbed many lessons from my early years with them and so wish I’d appreciated them more instead of being the self centred teenager that I was…

I only knew my paternal granny, the others had all died, I liked her a lot, she lived in a cottage right by the sea, we spent days there as a family in the summer. She taught me how to collect and cook cockles, one of her neighbours took me fishing, eel and flounders. She grew some vegetables and fruit, made lettuce wine (added a bottle of brandy), had a gentleman friend and used to deliberately knock over pheasants for the pot.
Great memories.

Talking about grandparents, there’s a very interesting article in today’s Guardian about the army of grandparents who are stepping in to look after their grandchildren, mainly due to the high cost of childcare. The author is Ellie Violet Bramley. The Guardian is free on line.

When I was born I had one grandad who died when I was 8 and one granny who died when I was 18. My granny had been widowed at 40 and left with 3 young children. To keep the family together she took up dressmaking and alterations. She was very deaf by the time I was born, I saw her frequently but by her mid seventies she was old by modern standards and lived with one of my unmarried aunts

I only knew one grandmother. The others had died.

She had 16 grandchildren and I was the fourteenth. She wasn’t that nterested understandably😬

I knew all four of my grandparents along with two great grannies.

All very different, but all very strong determined and resourceful people.